Our maiden expedition came about after a good friend of ours decided to drive his beautiful Land Rover 130 all the way from Dar es Salaam to Cape Town.

 

Miriam flew in from London and Carel put his safari business on hold to explore the Tanzanian south coast and the Mozambique coastline.  They spent a whole day outside a house off the road in the middle of nowhere and started taking pictures for the family where they stayed overnight. It had an overwhelming effect on the family and the first photo memories were ceated.

 

One of the family members, Maria, survived a 20 year civil war to mother her only son and daughters. They were joined by the neighbors and their neighbors and Carel took pictures for everyone.  What overwhelmed them was how proud the people were of having their picture taken and what a single image meant to them. We sometimes forget that we have cameras with every mobile phone and images are a massive part of the developed world, but in northern Mozambique we were handing out pictures to people that has never had a picture of themselves and their loved ones before, it had an incredible effect on all of us.

 

Carel’s vast knowledge as an owner of a Safari company combined with Miriam’s astute business acumen and natural flair for marketing abroad, quickly solidified the idea of making and giving memories with photos, into a reality. The couples commitment to implementing change by giving back to the many impoverished communities and strangers they met along those tracks, is an inspiration to all those who are currently involved with The Memory Foundation.

 

We believe their pioneering work will continue to inspire many people in the future, no matter where they may come from, what their status is or what their beliefs are.