africa Archives - Jake Lyell

Post Tagged with: "africa"

Maternal and Child Health in Uganda

January 31, 2022

Joyce lost her baby. Rose lost her mother. This tragic story is a microcosm of the dangers and challenges families face when a woman gives birth. I shot and edited this video story from Kalaki District, Uganda, for ChildFund Australia as part of a new campaign to help mothers and babies stay safe during pregnancy and childbirth. In Uganda a woman is 63 times more likely to die in childbirth compared to a woman in Australia, whereas a child is 11 times more likely to die at birth or soon after. As part of the initiative, the organization is training new community health volunteers, funding and mobilizing rural health outreach clinics, and distributing delivery kits to expectant mothers.

Fighting the Drought

November 22, 2021

I recently traveled to drought-stricken areas of northern Kenya – Samburu and Marsabit counties – to document ChildFund’s response to the crisis and see how families were faring after receiving desperately needed water and food support.

Fleeing insecurity in Burkina Faso

April 18, 2021

Open Sesame

July 3, 2019

It’s one thing to increase the crop yields of vulnerable, smallholder farmers in a climate-challenged corner of the world. Lots of organizations are working – and bearing fruit – in this capacity. It’s another thing entirely to transform these smallholder farmers into major agricultural producers, connect them with buyers, and strengthen the value chain of a commodity for an entire region. In my most recent assignment with Lutheran World Relief, I was commissioned to take a brief look at the SESAME project, a US Department of Agriculture-funded initiative that works not only to increase the quality and volume of sesame farmers in Burkina Faso, but also to strengthen the cooperative system in sesame growing regions of the county. By working in cooperatives, everyday farmers can negotiate higher prices, streamline quality, access inputs and enhance overall market conditions, all of which create a sustainable, private-sector led framework for the sale[…]

Saving Grace

May 30, 2019

At the age of thirteen, Grace’s parents fell on hard times. The bride price paid by an older man in the village was incentive for them to withdraw her from school and marry her off. This video is part of a series I recently shot and produced for ChildFund documenting the organization’s work to prevent early marriage in Zambia.

Habbanaye: Goat Whispering in the Sahel

April 23, 2019

Every day the Sahara Desert gets a little bit bigger. Millimeter by millimeter, the desert encroaches on the people of the Sahel, the biogeographic zone in west and central Africa that transitions between the vast desert to the north and the fertile savannah to the south. For most people who find their homes here, living off the land becomes all the more difficult year after year. In an earlier post I talked about ways that farmers are rejuvenating their land through Lutheran World Relief’s CORE II project (Community-Led Food Crisis Recovery in the Sahel). This is a necessary undertaking to boost agricultural productivity, but is also one that takes time. In addition to maintaining fertile fields, survival in this climate-volatile region also depends on one’s ability to diversify income. Cue the goats! Livestock production can be a lucrative and sustainable income for poor farmers. Goats in particular are[…]

Escaping Child Marriage in Kenya

March 20, 2019

I’m always astonished at the enthusiasm that exists for education among students in the developing world, especially when compared to my native USA. I was reminded of this during a recent assignment in Kenya, where I spent a day at the Sapashe girls’ dormitory at a remote primary school in Samburu County. The dorm, one of many constructed by ChildFund in sub-Sahran Africa, provides a safe place for school-age girls to live on campus while they focus on their education. Girls face a number of challenges in rural Kenya including FGM, child marriage, and, more often, the hurdle that when at home they’re expected to perform domestic chores like fetching water and herding livestock, rather than to concentrate on academics. The ability to live on campus helps bypass many of these obstacles. In the above video piece I present the story of Rehema, a resident of the Sapashe dorm, who[…]

Reclaiming the Land

February 13, 2019

Many people in the developing world have no choice but to make a living as subsistence farmers in extremely adverse conditions. In the West African Sahel, desertification threatens the food security and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers. Lutheran World Relief’s agricultural projects help these farmers to rejuvenate their land and mitigate drought through the use of water harvesting and organic farming techniques. Vast swaths of barren land have been brought back to life through these interventions. This is a bold claim, but my drone helps to prove it!

We Have Rights

October 30, 2018

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.

Safe Passage: Childhood in the Developing World

August 6, 2018

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[…]