It’s a great time to be in Cairo. During my five days here the city has constantly been alive with energy at all hours. On Saturday night Egypt’s Pharaohs won a crucial victory over its bitter rival Algeria. However the winning margin (2-0) was not enough to qualify outright for the World Cup, so the two must face off again in Sudan on Wednesday. Tensions between the two teams are so intense that four members of the Algerian team were injured when their bus was stoned upon entering Cairo on Friday. Most of Cairo’s 20 million residents were huddled around TV screens set up on the city’s sidewalks on Saturday night. Some clamored on car tops or telephone polls to catch a view of the match, returning down to the street to revel during commercial breaks. Once the win was secure the droves crawled from the sidewalks to the city[…]
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KEEPing the rainforest alive – Kenya’s Kakamega Forest Reserve
I was recently in Western Kenya. What was intended to be a quick stopover en route to Uganda turned into four days of rummaging through a rainforest with my camera wrapped in plastic shopping bags. As my “hotel” was without it, I had to hitch a ride on the back of a motorcycle to the nearest place with electricity so I could download images and charge batteries every night. Not too long ago Africa’s midsection was a band of almost solid rainforest, stretching over six million square kilometers from West Africa along the Atlantic, through to the Central African Republic and the DRC, into East Africa. Today, the Guineo-Congolian rainforest, as it is known, is now just a remnant of what it once was, its canopies having suffered the impact of logging, oil and mineral exploration. In the case of the Kakamega Forest, large areas were cleared during colonial times[…]
Read MoreWomen’s Work
Gender roles are strictly divided in Sub-Saharan Africa – more so here than in any other place I’ve traveled. Women perform most of the tasks here from fetching water, to washing clothes, to taking a child to the hospital. However, few roles are solely set aside for men, except perhaps playing football or napping in the afternoon shade. A breach of code whereby men venture into women’s work is a sore embarrassment and one not to be done publicly. For the majority of those living on this continent life is hard. For women, the burden is harder still.
Read MoreShoreculture – Lake Babati, Tanzania
Lake Babati is one of dozens of water bodies known as the Rift Valley Lakes that span the eastern side of the African Continent from Mozambique to the Red Sea. The lake is the lifeblood of the town of Babati in Central Tanzania. Here people draw their cooking, cleaning, and even drinking water. Cattle feast along the densely vegetated shorelines beside women from nearby villages washing clothes. The lake is also home to abundant wildlife including fish, prawns, eels, hippos and many species of water bird. Like the diverse wildlife found in the lake, Babati is a melting pot for Tanzania’s various tribes. On a given day one may find members of the Masai, Barabaig, Iraqw, Irangi and Man’gati tribes laboring along the shores of the lake or harvesting its fruits from within. However, the tranquil balance between man and nature has shifted as overuse of the lake’s resources have[…]
Read MoreOn the Road… Kondoa District
Beginning a week ago, I’ve left my “desk” for a road trip across East Africa to shoot for myself for a little while. I began where I live in the Kilimanjaro Region and have headed South-West, into Central Tanzania. I don’t have too much of a plan but hope to end up somewhere in Uganda. Highlights from the first few days, in Kondoa District, are below. My bus broke down toward the end of the journey to Kondoa, prompting me to walk for two hours to the next town. Various stages of dinner:
Read MoreHoly Ghost Power
The Spirit was unbridled on Sunday down at the Huduma ya Ephata, where I sometimes attend services. I prefer a quieter, more contemplative service and it’s not usually quite this charismatic. However, when the Spirit descends you’ve got to, sometimes literally, roll with it.
Read Morerecent portraits
I’ve accumulated a lot of photographs of people in the past few months. These didn’t exactly fit into any of my essays. All were taken in various parts of Tanzania.
Read MoreSo long, farewell
Frank & Salome got married recently. While I photographed their wedding as well, I thought the images from the farewell were a bit more interesting. The farewell is when the bride formally says goodbye to her family and is embraced into that of the groom’s. In this case, there was a lot more hoopla and fanfare here than at the wedding, which occurred two days later. The day showcased a melange of tribal customs; Salome is a Masai, Frank a Chagga. My favorite of these was the lavishly ornate, roasted goat, also known as “the cakie”. The event, which took place on the slopes of Mt. Meru, served as a reminder that while Africa is modernizing, its deep-seated traditions remain.
Read MoreSeeds of Tomorrow
I never knew the significance behind breeding seeds, or that it could even be done to produce beneficial results. Without understanding the exact science behind it, I can emphasize that it’s very important – important enough to be able to lift lives out of poverty. My most recent assignment was here in Tanzania with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation photographing agricultural projects. (If you frequent my blog, you’ll know this subject is familiar territory.) Since 2006, the Gates Foundation has supported an organization headed by Kofi Annan called Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The grantee’s goal is to spark the same agricultural revolution that led to India’s self-sufficiency in grain foods beginning in the mid 1960’s. This is done partially through the Gates PASS (Program for Africa’s Seed Systems) initiative, whose projects I photographed in recent days. In the 1990’s, an epidemic called Cassava Brown Streak[…]
Read MoreFighting Chance
Education is neither universal nor compulsory. Most people have no choice but the out-of-pocket health care plan. Tanzania is anything but the land of opportunity. At least the kids at Light in Africa have a chance at a fruitful, prosperous life. Often times it is a better chance than those living outside the walls of these children’s homes in the Kilimanjaro Region. The Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania’s most populous outside of Dar es Salaam, is home to some 20,000 orphaned children. The idea of immediate family in Sub-Saharan Africa extends beyond the borders of mother, father, son and daughter; the majority of those without surviving parents stay with aunts and uncles, cousins or grandparents. Where this is not financially feasible, where home life has been deemed unsuitable, or where the child has no surviving relatives, they enter life in a children’s home. The region, like many other populous areas of Sub-Saharan[…]
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