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.