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from Photographers Blog:
Mining in the middle of nowhere
By Yusuf Ahmad
I can feel the strong sun's sting when, for the first time, I set foot in Palu, a city on Sulawesi island. The city is growing slowly as it is still recovering from ethnic and religious conflict in the early 2000s. As I stand at the city center I can see the top of Masomba mountain wrapped in clouds with the blue sky in the background. However, traveling to the Masomba area is not easy. I go with a local gold miner on a motorcycle.
There are two ways to get to the area. You can cross several rivers or take a mountainous way. The second way is harder as the road is severely damaged.
I arrived at the mining location in two hours. I didn't expected to see tens of thousands of people at the feet of the mountain in temporary housing and tents. Not far from the houses and tents, the hill was filled with gold miners.
I took a brief rest, studying the situation and interacting with the locals before I started to take out my camera gear. I greeted every miner I met with a smile, giving them signals so my presence could be accepted. Then I started to take pictures of their activities. I only used a Canon EOS 1D Mark IIN camera and a wide angle lens to avoid attention. I also had a small fanny bag with a telephoto lens and flash.
from FaithWorld:
Vatican excommunicates pro-govt Chinese Catholic bishop, criticizes Beijing
(Christmas mass at a Catholic church in Beijing December 24, 2009./David Gray)
A Chinese bishop ordained without papal approval has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church, the Vatican has said, bringing relations between the Vatican and Beijing to a new low. In a statement branding Thursday's ordination illegitimate, the Vatican said Pope Benedict "deplores" the way communist authorities are treating Chinese Catholics who want to remain faithful to Rome instead of to the state-backed Church.
China's state-sanctioned Catholic Church ordained Joseph Huang Bingzhang as bishop in Shantou city in southern Guangdong province on Thursday despite warnings he would not be recognized because the city has a Vatican-approved bishop.
from Photographers Blog:
Seventy-two shattered dreams
Carlos, a migrant and three-time deportee, commented to me, “I’ve been there and back, too. I’m a migrant and I want a better future.” Carlos’ brother is one of the 16 Hondurans whose bodies were repatriated on September 1st after being found among the 72 immigrants executed by a drug cartel in Tamaulipas, Mexico, as they neared the border with the U.S.
I couldn’t help thinking of a recent magazine article about 800 expatriate soccer players in Europe and how, according to the author, their story might open doors for other foreign “workers” in this globalized world. It struck me that while many of those athletes were born in the slums of Latin America just like most of the 72 dead migrants, the difference was that their talent made it good business for them to cross borders.
