It was more than 4 years ago that I received an email from my friend Greg Lomas, telling about some arty weekend and suggesting we collaborate on a photography project for this thing - Show 'n Tell in Matjiesfontein. We came up with the idea of a Photo Studio and I bought a remote control for his Canon 450D. I loved the fact that I knew nothing about the event, I loved that we went up on the train, and the weekend really did open a window to a new chapter in my life.
For the next 3 years, a group of us volunteered to organise this magical event, to keep it running and allow it to grow. What a gift to work in such a way with people: creative ideas, no ego, no boss, no money, no fighting... only laughs and love and hard work. Over numerous dinners during our busy weeks we planned how we would guide that year's Matjies participants into creating a truly magical and different experience for themselves.
It is not only my own personal observation that so many beautiful friendships have been sparked and solidified at Show 'n Tell. Or that it's the one time you get to see a person do something they are secretly really good at, or really scared of...and that it inspires us to such an extent.
Matjiesfontein Show 'n Tell is not ending, it is becoming something else. With no name or a different name, it will happen when you are sleeping, when you see the person that you wandered off into the Karoo night in search of the field of lights with, when you giggle remembering Inappropriate Dave's fireworks display, when you realise that actually, the big idea is just to dream something up and then do it. And we can do that every single day!
Thank you thank you thank you to Inge, Jeremy, Raffa, Simon, Marc, Caitlin, Taryn, Luke, Danna and all our helpers and enthusiasts. I love you guys in a big way.
