11-14 (Elephants)

Oabile was 14 when this photo was taken. It was the first time anyone had taken her photograph.

When I first met her, she was being cared for by her aging uncle who asked for help because he could not get Oabile and her sisters to attend school.

There were several attempts to speak to Oabile but neither she nor her sisters would talk.

Suddenly, a few months later, she turned up at a colleague’s house and built a trusting relationship that led to Oabile and her younger sister attending school. Sadly, the whereabouts of her older sister is unknown.