EMAKHAYA (South Africa, 2000-2004)
‘A home away from home’, is what Emakhaya means in Zulu. It is a word that refers to the many migrants who leave the countryside to work in the cities, who only return to their families and loved ones during holidays. Andrew Tshabangu went in the opposite direction. In order to get to know what life in a rural community was like, together with a migrant from Soweto he left the city to visit the man’s village, Venda. Tshabangu discovered that the rural areas have many problems, including the absence of the breadwinners, underdeveloped infrastructure, poverty and the loss of agrarian traditions. ‘But despite everything, the people from Emakhaya were the most warm-hearted folk that I have ever met.’
