africa Archives - Page 6 of 12

Post Tagged with: "africa"

Seeing My Wild Side

April 26, 2014

My passion is to tell people’s stories. Sometimes, however, I find myself in places of incredible natural beauty where creatures other than humans make their dwelling. Already this year I’ve had no shortage of close encounters with the animal kingdom. The footage above and a few of the photographs below were taken as part of an assignment for Millennium Challenge Corporation to illustrate the aid agency’s economic and tourism development programs in Namibia’s Etosha National Park. Other photographs were taken during a family vacation in Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda, some while on my honeymoon in Mauritius, and others still while shooting out of a moving vehicle during an assignment in Tanzania. Above, the mighty Nile River squeezes itself into a 23 foot gap of surging water at Murchison Falls. Above is Chamarel Waterfall in Mauritius; below are Namibia’s Etendeka Mountains as viewed from the Grootberg Lodge. On a[…]

Essential Amharic

March 30, 2014

If there are any words a faranji, or foreigner, might be likely to learn when visiting Ethiopia, wuha and injera would easily make the top five; the former meaning water in Amharic, Ethiopia’s official language, the latter not having an English equivalent. Much of my recent time in Ethiopia was spent documenting the problems associated with getting wuha, easily the most fundamental of life’s necessities, but sadly quite hard to come by in a number of places in the world. The video I shot and produced above shows the difficulties that people living in some rural areas of south-central Ethiopia have in accessing the resource. Fast-paced and polished, this video will be used by ChildFund, Australia in an upcoming campaign to bring water to the area. Ethiopia is not entirely water-scarce; I hate to give that impression. There are places in the country where cattle graze in plentiful, green pasture alongside rolling[…]

Don’t Forget to Write!

March 7, 2014

I’ve just completed a series of videos for ChildFund, International on how sponsors and sponsored children interact with each other. Sponsorship is about much more than sending money each month. It’s about corresponding and encouraging children in developing countries, as well as learning about those countries and their cultures. This short spot shows how Margaret, from Uganda, and her sponsor’s family in California, keep in touch via snail mail, and how her sponsor’s family shares in the dreams for her future. Of the three videos I created in the series Margaret’s profile was my favorite, though you can see others here on Youtube. Skeptical about sponsorship? I have to admit that I was too. You might find an article by Christianity Today, and the science behind it, surprising. It’s written from a faith-based perspective, but the principles laid out here carry over to secular organizations as well.

Everywhere a Coffee Bar

February 10, 2014

Three coffee shops next to each other on the same block? One right across from the other? This isn’t the left bank of the Seine or downtown DC. This is Ethiopia! Sure, coffee is grown and exported from other African countries like Tanzania and Kenya, but only in Ethiopia is coffee cultivated, harvested, roasted, and afterwards widely consumed by the public. In fact, coffee is deeply entrenched in the fiber of Ethiopian society. Long before the Italians came to attempt a takeover of the country (they failed), Ethiopians have been savoring sweet espresso, home-style. The Italian espresso machine did catch on, however, as it has elsewhere, and is nearly as ubiquitous in Ethiopia as the jabena, the traditional kettle in which coffee is prepared here. Coffee even originates from Ethiopia. It comes from a region known as Kaffa, from which most languages derive their word for the caffeinated essential. Below,[…]

Unlocking Potential – Senegal

December 22, 2013

A seedling that doesn’t receive enough water and sunlight in it’s infancy cannot grow into a fruitful tree. In the same way, a child who doesn’t receive love and proper care cannot realize his full potential as an adult, should he be fortunate enough to survive into adulthood. ChildFund’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) Program in Senegal is working in immensely challenging conditions to empower parents and caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to properly nurture their children at this crucial stage in life. This is last in a series of six videos from the same number of countries I shot and edited for ChildFund’s new iPad app which exploring the different facets and successes of the ECD program. Special thanks to ChildFund’s Christine Ennulat for the creative input here. Here’s some other fun shots from a stroll down the beach in Dakar:

One step ahead of the Cyclone

September 12, 2013

You may have had the unfortunate experience of having your seaside vacation interrupted by a thunderstorm, or worse, a hurricane. Imagine if such a storm were responsible for wiping out not just your vacation, but your family’s income and food supply for the coming year. This, while unthinkable for us in the developed world, is a menacing possibility each year for families in Madagascar, an island nation of 22 million in the Indian Ocean. With 3,000 miles (4800 km) of coastline, it’s hard for Madagascar to avoid being a stop on the itinerary for cyclones sweeping through the Southern Indian Ocean. I recently spent time here with CARE documenting some of their disaster risk reduction programs. A cyclone, as a hurricane is called in the Indian and southern Pacific Oceans, can destroy acres of the rice paddies that produce Madagascar’s staple crop. But what if farmers could harvest their crop[…]

Expressions from Madagascar

September 2, 2013

Expecting lions, lemurs, and baobab trees? In contrast, my recent assignment in Madagascar with CARE was of a human-itarian nature. Madagascar certainly does shatter everyone’s expectations, however, mostly in a good way. This fall, CARE will hold an art exhibit in Atlanta, where the organization is based, as a fundraiser for its programs across the globe. Girls in Vatomandry District, Madagascar were recently invited to participate in the art process, and as you can see in the above video, were thrilled at the opportunity to do so. As part of my assignment in this Indian Ocean island nation off the coast of Africa, I was on hand to document some of the girls’ stories and record their messages. These messages, along with their artwork, will be presented at the Atlanta exhibit. PS. There are NO lions in Madagascar, but there is LOTS of rice.

Wings to Fly

August 23, 2013

We often think of Africa as a continent of wide open savannahs and an endless expanse of acacia trees. We fail to remember the massive megalopolises of Kinshasa or Lagos and the seemingly endless expanse of slum dwellings that exist in the urban shadows. It’s true that more so than other regions of the world, Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is rural; about 65% of people live in rural areas. But needs exist in both cities and villages here. The above video documents two families participating in ChildFund’s Early Childhood Development Program in Kenya, known as ECD. Solomon’s family lives in rural Samburu County, a traditional village where the main source of livelihood is cattle rearing. Anabel’s family lives in the crowded Mukuru slums of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, where poor hygiene and sanitation practices contribute to the spread of disease. In both areas, food security for families is a problem. The ECD[…]

Takin’ Care of Business

August 11, 2013

Africa will never develop without the expansion of the free market. Through small and medium sized loans and business mentoring, Accion gives people in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing areas of the world the financial tools they need to improve their lives through development of their businesses, thus expanding the free market one entrepreneur at a time. I recently spent a week in Tanzania with some of those who benefit from Accion’s loan programs. The size of their enterprises varied greatly, from the young mother selling fruit in the market to the middle-aged man and his chicken-feed factory that employs dozens. All have benefited from services that are still scarce across the developing world: access to finance and capital to start a business. Tanzania’s GDP is growing by 6.5% annually and almost no markets are saturated. My assignment here coincided with the state visit of President Obama, whose remarks here[…]

Samburu Runway

July 2, 2013

Every photographer will tell you that sometimes you have to wait around for the right shot; but don’t think there aren’t any shots while you’re just waiting around. I recently needed to photograph a girl from the Samburu tribe in Kenya whose family and community had been helped by ChildFund through the gift of a sheep. However, the livestock graze far away from her village and only come home around sunset. There was plenty to keep me occupied while I waited, but the sun was going down fast. The evening left me walking the sometimes fine line between fashion photography and photojournalism. PS. The sheep and the goats finally came home, and I got the shot I needed.