Postcards From Khayelitsha: How Tourism and Mobile Photography are Empowering Women in a Cape Town Township

The following guest post is part of our Purposeful Traveler series. Andrea Rees is a Toronto Travel Massive community member creating change to the way we travel.

As a traveller and travel photographer who is passionate about cultural experiences, I feel it’s important to not just visit the sites a country is known for, but to also learn about its people and give back to the communities I visit. I learned of Uthando South Africa, a responsible tourism organization in Cape Town, South Africa that takes tourists to the townships where the majority of South Africans live. For a half day, you visit 3 or 4 development projects that are working hard to uplift their community. Every tour is an opportunity to give back to the communities visited as a portion of the fees goes to the projects.

On December 10, 2012, I visited eKhaya eKasi Art & Education Centre in Khayelitsha, one of South Africa’s largest townships with Uthando. I met Lulama Sihlabeni, the director of the centre and learned of the work they are doing for their community of over 400 residents. Lulama spoke of the challenges many women in the townships face such as unemployment and domestic abuse.

As a mother and professional photographer, I was most inspired by the Women’s Skills Development (WSD) program at the centre and their model of education and empowerment through the arts. WSD teaches crafts and entrepreneurship to mothers so they may generate an income to provide for their families. eKhaya eKasi houses an on-site art boutique where the women and other community members may sell their work to the tourists that visit.

Back at home in Toronto, Canada, I continued to think about eKhaya eKasi. As I began to earn income from my iPhone photography, I wondered if I could teach mobile photography to women impacted by poverty, could they earn income too? I questioned what would happen if the women had access to technology?

Compared to ‘traditional’ photography with a dSLR camera, mobile photography is an easier learning curve and more affordable, especially as I sought to acquire previously owned iPhones. So much can be accomplished with one mobile device from taking the photo, to post processing (editing), to sharing on social media to printing photographic products through apps. While economically developed communities have been progressing along with technology advances, much of the less economically developed communities have not had the same access and therefore have not had the same opportunities.

I thought that if I could teach skills in photography, technology and social media to women at eKhaya eKasi, they could bring awareness to their centre through social media and attract tourists. They could also have a source of income as my idea was to turn their photographs of township life into postcards to sell in their on-site art boutique and through partners in Tourism and Fair Trade.

I formulated ideas and came up with a plan to offer a workshop at eKhaya eKasi and founded The heART of a Woman Project (THOAW), a grassroots initiative that works with non-profit organizations.

THOAW Mission is to educate unemployed women in mobile photography and social media to empower, have a voice and sustainable income through the sales of photographic art products.

Friends, family, some Toronto Travel Massive members, bloggers and mobile photographers I had met through social media, donated used iPhones, wrote blog posts, hosted fundraising widgets on their blogs and talked about THOAW on Twitter and Facebook. I fell short of our fundraising goal, but it was enough to get a pilot project started at eKhaya eKasi as I collected 9 used iPhones and paid my own airfare, accommodations, travel expenses and volunteered all my time.

In November 2013, I returned to the centre to launch Phase One of The heART of a Woman Project South Africa. It culminated in 11 days of workshops in photography, mobile technology, basic computer skills and social media. On November 30, 2013 each of the 9 participants received 200 postcards of one of their images to immediately begin selling in the on-site art boutique at the centre. The postcards have been selling and have made a difference.

“Our lives have changed for the better because since we started selling the postcards we have been getting some money. The money has helped us a lot, we are able to buy more food and clothes for our families. We are still looking forward with the project wishing to grow further with the photography and possible going to going to overseas with it. I would like to say thanks to Andrea Rees for making a difference in our lives and that she should keep on helping the less fortunate people where she can just like she did with us.” — Nwabisa Ndongeni, mother of 2 and thoawSA project leader

Not only is technology helping to change lives for the ladies of The heART of a Woman Project South Africa, but social media and tourism are making an impact as well. The ladies all have their own Instagram and Twitter accounts and are connecting with people that have supported the initiative from around the world as well as bringing awareness to their work and eKhaya eKasi. In February 2014, we acquired our first retailer, The Backpack, an award-winning hostel and recently named as the #1 budget hotel by Lonely Planet began selling the series 1.0 postcards in their community shop. You can find the ladies on Instagram and Twitter by searching #thoawSA.

I returned to eKhaya eKasi once again in May 2014 to launch Phase 2 and offered more in-depth workshops in social media and computer skills, launched the newest product – greeting cards and we hosted members of the local Cape Town Instagram community for a photo walk in Khayelitsha.

It was amazing to see the two different communities come together in their mutual love of mobile photography and Instagram. The ladies enjoyed spending time with IGers Cape Town and appreciated the tips they received in mobile photography. They can’t wait for another meet up. To see photos from the Instameet on Instagram, search #InstameetEKASI. Big thanks to Thoban Joppie and Ross Pickford in helping to organize this instameet.

The ladies are using their social media and mobile photography skills to document the events taking place at eKhaya eKasi such as the Uthando tours that come through, a wedding and recently, a luncheon for Arun Gandhi and Gandhi Legacy Tour.

This is just the beginning, we have many more goals ahead for thoawSA. Tourism is an integral part to the success of thoawSA and eKhaya eKasi Art & Education Centre. The centre hopes to offer new tourism products soon such as traditional cooking, beadwork and djembe classes as well as photowalks.

We are thankful to everyone that has supported this project, from friends and family to the Toronto Travel Massive and mobile photography communities to travel bloggers and travellers around the world. We couldn’t have done it without the help of those that recognize the importance of transferring skills and empowering women.

Photography is more than art; it is empowerment, it is a creative outlet, it is a voice and it is a source of income for a group of women from a Cape Town Township.

Andrea Rees is a professional photographer and the Founder of The heART of a Woman Project. She has been a member of Toronto Travel Massive since 2013. To learn more about eKhaya eKasi, help donate your used iPhone, or get involved, please visit www.heartofawomanproject.com. You can also connect with Andrea on Twitter.

Purposeful Traveler is a series that profiles inspiring people or projects making a purposeful change to the way we travel. If you know of a Purposeful Traveller who should be featured, email us