Our creative work should not be judged only by its monetary value. And we should honour that more within ourselves.
It was shortly after September 11, 2001. I was part of a news crew filming the unfolding war in northern Afghanistan. Four of us and an Afghan driver were crammed into a very old Russian 4×4 that rattled and careened across the rutted pathways that served as roads across the steep mountain slopes. We were rushing to get to the front lines where we were to film the fighting between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban.
We passed through a tiny hamlet. Dimly, through the filthy, dust-covered window, I glimpsed a woman weaving a carpet. She was sitting on the ground with her coloured tufts of wool spread out around her. A wooden loom was propped up at an angle in front of her. The carpet was only about a quarter finished. It was the beginning of a beautiful work of art. I remember the main tints as dark blue interwoven with different shades of browns and yellows. She watched us as we trundled past her in our vehicle, heading for the war and the world-changing events that were happening in a valley only a few miles away from her.
That fleeting image of her peacefully weaving her carpet amidst all the chaos and fear around her has stuck in my mind ever since. One of the disadvantages of traditional news coverage is that far too often we, as journalists, are limited to focusing on one particular event. This means that often we miss so much else of what is happening in the country or the community around us. Of course, the events of the war against the Taliban were of primary importance that day, but there was something important about what she was doing. Partly, it was the very ancient story of women keeping alive the beauty and hopes of ordinary life while the men rush off to the destruction of war. But it also struck me that her struggle to keep weaving a carpet while the bombs and artillery shells exploded nearby was a powerful symbol of all that is intrinsically valuable in life and yet impossible to measure.
hamilton wende
Hamilton Wende is an author, journalist and TV producer. He has worked all over the world, covering historical events and some 17 different wars and conflicts. He is based in Johannesburg and travels from there. He has worked for a number of international networks including BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera. He has also reported on events in South Africa for the last three decades. He has published many articles in newspapers, magazines and websites around the world. He is the author of 9 books. House of War, Only the Dead and The King’s Shilling are thrillers based on his travels around the world as a journalist. His latest book Red Air is based on his experiences filming with the US Marines in Afghanistan. He has a master’s degree in Creative Writing from Wits University.
He is also the author of the popular children’s books: Arabella, the Moon and the Magic Mongongo Nut and Arabella the Secret King and the Amulet from Timbuktu which are set in Johannesburg and Knysna. He is working on the third volume in the series.
