"We all live in the protection of certain cowardices we call our principles." - Mark Twain

There was a group of American university students who came to South Africa recently to volunteer and teach in some of the country's poorer schools. They came for just a month, and they arrived at the beginning of the teacher strike that has kept millions of children across the nation from school over the past several weeks. These Americans came for a very good reason. I think if I got to know them, I would probably like a lot of them, but they did something this past week that really rubbed me the wrong way.

These university students came to Eluxolweni so they could have some sort of interaction with kids before returning home. I admire these people for sacrificing their money—and their time—to come to another continent and help children half a world away.

Their stint at Eluxolweni bothered me though. The first day they came to the shelter, they couldn’t have been there more than an hour before the cameras came out. Those couple hours feature, among other things, a happy looking Thulani with an American girl decked out in oversized shades in one photo.

I asked Thulani what the girl's name in the photo was. He didn’t know.

I’d like to ask Ms. Sunglasses the same question: “What’s his name?”

I bet she wouldn’t have a clue. Though she will be able to go home now and say “Like, oh my God, this boy, he was such a sweetie. He and I were such good friends, like, oh my God. I love him so much.”

There was another shot of Alutha in front of the Eluxolweni van, another of the guys gumboot dancing and smiling with the visitors. Literally dozens of photos of smiling faces from the couple hours they spent together.

The kids received several photos from that day, which is also nice. At least these students didn’t just come in, take photos and leave without giving the kids copies. The issue for me is that those photos should have never been taken. It’s not a jealousy thing. It is a thing of me being overprotective of the kids I’ve come to know and love during my time here and in many ways, it’s a decency thing. These are kids who have been exploited by many people who have walked into—and out of—their very short lives. One shouldn’t take photos with these kids unless you’ve truly spent some time to get to know them, to interact with them, to actually remember who the hell the little black boy is in the photograph long after you’ve returned home.

Would you go to a shelter in New York and just start taking photos with every other child you see? What makes it any more acceptable to do it here? Spending a couple hours over a two-day period is not getting to know these children. Come play a game, come talk to them, come get a tour, but leave the camera out of it.

That being said, I take photos with the children. I don’t have a problem with what I do. I wouldn’t have a problem if Lydia or Riona or anyone who’s invested any significant portion of time with the kids took photos with them. I really disagree with people just coming in for a day or two though and snapping away. Eluxolweni is not a petting zoo nor should it be a tourist destination. It’s a shelter for children who’ve been abused.

I understand these Americans weren’t intentionally doing anything to exploit the children. I understand they came to help children and because of matters out of their control, they didn’t have the opportunity to do so. I am glad they were able to come to Eluxolweni to see the kids. I just wish the cameras had stayed in the hand bags.

The kids didn’t have a problem with it, so I guess I shouldn’t either.

But I do.