The children of Dadaab: Life through the lens
Through my video “The children of Dadaab: Life through the Lens” I wanted to tell the story of the Somali children living in Kenya’s Dadaab. Living in the world’s largest refugee camp, they are the ones bearing the brunt of Africa’s worst famine in sixty years.
I wanted to see if I could tell their story through a different lens, showing their daily lives instead of just glaring down at their ribbed bodies and swollen eyes.
It was a challenging project. As one senior photographer asked, how else can we tell the story without showing images that clearly illustrate the plight of the starving millions? Few photographs cover all aspects of life in the camps.
Many of Dadaab’s children are dying. And then there are others who, despite living in the world’s oldest refugee camp, embrace their childhood; they play, go to school, care for their siblings and collect water for their families. I wanted to incorporate all of these aspects of life for Dadaab’s children into this project.
To tell the story, I combined Reuters photography captured during the height of the famine with footage I had collected when I was in Dadaab six months ago, before the severity of the crisis hit international headlines.
The point is, when news of the famine made it to the front pages, the children I had filmed in Dadaab were now only perceived as children on the frontline of famine. Not just as children who were excited with the furor we brought to the camp.
Me and the man with the iPad
By Barry Malone
I never know how to behave when I go to write about hungry people.
I usually bring just a notebook and a pen because it seems somehow more subtle than a recorder. I drain bottled water or hide it before I get out of the car or the plane. In Ethiopia a few years ago I was telling a funny story to some other journalists as our car pulled up near a church where we had been told people were arriving looking for food.
We got out and began walking towards the place, me still telling the tale, shouting my mouth off, struggling to get to the punch line through my laughter and everybody else’s.
Then there was this sound, a low rumbling thing that came to meet us.
I could feel it roll across the ground and up through my boots. I stopped talking, my laughter died, I grabbed the arm of the person beside me: “What is that?” And I realized. It was the sound of children crying. There were enough children crying that — I’ll say it again — I could feel it in my boots. I was shamed by my laughter.
The problem with photojournalism sometimes is that as people in privileged countries often see pictures of suffering people in far off places, they may suffer from compassion fatigue. It is interesting what this anti-hunger campaign did to counter this phenomenon. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/busine ss/media/antihunger-campaign-forgoes-ima ges-of-starving-children.html
The truth is that photographs do not even begin to demonstrate the suffering of people. Words and images are the only thing people have to spread the word that there is inequality in the world, yet they are always remarkably inadequate. It is very easy to put up an immunity to being emotionally moved by such things. There is no guarantee that taking a photograph of someone suffering will help the person.
Therefore, it is extra important that photographers receive the permission of those they photograph, as those who are photographed may not feel the photos are worthwhile. Peoples’ dignity should always be respected.
In the face of famine
Thursday, July 21, 2011 was supposed to be like any other night shift here on the pictures desk in Singapore – selecting, editing, and captioning pictures as they came in from around the world. On the menu would be coverage of National Day in Belgium, Eurozone summit, Tour de France, Europa League soccer, golf, and the daily file from Libya, Yemen and the rest of the Middle East, just to name a few.
In my close to four years working as a pictures sub-editor I’ve seen a large variety of what the world, and life has to offer. The rise and fall of politicians and regimes, tsunamis, earthquakes, athletes celebrating and hanging their heads in scandal-ridden shame, conservative cultures covering up in the name of modesty and liberal cultures baring all in the name of expression, fashion, entertainment, or just for the sake of it.
Through my photographer colleagues around the world, I’ve also witnessed a lot of bloodshed, violence and death. From a little girl clutching her dead mother’s body with her intestines spilling onto the road after a bomb explosion, to relatives reacting following gangland executions, heads and genitalia severed. ‘Soldiers’, ‘rebels’, ‘freedom fighters’, ‘terrorists’ – all killing each other in the name of one ideology or another. All of this, as a news organization we’ve presented to you.
I’ve also seen the images we decided not to distribute — similar gangland executions, but with bodies skinned and dismembered, genitalia placed in severed hands. Images we deemed too gruesome to publish in a newspaper, or simply just unsuitable for any use.
Until today, July 21, I’d thought I had been desensitized enough to be able to handle anything our photographers send in and be able to see the world unfold, and in turn show the world what’s happening right now.
All these years, sitting in my ergonomic desk chair, in the air-conditioned newsroom, drinking cup after cup of iced Milo to keep me going, I’ve always wondered what our photographers go through covering the various disasters and conflicts. The other Global Pictures Desk editors and I are bombarded by hundreds upon hundreds of images every 8-hour shift work. The Global Pictures Desk never shuts down and this flow of pictures is never ending — 3 shifts a day, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But when I step out of the office I’ve always been able to purge my mind of images that undoubtedly caused nightmares for my colleagues out in the field who actually were there taking the pictures.
thank you for shraing.
we need more people doing this publishing.
Coming from Africa, I too starved. My mom didn’t even had corn flour to feed me and my two younger sisters. It is really sad that kids struggled against obesity in one part of the world and african children died from the lack the basics…food.
“Do as little as you can, even though you think it’s not much”
AUDIO SLIDESHOW: Two Decades, One Somalia
In the 20 years since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled, Somalia has faced hunger, flooding, fighting, suicide attacks, piracy and insurgency.
Prevailing violent conflict inside Somalia makes it difficult if not impossible for aid agencies to reach people.
AlertNet brings you special coverage of the country which has struggled without a strong central government ever since.
Here is a selection of Reuters pictures from 1993 to 2011 on this war-torn country and failed state.
from Russell Boyce:
Asia – A Week in Pictures February 27, 2011
- The World's gaze at events in the Middle East was broken last week after an earthquake of 6.3 destroyed many buildings in Christchurch, New Zealand; the death toll now stands at 147 with 200 still missing. This was the latest disaster covered by Tim Wimborne. In recent weeks he has been to Toowoomba and Brisbane for the floods, Cairns for the typhoon Yasi and now NZ to cover the earthquake. Tim worked closely with stringer Simon Baker to produce a file that saddens the heart, buildings normally seen on holiday postcards now forming the tombs of those who have died and as yet have not been pulled from the rubble. For me one of the strongest images is that of a man picking through the rubble of what was once his home. With Tim's birds-eye view we see that nothing is really worth saving amid the dust and rubble, a photograph, a smashed lamp and a model boat.
Resident of the beach-side suburb of New Brighton, Julian Sanderson, searches for personal items through the remains of his house, destroyed by Tuesday's earthquake, in Christchurch February 25, 2011. International rescue teams searched through the rubble of quake-ravaged Christchurch on Friday for more than 200 people still missing, but rain and cold were dimming hopes of finding more survivors in the country's worst natural disaster in decades. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne
A rescue worker (R) looks through the rubble of the Cathedral of Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch February 24, 2011. International rescuers intensified their search for earthquake survivors in New Zealand on Thursday, spurred on by reports of a faint female voice heard beneath a collapsed church, even as the official death toll of 71 looked certain to climb. REUTERS/Simon Baker
In China the word Jasmine has taken on a new meaning. For most it means a flower or tea; to the authorities it means dissent and potential danger to the given order. Social networkers have called for a "Jasmine Revolution" in China inspired by the demonstrations in the Middle East. The government's response was swift, crushing any demonstrations, which are now planned on a weekly basis. The word Jasmine was blocked on the China internet as was the professional social network service LinkedIn. Photographers Carlos Barria, David Gray and Aly Song were quickly onto the streets to cover the demonstrations being snuffed out by the authorities. Communist party officials' were quick to blame the unrest on "hostile western forces". What fascinates me about these three pictures is the calm look on the faces of the protesters. I suppose one has to wonder if these lone activists have been released from custody and if not what conditions they are being held under now and for how long.
Amid fires the air is thick with prayers
The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin occupied the nation’s TV screens while reports of his bravado in fighting forest wildfires littered the media. The rest of the country were dead on their feet, choking with smoke as they fought the disaster.
Unable to depend upon Putin, government authority or new luxury equipment for assistance, locals grew weary as they defended their houses using an arsenal of tractors, farm equipment and shovels.
Some relied on their prayers.
A priest blessed firefighters in the village of Berestyanka before they continued on. Local residents conducted religious services asking God for rain to prevent new wildfires like the one that partially destroyed the village of Kriusha on August 5.
from Russell Boyce:
Don’t drink the water, even if there is any to drink (Update)
One more picture that caught my eye during the 24 hours news cycle for the World Water Day is the image of hundreds of hoses providing drinking water to residents of a housing block in Jakarta. The grubby plastic pipes supplying a fragile lifeline to families seem to represent the desperation that people face when the water supply is cut off.
Hoses used to supply residences with water are seen hanging across a street at the Penjaringan subdistrict in Jakarta March 22, 2010. Residents in the area say that they have had to construct makeshift water supplies for their homes by attaching hoses to pumps bought with their own money, as the government has yet to repair the original water supply which was damaged. March 22 is World Water Day. REUTERS/Beawiharta
Today, March 22 is World Water Day and Reuters photographers in Asia were given an open brief to shoot feature pictures to illustrate it. The only requirement I asked of them is that they included in the captions, the fact that while the Earth is literally covered in water, more than a billion people lack access to clean water for drinking or sanitation. At the same time in China 50 million people are facing drought conditions and water shortages and the two stories seemed to tie in with one another.
Looking at the file today three pictures really stuck home to me as to just how enormous the problem of getting clean water to people in the world is.
A boy swims in the murky waters of Manila Bay March 21, 2010. The Earth is literally covered in water, but more than a billion people lack access to clean water for drinking or sanitation as most water is salty or dirty. March 22 is World Water Day. REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo
Ur feeds r fed into other blogger’s RSS feeders, makin’ it syndicated or putting in anoda way, people out there will subscribe to them & receive online copies of your text.
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Resident Photographers Blog Expert
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The Wall
It is very hard with even the best efforts and intentions to overcome corruption: bribes and payoffs, extortion, protection rackets, insiders syphoning off the oil and mineral revenues, corporations pretty much doing whatever they want and enslaving entire populations, and commodities traders driving the price of grains and fuels up.
I know, Africa should lower the tax rates for the top 1% to 15% and they will create lots of jobs!
Too bad they don’t have Fox News in Africa.