Children don’t usually get the chance to tell their elected leaders what’s on their mind, especially in the developing world. These bright young ones from Kampala, Uganda, however, were selected by a child rights consortium to appear before their parliament to discuss how violence in their community affects them. Following their appearance, I was able to sit down with them personally so they could share their message with the rest of the world.
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Lutheran World Relief’s breakthrough agriculture project in Uganda’s Palabek Refugee Settlement allows refugees to reduce, if not eliminate, their reliance on food aid. Improved seeds coupled with agricultural trainings lead to a diversified diet and income generation opportunities brought on by the sale of surplus crops.
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Many of Honduras’ children miss out on childhood as a result of the spiraling violence that has become a way of life in the Central American nation. I shot this video as an advocacy tool for ChildFund in its efforts to inform decision makers in Washington and across the world of the sometimes unfathomable dangers children face each day.
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My retrospective humanitarian photography exhibit, Safe Passage, opened Friday at the main branch of the Richmond Public Library in downtown RVA. It will remain open until September 4th. This e-exhibit is for those of you too distant to visit in person. All of us dream about what we might do with our winnings if we were lucky enough to win the lottery. What if someone told you you’d already won? The citizenship lottery, that is. You live here. For most of us, the inequalities and hardships within our own borders cannot compare to the level of hardship that exists in the developing world. A water tap in our home, free public education, a childhood without forced labor – all of these are liberties enjoyed by most American children. As our country struggles over its southern border and hundreds of migrants land on Europe’s shores each day, much of the rhetoric in[…]
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While we’re on the subject of cocoa (see my previous post) I had an opportunity recently to photograph the work of Uganda’s first and only chocolate producer, Pink Foods Industries. While farmers have been cultivating cocoa in this East African nation for decades, Pink Foods is the first Ugandan company to process the beans into a finished consumer product. My client, Shared Interest, is financing the expansion of the company into a bigger processing center. As a fair trade ethical investment firm, Shared Interest was certainly more concerned with seeing the people behind the product, rather than the product itself. Once these pods are harvested, they’re split open to reveal a white, sweet, fleshy fruit, delicious to the taste, enveloping the cocoa beans. Many farmers make a habit of savoring this fruit as they work. Once this sweet flesh is removed, the beans are spread out in the sun, fermented, roasted,[…]
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Here’s some recent stills shot for the Millennium Challenge Corporation on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. These showcase the organization’s triumphs in strengthening the nation’s cocoa value chain through the Green Prosperity Project. Various scenery from the island shot from a plane, boat and/or airport is also included.
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Here are some highlights from my recent assignment in Kenya with Lutheran World Relief. The project I was documenting seeks to impart the skills of conservation agriculture to farmers who live in extremely arid areas of the country. Techniques like digging zai pits, terraced farming, and other water-harvesting methods allow farmers to make the most of the little rain that does fall, enabling them to move beyond the subsistence level and into making an income. What’s a zai pit? Watch the short video below: In total I shot five video stories, one each day, and a few stills as well. You can say it was exhausting, but not nearly as much as what these farmers do, working their fields every day to reap what they can from the land.
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On a recent assignment assignment with MCC, I got the chance to explore Indonesia’s Jogjakarta, including the ancient temples of Prambanan and Borobudur, found on the city’s outskirts.
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Here’s my take on Tasty, shot for ChildFund International to highlight all the work that goes into the preparation of a meal for many in Sub-Saharan Africa. This was a lot of fun to shoot. Production shots follow.
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