Daniel Naude: Africanis dog

Daniel Naude, a recent graduate of Stellenbosch Uni. showed his photographs of Africanis dogs at Michael Stevenson's Summer 2008/9: Projects: 27 November 2008 - 10 January 2009
http://www.michaelstevenson.com/contemporary/exhibitions/summer2008/naude1.htm

I chose the image above because this dog is from Britstown. My dad has a cousin that lives there. When I was in my early teens we went to visit this family of ours. We drove up to the Karoo from our house in George. What an adventure - a real Karoo farm!

What a different and isolated lifestyle it is living on a sheep farm. I remember a pet crow that hung out at the back stoep. In a corner cage of a doilie rich '70's style living room, an outspoken parrot mimicked the sounds the 'masters of the house' as well as the various telephone rings that penetrated through the household. I wonder why they never answered the ringing phone - I learnt that the phone serviced a wide area, and you had to keep an ear open for your distinct ring. I won't forgot the bull dog pups. (I later learned that one died after being trapped under a steel roofplate, the hot summer sun causing its heart attack). I won't forget the family's timid and tame pet springbuck. (I also later learned of the heartache when the buck left the family to find a life among its own, and even more heartache when it was accidently shot by the family on one of their frequent hunting trips).

I won't forget the size of my dad's cousin. Huge, just like his dad - who lived on the neighbouring farm down the dirt road. I won't forget his daughters - who let us shoot bottles with their rifles and took us to see bushman paintings on rock found on the farm. (They also showed us uniforms their dad wore to special meetings). I know what the khaki stood for, but we asked no questions. I won't forget the question the one little girl asked her mother at breakfast on our last morning. As her mother was dishing up leftover "afval" from the previous evening she asked her mother where the other eyeball was. All the mother replied was: you had the other eyeball for dinner last night. There are only two eyeballs in a buck afterall!