I’ve been trying to write about some sport images that caught my eye while trawling through the Reuters file but I keep getting hung up on our pictures from Kenya.
They are so raw, so powerful and uncompromising that even the most accomplished images of cossetted sportsmen performing in completely controlled circumstances seem insignificant in comparison.
George Philipas
What they portray is just hellish - a pile of charred bodies in a church, a young mother lying dead in her home while her distressed toddler wails unattended, a bright-eyed teenage boy with the shaft of an arrow sticking out of his head.
People, dirt poor inflicting unimaginable cruelty and suffering on other equally poor people, the motivation for it really doesn’t matter, it is an appalling human tragedy.
Peter Andrews
When I was a kid I remember a truly shocking Oxfam poster with an image of a starving Biafran child, huge wide eyes, tormented by flies, stick thin and with an impossibly distended belly.
In the intervening period the image of a shocked, wide-eyed innocent has become an overused cypher for suffering in every subsequent African disaster, natural or otherwise, but there is nothing innocent about the look in this child’s eyes, rather there is mistrust and deep, deep hurt.
Given the scenes of mayhem which preceded it I was surprised to find this quiet image and amazed by the potency of the simple gesture of affection. I’ll get back to the sport pictures.
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[…] Out of AfricaKung Hey Fat ChoiLord of the danceIce cold at Green BayA postcard from Singapore IX - a Thaipusam story“You guys are with ME, Osama Bin Laden”A postcard from Singapore VIIIJackson on SundanceWho would be a policeman in Pakistan?Animal Crackers […]
- Posted by fotowarung.bazuki.com » Blog Archive » Out of Africa[…] Check it out here. […]
- Posted by Out of Africa - Reuters Photographers | The Click[…] I was about to pour scorn on England’s filthy performance today, but the following site just popped up on Google Reader…and reminded me just how pointless and insignificant sport is. It’s almost laughable! Reuters photographic coverage of Kenya has been outstanding and, for any fans of photographic journalism, the following (horrific) photos are a must. In fact, even if you don’t care for photography, it’s worth reminding yourself what is happening in Kenya. […]
- Posted by England are rubbish again. But nevermind | The Corridor (a cricket blog)Hi Dave,
I don’t know how to react to the images I’ve just seen considering they’re from my homeland.
I feel hurt, disturbed and most of all diappointed at everything that has occured since the very disputed election results were announced.
But I am somewhat grateful to your holding them back for a long as you did.
After the post-election violence started to take its toll, the Kenyan Minister for Infromation imposed a ban on live broadcasts and urged the local media to exercise restraint. With that regard, we didn’t get to see the rawness of what the so-called support for the political leaders, ethnic violence and random acts of violence made us be: savages. Thereby enforcing stereotypes that many Westerners hold regarding Africa.
And to tell you the truth, I’m partly glad the ban was enforced. I can’t even begin to imagine how things would have turned out if the raw images were aired and printed.Disaster is what we’d have become. A disaster i tell you.
I do not live in any of the areas that were most hit by the violence, but I feel very bad that we could turn on each other on the basis of ethnicity and democratic choices made. It tells alot about where we are as a country.
I’m thankful for the semblance of normalcy in Nairobi but are things really normal?
Kibaki, Annan and Odinga meet in their air-con rooms drinking what they please as the IDPs continue to suffer and various areas in the country remain under the control of different ethnic groups; including parts of Nairobi.
Listening to the harrowing tales did little to affirm that peace is just around the corner but we keep hope alive all the same.
I do not know what the future holds for us but i still hope and pray just like I did at the beginning of the year that things will not only calm down but also get back to what they’re supposed to be…normal.
- Posted by Diana Ngila[…] Some absolutely brutal photos from Kenya. What is wrong with the world? […]
- Posted by Kenya at who cares about pluto…Que mal que esta viviendo esa gente y nosotros que muchas veces nos quejamos por cosas insignificantes, a traves de esto tendríamos que valorar lo que tenemos y disfrutar la vida y no quejarnos por cosas materiales que al fin y al cabo no hacen la felicidad.
- Posted by GloriaThat last picture just brought tears to my eyes.
- Posted by ralpje[…] Reutersin valokuvaajien blogissa kuvia Keniasta… Ihminen osaa olla hirveä […]
- Posted by rahina . info | b l o g » Afrikasta[…] Out of Africa. Что-то у меня даже слов никаких нет. […]
- Posted by Тут Хумора.NET“That badly that this living that people and we who often we complained about insignificant things, to traves of this we would have to value what we must and enjoy the life and not complain to us about material things that after all do not make the happiness”. # ralpje says:
That says it for me.
- Posted by Chris Hashmigracias senor.
Kenya at who cares about pluto… says:
February 9th, 2008 at 6:13 pm GMT
[…] Some absolutely brutal photos from Kenya. What is wrong with the world? […]
Nothing.
- Posted by NielThe problem is people, tribal differences surpressed by governmental fiat resurfacing…
[…] Out of Africa. Чпоэтому у меня хотя бы слов никаких хоть убей. […]
- Posted by Блог Reuters фотографии из Кении — Обзор автомобилейDon’t go back to the sports photos David, stay with what’s important and what you feel the world really needs to know about. Surely we have enough images of men kicking leather balls around a pitch on a quiet sunday afternoon.
- Posted by AlexDoes anyone know what happened to that 2-year old wailing for his mother? Truly breaks my heart.
I want to know what I can do to help.
- Posted by Brandon TautimerThe name of the little boy is Brian Solomon Ingozi Mungai and this is the account of one of our people at the scene:
I visited the home of the lady who died after being hit by a bullet on Sunday 20th January 2008. The house had been vacated as the father could no longer live in a house that had been filled with so ‘much
sorrow and blood’.
We located the father, Jeremiah Mungai who first explained what had happened on that fateful day and then took us to the shamba, 20km away
from Naivasha Town, where the baby now lives with the paternal aunty, race Mmbone Njoroge.
It is symbolic of this heartbreaking upheaval that the father is a Kikuyu and the mother was a Luyha from different sides of the tribal schism that now threatens to take Kenya down a dark path and past the point of no return.
On that fateful day, an as yet unidentified prison warden came from the side of the dwelling and fired one shot indiscriminately. When the
father approached and asked why he was firing, the prison warden fired again repeatedly to disperse him some family members standing behind
him. One shot hit the dwelling, pierced the side of the dwelling and hit the woman sheltering inside in the neck. The shot proved to be
fatal.
The mother stills lies in the mortuary awaiting an autopsy to remove the bullet that killed her. The case has been reported to local police and
- Posted by David Viggersthe OCS (Officer in Charge of Station) is “investigating the case”.
David,
Thanks for posting so soon. I am glad Brian is with family.
Is there anything I can do for the family. The most I can do is offer some type of financial assistance. Perhaps I can help with the burial expenses. Please let me know and also, let me know how I can send it to be sure they receive it.
~Brandon
- Posted by Brandon Tautimer“it is a shame to leave in a land with justice as a game” iám Kenyan, and our politicians have shamed us and smeared our pride as Kenyans with a layer of ugliness that will take years to wash away.
- Posted by wacira kariuki