Helping Hands, a photo from Gauteng, East

Photographer's Note

I know this is not technically the best photograph, but it shows a slice of my life, and isn't that what TE is about?

One of the hospitals I work at recently received some money to prettify our department. This hospital is Coronation Hospital, a Mother-and-Child Hospital in a poor socio-economic area. Most of our patients are pediatric patients. A lot of them are HIV+ and very ill. We tried to make the department as child-friendly as possible.

This photo is of one of the walls of the baby change room. Everybody that helped with the painting and redecorating, got to put their handprints on the wall. We also brought our own kids to add their hands to the collection. Three of the walls of this room are decorated in this manner.

Sure looks bright and cheery when you walk in there! My hand is there as well, at the top towards the right.

P.S. Can you tell who is right-handed and who is left-handed? *G*

Mrg, photo, roshangar, ChrisJ, bgladman, dsidwell, viawia, elihesamian, manub, pamastro has marked this note useful

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Mrg (825) 2004-03-27 14:10 [Comment]

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photo (246) 2004-03-27 14:43

i did the same thing in my bedroom :)
well done and really useful note Su!

JudyH (700) 2004-03-27 15:05

Very sad part of life in SA, and a great concern with everyone leaving to practice meds elsewhere. I think it is great that there are wonderful people trying to make life more cheerful in these circumstances. Had an idea for a WS - see what you think.

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roshangar (1682) 2004-03-27 18:00

I liked this shot because it has a great meesage to the world,thnks for your note and sharing it!

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ChrisJ (172378) 2004-03-27 19:42

Different.

bgladman (1153) 2004-03-28 17:19

I spent two weeks in Johannesburg last year; not a long time but long enough to see firsthand how many people there are suffering from poverty and illness. Thankyou for the picture and note Su.

PS it seems like amongst the kids there's a fairly high proportion of left handers - (or is wall painting an ambidextrous task). :)

henrye (3500) 2004-03-30 4:35

A photo that tells a great story. I like it very much. Great colors and details. Thanks for sharing it with us!

dsidwell (9783) 2004-03-31 19:39

Very TE of you to post this Su! Very nice notes, and I'm glad folks like you are around to take care of us. I like the composition very much. Have you tried just lightening your whites a bit? That would make it just a bit more cheery.

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viawia (52) 2004-04-10 5:26

Thanks for your note Sue! Incidentally I saw a similar painting at the Rand Easter Show a few days ago and first thought your photo was from that. It was a "painting" by Mr Nelson Mandela our past president with the same theme and vision in mind...I stood there contemplating to take a photo of the painting but then decided against it.
I agree with others it is great to see that those South Africans that did NOT leave our hospitals are trying hard to make things better...

elihesamian (26149) 2004-04-14 7:45

Very strange shot,Su !
Thank for sharing.thank for note.
Greeting for your vision.
You captured excellent.
greet shot,Su.

emralc (174) 2004-09-07 5:49 [Comment]

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