Out of what would you build your house? Plywood, plastic, or used metal?

Shantytown of Damunager, India- One of the largest shantytowns in all of Asia and it continues to grow. Shantytowns are well known for not having electricity, proper sanitation, and no communication lines for telephones.   Often such cities are a result of a developing country that has an unequal distribution of wealth leading to many people with hardly any money to live.  Sadly to say, over one-sixth of the world’s population lives in such conditions. 

In Dumunager, the shantytown located around the great city of Mumbai, officials have recognized this tragic problem and have tried to create a new program to help remove people from the Shantytown sector and also have tried to make sanitation more possible—at least publicly (Chinai).  Unfortunately, the actions of government have made the decision to start to destroy some of the shantytowns because they continue to move into the countryside of India.  As a result, many of people living in these towns have made their conditions even worse (The South Asian).

Works Cited

Chinai, Rupa. “Mumbai slum dwellers’ sewage project goes nationwide.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2002.  Print. 18 Mar 2010.

Salgado, Sebastião. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 2000. 427. Print. 4 Mar. 2010.

“Shanty Towns.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2009. Web. 18 Mar 2010.

“The Growing Slums of Mumbai.” The South Asian. 15 Feb 2010. Web. 18 Mar 2010.

Moms and Bombs

Mozambique-A place once filled with destruction and war has left many incapacitated or killed from the mines, bombings, and slaughters.   Many of these have lost limbs, family, and their homes.  Despite all of these terrible problems, disease spread killing many parents of children and left many as orphans.  As such, many women take on the responsibility to care for those without any parents left.  And yet despite all the tragedies, some can even smile at the life they now have.  Gratitude is visible in their eyes as they continue to press on bringing hope to those who have lost everything.

Sebastiao Salgado depicts this beautifully with two magnificent African women caring for two young children and even though both have lost limbs, you feel hope and a feeling of love for them and their future.  The National Center of Biotechnology Information says that Over 90 percent of the people who lived and were interviewed had hope for the future. 

Works Cited

"The Aftermath of War: in the Minefields of Mozambique." National Center for Biotechnology Information. Web. 11 Mar. 2010. 

Salgado, Sebastião. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 2000. 233. Print. 4 Mar. 2010.

The Troll who lived under the bridge

Jakarta, Indonesia- The troll who lived under the bridge was a childhood story that haunted some young children, but in Indonesia instead of trolls under the bridge, immigrants live with families that have nowhere else to turn.  During 1996, more and more immigrants were flocking to Jakarta to start a new life where a city was beginning to blossom.  Jakarta is the capitol city of Indonesia, but is a city of slums, gangs, and violence.  For many, these bridges represent a safe haven from the trolls that are lurking, not under the bridge, but above it (Jakarta Globe).

This capitol city originally was designed to hold a little over 800,000 people, but currently there are as many as 25,000,000 people and the numbers are growing.   The government has continued to struggle to provide housing for the new immigrants resulting in people living under bridges, along rivers, and on railway lines (Jakarta Globe). 

Works Cited

Kurniwati, Dewi. “Jakarta Faces Swelling Population and Shortfall of Proper Housing.” Jakarta Globe. Jakarta Globe, 3 Nov. 2009. Web. 4 Mar. 2010.

Salgado, Sebastião. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 2000. 423. Print. 4 Mar. 2010.

Devastated towns are homes for refugees and displaced people

Photograph by Sebastiao Salgado

            The Wars between the Serbs and Croats and some Muslims in the early 1900s destroyed many villages, left hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people, and even more refugees.  These pictures depict the homes where many children from the war have been left to survive.  The areas where these towns have been destroyed to the north of Yugoslavia (at that time), had to suffer very severe winters and refugees would survive by putting plastic sheeting on blown out windows and holes to keep warm.  The city was heavily mine and incidentally many refugees lost limbs and worse due to the tripping of these mines (Salgado).

 

            This map to the side helps us picture the mass amounts of refugees that left Yugoslavia in the early 90’s and many of these refugees are slowly making their way back to their country. However, even more than those who left Yugoslavia were internally displaced and most of over 2 million to this day have yet to see their homes (Wikipedia).  

Works

"Refugees and displaced people from the former Yugoslavia since 1991." Map. UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library. 2003. UNEP/GRID-Arendal. Web. 25 Feb 2010.

Salgado, Sebastião. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 2000. 119. Print. 25 Feb 2010.

Salgado, Sebastião. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York: Aperture, 2000. Print.

"Yugoslav Wars". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia. 22 Feb 2010. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. 

Left to Tell

   

This book encompasses every feeling from depression, anger, and fear to hope, love, and forgiveness to bring to light the tragedies of the Rwandan Genocide.  Immaculee Illibagiza tells her inspiring story with beautiful words that bring the story to life for all who read it.  It brought emotions and understanding for those who have suffered similar stories.  The book helps one to understand that God does love all His children and it really discusses the idea of the famous line of the Lord’s prayer, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us” (Luke 11:2-4).  

  I cried multiple times throughout this book as the devastation spread across Rwanda.  The pain described by the author left a impression on my mind for good the need to help situations such as these to never occur.  I never thought about genocides before I read this book. I never thought that something so destructive could occur a mere 20 years ago.  I came to personally love the author and her stories and her family as she suffered.  

  I would encourage all to read this book because almost everyone I have talked to has little knowledge of what occurred during the years of this book.  It enlightened me and helped me want to help others know about it as well.  It’s an easy read but needs the maturity required to understand the mass murder of a race in ways you would never hope would happen.   

African Holocausts

Photograph by Sebastiao Salgado

I have grown up in the United States all my life and it seems that we live in a bubble.  It feels that sometimes our lives have so many problems that we feel are huge in comparison to everyone else.  At least I felt that way for a while.  Complications, trials, tragedy befall upon everyone. No one can escape it.  However, the atrocities during the Holocaust resonate in everyone's mind in America.  Little or no attention has been given to the multiple holocausts in Africa have been given the attention they deserve.  

In this photograph, a family is finally going home after yet another holocaust had occurred in Mozambique. Over a third of the population had fled due to multiple attacks inside their country (focus on refugees).  It amazes me that people on this continent keep surviving and pressing on.  I have grown to love these people. I had the opportunity to have a man from Ghana live in my house for a few months and those months made me feel grateful and humble for the life I have.  Mozambique finally attained peace in 1995. Over 1 million Mozambicans died during the time of trial.   

Works Cited

“Background Note: Mozambique.” Diplomacy in Action. US Department of State, Dec 2009. Web. 18 Feb 2010.

“Mozambique.” Focus on Refugees. Global Eye. Web. 18 Feb 2010

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 239. Print.

Water

Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like if every time you felt like you were thirsty had to go find somewhere miles away from your home to drink water that is not clean and probably contaminated with all sorts of diseases, bodily fluids, etc.?  For these people who live in a shantytown in Bombay it is an everyday activity. This picture shows how close clean drinking water is but how poor the people are who can’t afford to have the running water.

                                     photograph by Sebastiao Salgado 

In India many places have running water.  This is an overstatement because the running water usually lasts only about an hour.  After that for the rest of the day, no one gets water.  Anyone who wants water has to wake up the moment the water is turned on and the water is used up within the hour leaving everything that had not been taken care of, for the next day (BBC News).

WORKS CITED

“BBC News: South Asia: Mumbai faces acute water shortage.” News Front Page. BBC News, 7 Jul. 2009. Web. 11 Feb. 2010 .

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 399. Print.

Walking

Mud clinging to feet and bodies.  Crowds, pain, sickness, death.  Miles and miles of trodden paths where the homeless trudge along.   Knapsacks, packed full of the only things left, resting upon heads.   Families lying on the sides and sometimes in the way. Mother’s lost, children forgotten, and bodies thrown to the side. 

 Photo by Sebastiao Salgado

Prayers of hope moving tirelessly through minds, trying to ease the broken dreams of one day being free.  New camps, old camps, where is home? Dreams of home just bring less hope and bloody slaughters.  Death—a commonplace to them.  Old masters killed, new ones march us on.

Fights and more fights—food and less food.   It seems the only way to get food is to kill brothers for it.  Strange white people bring food sometimes only and is savaged by the most hungry and violent. Some will die for it, some already have, some just fall asleep on the road with bones visible (NY Times). 

Why are we always walking?

“If the past cannot teach the present and the father cannot teach the son, then history need not have bothered to go on, and the world has wasted a great deal of time” (Hoban).

Many people remember that not so long ago a genocide took place in Rwanda, Africa.  This photograph is part of that genocide and how they survived such a devastating tragedy of slaughter. Read this inspiring book about these people and how they got to this point: Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.

Works Cited

Hoban, Russell. The lion of Boaz-Jachin and of Jachin-Boaz. London: Jonathan Cape, 1974. Print.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 218 (bottom). Print.

“Zaire Refugees’ Lack of Food Grows Acute.” World. New York Times, 10 Nov. 1996. Web. 4 Feb. 2010.  

It Could Be Your Child...

How many people today search for a better life or better yet, survival?  Millions upon millions of refugees, the homeless, and injured people search for a reality that doesn't include pain, suffering, and hunger.   They just desire the best for their family.  Some have to turn to the life that they were trying to run from to survive.  Such as these young men in this photograph are waiting the day that they too will enter battle.

According to Salgado (photographer), many of these young men are between the ages of 4-13. The Sudanese People Liberation Front (SPLF) say they took these young men in to protect them from being recruited by the Sudanese army. As the men mature, they too are forced into the battle they wished to escape--now fighting against their own country (Migrations).  For over 40 years this country has been at civil war.  According to a global security website, nearly 1.5 million people have died in just the last 15 years (Global Security).

Since the beginning of this civil war, only once, according to Wikipedia, has the US given support to help this civil war by sending 20 million dollars over 15 years ago.  Since then, the country has continued to struggle for independence, which continues to seem bleak, especially to these young men who are forced to fight.

I hope that we can help change the world by reaching out to those as if they were our own family.  If it was your son, I would hope that you would sacrifice everything to ensure his safety.  We should care for everyone's well-being in a like manner.

Works Cited

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 163.

"Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Web. 28 Jan 2010.

"Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)."GlobalSecurity.org - Reliable Security Information. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. 

Searching for a reason?

Discovering a reason to follow the dilemmas of millions worldwide can seem overwhelming when you have your own problems to worry about. Many people have never considered the life of a refugee and how terrible that predicament could be. Even many, who look for ways to help, to understand become depressed after realizing how little they think they can do and how much there is to do.

Don't Worry!

Each and every person, no matter how small the contribution is, can do something. Right now, I am trying to write this blog in order to help as many people become aware of the situation and maybe inspire a few to even act.

Salgado’s way that has inspired me is through photographs of individuals and peoples that I have never met. The movement, lighting, perspective, and attitude found in each photo have helped me to see the life of those who are suffering. In this photo, many children wander the streets in Burj El-Shemali (a refugee camp near Tyre, Lebanon). These Palestinian children have never once stepped foot in their own country and have lived in ghettos and slums where little or no freedom to change one’s future. Many have lost all citizenship of Palestine, work jobs that they neither get to choose or change, and have no opportunities to see the world. Currently, “there are 12 official camps” in Lebanon, with over 400,000 refugees (Wikipedia, “Palestine Refugee Camps”).

Lebanon may not be considered as a problem currently to us. We see and hear little about it and their situation. Relating this to something current can be more effective and sometimes enlightening. Haiti, recently hit by two seismic earthquakes, need help from all who can. CNN Senior Producer Rich Phillips says it best, “breathlessly, they came, carrying suitcases, plastic bags and just about anything that would hold the few belongings they still had. Thousands of Haitian people, most of them homeless, have flooded the port, hoping for a ticket to hope, on board a ferry, being paid for by the Haitian government” (1).

Want to help? Visit LDS Humanitarian Services

Works Cited

"Palestine Refugee Camps." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2009. Web. Jan 20, 2010.

Phillips, Rich. "Desperate Haitians flood port hoping for a way out--to anywhere." CNN. Jan 20, 2010. Web.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 87.

Who the Heck is Sebastiao Salgado?

During the course of this semester, I will be attempting to communicate to the rest of you my feelings towards refugees throughout the world. Many of the problems we face today are purely through ignorance and lack of understanding. We, including myself, find ourselves focused on the good things of this world without trying to make the bad better. The greatest opportunity to see, feel, and understand the plights of the world are in your hands. I hope to uncover a small fraction of this through my writing and the pictures of Sebastiao Salgado.

Many of you probably ask, "Who the heck is Sebastiao Salgado?" Let me explain why knowing who he is, will make all the difference in our learning together. I honestly don't know all that much about him either and I don't know really anything about refugees and their problems and predicaments. I hope that anyone who has insights to this will help me to understand so we, together, can work on this.

Sebastiao Salgado was born in Brazil in 1944. As he grew up, he studied economics graduated from the Sao Paulo University. Shortly after marrying, him and his wife traveled to Africa. While there they started to photograph the coffee plants there and saw what changed his life. Shortly after, he switched to photography and start his lifetime journey of trying to change humanity. His plea is seen throughout his pictures. They can be both dark and dreadful, but he also tries to find the humanity that exists in the individual. He wants us to see their life through their eyes. By doing so, he wants us to realize that we can help other humans. They are not strange, mysterious creatures, but people who have lost to over-exploitation, innovation, and corrupt governments.

Salgado once said, "I hope that the person who visits my exhibitions, and the person who comes out, are not quite the same. I believe that the average person can help a lot, not by giving material goods but by participating, by being part of the discussion, by being truly concerned about what is going on in the world" (2). I echo his words, by hoping that those of you who see this blog will venture to find a whim of new understanding of our world today.

Works Sited

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 362

"UNICEF Special Representative Sebastiao Salgado." Changing the World with Children. UNICEF, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2010.

From Russia with Snow!

This photo is a great description of who I am. I love the snow, and have always loved the cold. Everything about the cold, I love. I love skiing, sledding, snowboarding, snowball fights, snow caves, sliding on ice, building a snowman, and just being cold. This photo also describes me because I just recently returned from living for two years in Russia. I took this photo in over -20 degree temperatures of the beautiful Russian landscape.