Tough being a poor black child in South Africa

Above is a photo I took on 08 April 2015 at around 10:00 am. What I observed happening between those two boys, one white and one black broke my heart and made me cry, literally. Let me narrate the story...

I am a photojournalist trained in the craft at Market Photo Workshop. I know that taking photographs of children without their parents' permission is not allowed, this explains why the photo is as it is, with both kids' faces not showing.

Now what I saw happening was these two kids were playing at a park in a gated community at one of the affluent suburbs of Johannesburg. The way they were playing turned to be peculiar and strange and not how kids naturally play. With maid (who happened to be the black child's mother) looking on the game went something like this: the white kid who appeared about eight years old was hitting golf balls all over the park while the black child ran after those balls to pick them up and put them in a neat row.

At first I thought the black child who appeared to be ten years old would also get a chance to hit the golf balls while the white kid picked them up and neatly put them in a neat row, but nope that never happened. I found myself transfixed to the spot and really felt bad for the  black child as this game could not have been enjoyable to him or any young boy for that matter.

After thirty to forty minutes of this "game" going on things got worse. The white kid finished playing with golf balls all over the park as he is no Tiger Woods. Why I say things got worse is because the black child picked up all the golf balls and mini clubs put them in a golf bag and as he lifted what to him was a heavy golf bag the white kid got onto his bike and together with maid who I should say again was the black child's mother they left the park.

Velempini Ndlovu is freelance photojournalist  based in Johannesburg, he can be reached on veapndlovu@gmail.com