MOSES Lamani, like the Bathurst Street camera obscura, is one of a kind. Moses has been an employee at the Grahamstown Albany Museum for 23 years.
For most of this time he has been operating the Victorian camera obscura – the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere – at the Observatory Museum.
MOSES Lamani, like the Bathurst Street camera obscura, is one of a kind. Moses has been an employee at the Grahamstown Albany Museum for 23 years.
For most of this time he has been operating the Victorian camera obscura – the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere – at the Observatory Museum.
Moses is an historian, teacher and profound philosopher with a keen ear for language – he speaks Xhosa,
English and Afrikaans. He is soft-spoken and his warm and pensive eyes hold my attention.
When he speaks he frowns slightly, every word is deliberate and patient, even when I don’t understand at first. Moses was born and raised in Tantyi in 1956.
He went to Nathaniel Nyaluza High School until Grade 10 and finished Grade 11 and 12 in the Ciskei. His love of history and culture flourished when he started working for museums in Grahamstown in 1984.
“The thing I like about working here is the history, because it is a place of education. My first year here was very interesting to me. I love the museums and the history.”
His ardent interest in culture, “culture of everybody, irrespective of colour” is embedded in this passion. “We are all human beings, be patient with everybody.
We are one, we are the same.” Moses speaks animatedly about how much he enjoys interacting with different kinds of people.
“I can learn the language they speak, they also ask from us how to greet, how to say ‘how are you?’” His eyes light up as he recalls how he speaks Afrikaans to Dutch visitors. He has also learnt to say “Zwakala Nganeno” (come along) from his Zulu visitors.
It’s time to see the city, and we walk up the spiral staircase to the camera obscura. Moses closes the door so all the light is shut out of the tiny room.
He invites us to stand next to him facing the round concave table and pulls the strong ropes which rotate the reflective mirror and double convex lenses on the roof.
He points towards the various images on the table with his stick, and I search for familiar places like my residence and Grocott’s Mail.
His knowledge of the town and both its past and current history is astounding. As we walk around the table I’m baffled by the ease with which he shows us buildings and monuments of Settler, Dutch and amaXhosa history.
His favourite place is Bathurst Street with the old Odeon cinema (now a shop) because he loves to see the activity of cars driving and people walking about. Moses’ philosophy is entrenched in respect for human dignity.
“I’m a human being, living in the world now. I can’t run away from your culture, you can’t run away from my culture. Hoe kan ons maak?”
