It can be said that young people have suffered the most from the effects of HIV in Africa. The disease took a devastating toll on the population of Zambia, wiping out nearly a generation of the most economically active and productive members of society, those 20 to 40 years old. But it is the young who are left behind, often to fend for themselves and cope with a disease that is to be their only inheritance. With an HIV prevalence rate of 20%, Mongu District in western Zambia is one of the areas hardest hit by HIV in the country. Below, Nurse Idah Jangazya collects blood samples during a monthly HIV screening clinic at Mindolo Clinic in Kitwe, Zambia. Gertrude Nyambe is a 41 year-old mother of five living in Mongu. At the age of 35 she and her husband were diagnosed with HIV. He succumbed to the disease soon[…]
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Faces of Drought
A more somber side of Kenya’s drought in the Turkana Region compared to my last entry… and a bit of the relief effort by ChildFund. Some more of my video work on the crisis:
Read MoreHope Amid the Crisis – Turkana, Kenya
Many have heard about the horrific drought that is gripping the Horn of Africa right now. I’ve been spending a lot of time in Kenya’s Turkana Region documenting the situation and the relief efforts there. In Turkana the UN has declared a food Crisis: one step below a Famine but one above an Emergency. While I have plenty of images that depict the crisis, today we’ll focus on the positive – the long-term food security projects of ChildFund and the World Food Programme in Turkana, known as Food for Assets. Click play above for a full explanation. The Food For Assets program works to coerce those Turkana living in irrigable areas to learn sustainable farming practices by making the food aid they receive contingent upon their enrollment in the program. It is the hope of implementing partners that after one year of learning, people who have received the training will[…]
Read MoreGreener Pastures
My most recent video assignment is truly a story of success. The Kimaro family has graduated from poverty thanks to the programs of the environmental NGO Plant With Purpose. Several years ago Jacob & Joyce Kimaro were small farmers living in poverty and trying to make ends meet on the foothills of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. Things became even more difficult when Mr. Kimaro’s brother and sister-in-law passed away, and they had to take in seven extra children. It was then that the Kimaros joined VICOBA, the Village Community Bank organized by Plant With Purpose. There the family received training in sustainable agriculture practices, organic farming, and earning income while preserving the environment. VICOBA members are also able to save money jointly and access credit each week. Today the Kimaros not only have their bills paid on time, but are eating healthy and balanced diets while preserving their natural surroundings.
Read MoreAll for the Kids – recent videos from East Africa
Featured here are two recent videos of mine from locations across East Africa. The first is a ChildFund PSA that aired on television in the US and was filmed in Kenya’s remote Maasai land. Though ChildFund has other outlets for the footage, on this particular spot my four days of footage were cut down to meager 62 seconds. Post-production for this piece was done by the Causeway Agency. Though certainly not as polished, I did my own editing on the spot below for Light in Africa. The video is aimed at recruiting volunteers to come out to Tanzania and aid in the work. I myself am a volunteer alumnus of the organization that years ago helped inspire me to take root in East Africa. My Liberia assignment that was scheduled for this week has been postponed. I’ve instead been rerouted to Kenya to cover the catastrophic drought gripping the North[…]
Read MoreFrom the Rooftop of Africa
In the past few months I’ve been working in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. In this video update I discuss and review my most recent work with ChildFund, Right Choices, Computers 4 Africa, the Times London, and Light in Africa from my base in Kilimanjaro Region, near Africa’s highest peak.
Read MoreExtreme Hope
Living Hope Education Centre, a primary school in war and disaster-torn northeastern Uganda, is beating the odds. As much as I can, I am an advocate for this school, which is doing wonderful work in the lives of young ones.
Read MoreDo they know it’s Women’s Day?
I haven’t been in the States during International Women’s Day in quite a while. Unless things have drastically changed, I can’t remember it being a big deal there. In Africa things are different. Currently I’m in Western Uganda gearing up to photograph a Women’s Day march and rally as part of a larger assignment for ActionAid. This coming Tuesday marks the 100th annual celebration of the event. Before I get to that however, detailing my previous assignment with the Uganda Women’s Health Initiative couldn’t be more appropriate for the occasion. One of UWHI’s main programs is to deal with the diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer, which is the leading cause of death for women in Uganda outside the child bearing age bracket. A joint study by the Uganda Ministry of Health and PATH found that 67% of bed occupancy in the gynecological ward of Mulago Hospital, Uganda’s largest, is[…]
Read Moreold habits die hard – images from Kenya’s Maasai land
I’m currently on assignment with ChildFund in Kenya working on a television spot that will air in the US. The video concerns solar panels that the NGO has placed in schools and dormitories in two separate areas of the country. These photos come from remote Maasai land, north of the Tanzania border – far from any tarmacked road or mobile phone tower. The solar panels, which were of great help to me when charging camera batteries, are even more useful to the girls at Nanin’goi Girls’ Primary and Boarding School in Mosiro, Kenya. Here students can study in class and find their way around the dorms without relying on kerosene lanterns after the sun sets just after 6pm each day. ChildFund continually works with the elders of the community to ensure that the girls of the school are not subjected to early childhood marriage and female circumcision, practices still very[…]
Read More(desperate for) Water Aid
It’s been ten years since world leaders came together to form what became the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to tackle world poverty. Heads of state recently met again for a summit at UN headquarters in New York to discuss progress made in the last decade. My most recent assignment with Water Aid UK was not to document progress that the NGO has made in communities where it works. Instead I was commissioned to visit areas where there is still much work left to be done. Unfortunately, it’s not too hard to find schools, hospitals and communities that lack clean water sources or proper toilets and sanitation facilities here in NE Uganda, which is the poorest and least developed area of the country. Water Aid has used these stories for awareness campaigns that led up to the summit. They’ve also shared them with the decision makers themselves. They hope to[…]
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