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.