Grandfathers in Africa
My grandfather and great-grandfather were destitute immigrants who built a business that took them to the far corners of the world. As a boy, I was riveted by stories and photos of their trips to Namibia. I want to recreate their journey.
Like so many Americans, my great-grandfather, Joseph, was an immigrant. He fled the deadly pogroms in Eastern Europe and ended up near penniless in Montreal where he eventually married and raised a family. They were very poor. My grandfather used to tell me how rats would run through his crib as night as he slept in the little apartment above their store. But Joe worked hard and he and his sons established what was to eventually become the largest fur trading business in all of Canada. Their work would take them around the world. My grandfather, Jack, was the first Western businessman to travel and trade in the Soviet Union with his Russian colleagues, who were at that time the purported “enemy.” They also traveled to Uzbekistan and, in the 1920s, Joe made a business trip across Europe, via the Mediterranean, Egypt, Syria and the Persian Gulf to the city of Peshawar near what is today the Pakistan-Afghan border. On that trip, a business partner threatened to kill him and he escaped by the skin of his teeth. Most notably, Joe and Jack would sail across the Atlantic in search of caracal lamb skins, a prize product, landing in Namibia, which was then known as South West Africa. They ventured through the capital city of Windhoek and out into the vast African desert, meeting with sheep ranchers and native tribesmen and women.
My grandfather’s stories and the black-and-white snapshots he showed me of their travels in Africa captured my imagination as a young child. His fascination with – reverence of – South West Africa, the Kalahari Desert, the Bushmen and the other tribespeople he met was evident in his voice as he spoke. He passed this wonderment on to me and I adopted it as my own. Above my desk today hangs a framed photograph of great-grandfather Joe, the penniless and uneducated refugee, on a desert ranch in the African sun, surveying a flock of caracal lambs. But by the time I came on the scene, my grandfather and his father had long since abandoned such far-flung journeys. My great-grandfather died decades before my birth and Grandpa Jack passed away when I was in high school. I have now only their snapshots and a collection of written accounts and anecdotes. But my amazement and admiration of their bold spirit of adventure blossom even today as more details of their stories continue to be revealed.
I would like to trace the journeys of my brave grandfather and great-grandfather across the Atlantic to Africa and document via photography – the same medium they used – the peoples and the remote and wild places of present-day Namibia whom they met and revered more than half a century ago.
34 Comments
You have some great ideas! I love the idea of following in your ancestor's footsteps. You have a great story that would go along beautifully with the pictures you would take. Africa is such a beautiful country (my dream is about Africa also). You have my vote. Good luck!
Mati!!Great to know this about you.you have my vote 2!!!keep it up.
Hirut.
Great idea! I never knew any of this about your family. You should write a book about your family history. Very interesting!
Good luck, this looks like a very interesting quest
All three of your ideas are interesting. Good luck Mati!
I really would love to see this creative story unfold - am intrigued by the idea of going through the generations! All the best.
What a fascinating story and a wonderful idea. You have my vote!
Mati, I voted for this idea. I would love to see you illustrate your family history. Good idea.
I love this idea! check out mine and Pic it if youd like! Congo here I come...
?? ????? ???
??
Amazing story, positively deserved to be told visually
this is a fantastic idea. best of luck, cowboy xoxox
Your great grandfather, my grandfather - same picture in my house of Joe looking at the persian lamb. Good luck!
Jewish relatives from Africa found me a long after their parents fled Nazi Poland and mine came to to the US from Russia's pogroms. Here in NM, the many layered palette continues. You have a winning combination of a good story well told and a new one in the making.
Beth Surdut, Visual Storyteller
Great story! Great project! Hope you are able to live this dream!
Good luck Matti
Hey - Fantastic idea!
You've got my vote ... Will you check mine out and give me a vote? Hang in there!
Keep shooting ... D
good luck!
shai nir
my vote is all yours! good luck mati!
Good luck man! My votes in your favor...
Amazingly important and fascinating idea. I can absoultely see a documentary in the making! My vote is for you!
Great idea. I hope you win!
Good Luck!!
you have got my vote, Mati...
Beautifully written! Love your dream! Great idea & Best of luck - you have my "PIC" - please check out my dream of furthering peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East. Thanks!!
Matt,
I wish you all the best... What a wonderful idea.
I know many people who would be interested in seeing this one. Best of luck, Mati!
Great story and project choice. Voted.
Check out my project on innovation and technology as change for the developing world and my portfolio here: http://maclellanimages.com/blog1/galleries/
Like the 'respect to your elders' tone of your idea. Voting for it. Feel free to return the favor and vote for my project on political struggles, land seizures and rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
You have my vote, If you get the chance, check out my dream "From Australia With Love" and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote for it!
Thanks.
-Adam
Hi Man good luck :)
Good Luck to you Mati, the idea sounds fascinating and through your lens it would indeed be quite a journey to share.
I like your idea, check out mine and vote for me if you like it. Its about poverty and society in 3rd world countries and how they are controlled, devastated by their governments and western industrialized nations.
Submitted by
matimilstein
More ideas from this user
I voted for you. Don't forget to vote for yourself! What a fascinating family history! My dream for this contest is about children of the world. There are lots of great dreams here. Check them out! Good luck!