By Stowell P. Watters

Staff Writer

Berri Kramer is headed to Africa again.

The Heartwood College of Art President  left Maine March 2 for her third trip to the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, where she will meet up with fellow Rotarians at St. Mary’s Church and missionary at Marian Hill, on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Durban. This trip, she said, will allow her to act as the photojournalist for the Rotary’s PlayPump water system installation project.

“I am going to hunt color and light, and to get to know the people while helping Rotarians install three of these pumps near St. Mary’s,” Kramer said.

PlayPump International is an organization that manufactures the PlayPump water system which is essentially a disguised merry-go-round, according to CEO of the company Dale Jones. 

As children push the playground piece in circles a connected auguring pump system pulls as much as 1,400 liters of water an hour, from depths of up to 100 feet, according to Jones. The water is then stored in a 2,500 liter tank which features graphic product advertising on one side and educational information on the other. Children then have the unique opportunity of pumping fresh and safe drinking water opposed to lugging buckets to and from open water holes, according to Jones.

More than one billion people worldwide do not have access to clean water and water-related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world, taking the lives of 6,000 people a day and responsible for 80 percent of all sickness in the world, Jones said. In addition, he said 40 billion hours are lost annually to hauling water, a chore primarily undertaken by women and girls.

Kramer said while Rotarians stay in the guesthouse at St. Mary’s where their safety is assured and the quality of their food is guaranteed, such is not the case for much of the province’s population.

“We are very spoiled here in Kennebunk, it is a whole different world out there,” Kramer said.

More than 20 species of poisonous snakes and adders call the grasses and trees of South Africa home – Kramer said. Mosquitoes carry malaria, monkeys carry diseases and parasites and a wide variety of animals from rhinoceroses to hippopotamuses can be both beautiful and extremely dangerous, Kramer said. But it is not the wildlife that concerns Kramer so much as it is the people of South Africa.

“I have heard of people who will shoot you for a cell phone,” she said.

Kramer said crime, poverty and disease compact one another in Durban and that a short woman, like herself, with a camera around her neck is as good a target as any. Kramer said her fears were solidified during her first Rotarian trip to Durban in 2004 when fellow Maine Rotary member John Dennan picked her up at the airport.

“We got in the car and he began driving quite fast, right through every red light in town,” she said.

Kramer said she quickly confronted Dennan, asking why he was driving so madly. His response was in Durban, if you stopped at a red-light, you were as good as robbed. Carjacking, he called it, happened to white people as often as the sun rose. Dennan, in a previous interview, said Kramer was much more brave than she let on.

“I was scared and from that point on I have always been very careful and mindful of their world,” Kramer said.

“Berri is a dynamo, she jumped right in and never stopped,” Dennan said.

A fiber artist by trade, Kramer said she has “an affinity for color,” and puts that skill to use behind a camera to document both her own experiences and the work of the Rotary in South Africa. Her past work has resulted in postcards, books and presentations.

  “I could never stop, and I never will. There is so much work to be done and so many amazing things to see,” Kramer said.

   Prior to her 2004 trip to South Africa, Kramer went with Rotarian doctors and plastic surgeons to Bolivia, Venezuela and the Philippines. Through a program called “Rotaplast,” Kramer said she took photos and listened to stories as doctors performed free corrective surgeries to cleft palates, lip deformities, burns and macrotias on more than 4,000 underprivileged people.

  “As the photojournalist, I was encouraged to observe and record anywhere, from the dusty unpaved streets to the stark operating room,” she wrote in the resulting book, Answered Prayers: a Rotaplast journey of hope. “I missed a few photo ops as parents overcome with emotion fell to their knees, hands tightly gripped in prayer.”

During her 2004 trip to South Africa Kramer said she had the opportunity to get out of the hospital and into the homes of the people of KwaZulu-Natal. There she said she came face to face with the growing problem of parentless families.

“The oldest sibling takes care of the family as so many parents die of malaria, AIDS, crime – you name it,” Kramer said.

In her second book entitled Mbali’s Bracelets, Kramer got to know a KwaZulu-Natal youth named Mbali whose older brother, Jabulani – who was 14-years-old at the time Kramer was visiting – took care of her and their 12-year-old sister Thembi. Mbali, whose name means “flower,” lost her parents when she was 5-years-old and was raised by Jabulani – who she calls “Jabu.”

“Jabu takes care of us. He is really strong. He knows how to do a lot of things. When Jabu is around I am not afraid of snakes,” Kramer wrote, paraphrasing the words of the young South African.

During her second trip to South Africa Kramer documented the work of local grandmothers who gave all of their time taking care of the many orphans in the province, Kramer said. The resulting pictures were brought back and made into large prints and photographs. All proceeds from any of Kramer’s work – from books to prints – is given to the Rotary. When she leaves and patrons of Heartwood College of Art wish to hear about her, assistant to the president Susan Wilder said she asks them to wait for Kramer’s return.

“When she comes back she brings South Africa with her in pictures, in presents, in crafts and in her eyes. You can smell it in her clothes – South Africa never leaves Berri – it is always with her,” Wilder said.

Kramer will be in South Africa for one month, and upon returning Wilder expects her to produce a presentation for the public detailing the work of her trip.

To contact Stowell P. Watters, call 282-4337 ext. 219 or email news@kennebunkpost.com.