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Post Tagged with: "NGO"

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.

Meandering the Moroccan Medina

June 18, 2013

For at least part of my recent assignment for the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Morocco, I had the opportunity to be a tourist. Well, kind of. Tourism is one of this North African country’s major industries, but also one that has not reached its full potential. In the medinas (old quarters) of Fez and Marrakech, MCC has helped bolster tourism with the installation of cultural walks through the ancient winding alleyways. It’s also provided training and improved workshops for some of the cities’ artisans, whose workshops can be seen farther below. These projects are in step with the organization’s principle of reducing poverty through economic growth. MCC also has other programs in the fisheries and agriculture sectors. Also, some of my earlier work for MCC was just published in the Guardian today.

Recovering from Kony

May 25, 2013

It’s hard to believe that as much hoopla as this guy has stirred up, as much attention as he’s garnered in the media, that the problems he caused are still not yet fixed. Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army plundered Northern Uganda for over a decade. The rebels killed tens of thousands of Ugandan civilians, displaced millions, and turned the peaceful farms across the region into heaps of ashes. The war against Kony’s LRA ended in Uganda in 2006. It’s still ongoing, albeit on a smaller scale, in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. During the rebellion most families in Northern Uganda were forced to flee their homesteads and livelihoods for the security of crowded refugee camps. Still largely dependent on handouts from government and relief organizations, they’ve returned to their land with nothing. Economic and psychological recovery has yet to be realized. When you’re[…]

Women’s Heavy Burden: CARE’s Crisis Work in the Congo

May 7, 2013

In the Democratic Republic of Congo it is more dangerous to be a woman than it is a solider. Since 1996 a series of wars, rebellions, and flareups in the East have caused over 2.6 million people to be displaced from their homes. In the ensuing crises, it is women and girls who have suffered the most, most especially as survivors of sexual or gender-based violence. This video, a reminder of the conflict that is seemingly forgotten by the international community, tells the story of these women. In the DRC, CARE works to bring about lasting transformation in the lives of women through psycho-social support and economic empowerment programs. However, the organization also works with men in order to dismantle unhealthy cultural biases toward women while building communities in which girls can grow up with the same rights and protection men experience. CARE is also working to provide emergency food[…]

Camping Out in DRC

March 27, 2013

While I’m in the Democratic Republic of Congo primarily to produce a video (coming soon) for CARE, I’ve still managed to nab a few good stills of life in the IDP camps. Up until a few weeks these places were a no-go thanks to the M-23 and various other militias wandering eastern DRC. The humanitarian crisis continues…

A Toast to Tea

March 15, 2013

If you could get a caffeine rush from walking through tea fields I’d be bouncing off walls by now. But as I’ve learned recently from shooting for Shared Interest in Uganda’s tea-growing highlands, there’s a lot involved in getting those glossy green leaves into a palatable consistency. Shared Interest, an ethical investment company out of the UK, loans exclusively to fair trade buyer and producer organizations around the globe. Hit play below (and turn on the HD!) to find out what Shared Interest is doing in this corner of Africa.

Development in the Digital Age

February 12, 2013

Highways, electrical substations, dams and water systems…. now computers. It’s exciting to be documenting Africa’s infrastructure and technology expansion. The above video was shot in Kenya and produced by yours truly. UK NGO, Computers 4 Africa, helped Peter Kanini break the cycle of poverty in which he and his family found themselves with a computer training course. The organization also provided equipment to his technical training school. Now as a computer teacher, Peter is passing his knowledge on to the next generation.

The Big Picture

January 27, 2013

This is big-picture stuff. No, I’m not talking about the number of megapixels on my Canon 5D Mark III, I’m talking about the work of US development organization, MCC. The Millennium Challenge Corporation works to impact developing nations and their economies on a macro scale. Part of this work means renovating the infrastructure on which a nation operates. While certainly not the most emotionally gripping topic, infrastructure is key to any country’s economic development. Build a solid enough foundation, and a nation will have the tools it needs to provide for its own citizens. Above, a main artery stretches through the city of Nampula, in Mozambique, where MCC is rehabilitating roads and renovating the city’s municipal water system. The country’s grueling civil war ended in 1992, but much of its infrastructure has yet to recover, even now. Below, workers construct the Nacala Dam in northern Mozambique, which will supply water[…]