A Lift From Mom
Neelum Chand carries her son, Shuvam, 1, through the Nutrition Rehabilitation Home (NRH) in Dhangadhi, Nepal, after lunch on Sunday, April 29, 2012. The NRH, a project of the Rural Women’s Development and Unity Centre, a Nepali NGO, works to restore malnourished children to health. Forty-one percent of Nepali children under age 5 are short for their age (stunted), according to the preliminary 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Stunting is an indicator of malnutrition, and ensuring children are properly nourished in the 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2 are vital to a child’s development.
Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World
Swayambunath Temple in Kathmandu
Swayambunath, a grand Buddhist temple overlooking the Kathmandu Valley, is a wonderful place to contemplate life. I was lucky enough to visit two weeks ago while on a reporting trip to Asia for Bread for the World. My colleague and friend Molly and I spent one morning here during our brief sojourn in Kathmandu before heading out west.
I visited the temple when I lived in Kathmandu five years ago. As I walked around Swayambunath this time, I thought about how to photograph the scene differently than before. Did I succeed? (Apologies for the strange formatting of the archived post.)
One thing I realized on this pilgrimage to Swayambunath: I’m a little obsessed with pictures of birds flying into scenes, like this photo in Peru and this one in Italy.
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks in New Mexico
I’m glad we detoured through the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks on our way to Santa Fe. I’d seen pictures of these before but I couldn’t have imagined the beauty and wonder of hiking through the rocks myself. We hadn’t planned to hike to the top. I hadn’t planned on taking hundreds of pictures. Afterwards I wished we’d brought a picnic and I’d taken more photographs.
Helen & Joel’s engagement pictures in DC
Helen and Joel really couldn’t have picked a more stunning fall day than today for their engagement pictures. What a fun and beautiful afternoon we had walking around Meridian Hill Park, the National Mall and the Tidal Basin for pictures. Oh, how I love living in DC with all its wonderful places to photograph.
National Aquarium in Baltimore
The last time I visited the National Aquarium, Bill Clinton had just become president and Nirvana was near the height of its popularity. Much has changed since then. The aquarium is bigger. I’m now a photographer. Which means there was lots for me and Patrick to see and photograph. I don’t remember the animals being so interesting or the lighting being so beautiful. Then to think that all these plants and animals are somewhere out there in the sea – well, it makes me want to learn to scuba dive so I can see them all in their natural habitats.
Around Jinja, Uganda, at sunset
So the interesting thing about Jinja, Uganda, is the strong Indian influence on the city’s architecture and atmosphere. Until Idi Amin expelled all Asians from the country in 1972, Indians owned many businesses that made up the backbone of the Ugandan economy. Now, walking around Jinja, you see Hindu temples and men wearing turbans (you can see both in the photograph above). Indians began returning to Uganda in the 1980s, including the Madhavani family, which owns one of the largest business groups in Uganda. In fact, Patrick and I stayed at a beautiful safari Lodge that the Madhavani’s own in western Uganda – but more about that later.
Back to Jinja.
It is really a picturesque city, kind of quaint, actually, even though it’s nestled along Lake Victoria and the source of the Nile River. Patrick lives just outside Jinja, but we didn’t spend much time there and I didn’t take nearly as many pictures there as I imagined. I also didn’t go rafting – which is what most people do in Jinja – or visit the Source of the Nile Gardens (which Patrick said is kind of a rip off considering you can see the source of the river from other places). All in all, I wish we’d spent more time just chilling in Jinja. Next time!
Kitchen in Tan Ky House, Hoi An, Vietnam
I’m not sure if we were really supposed to wander around the kitchen, but we did. The Tan Ky House is over 200 years old and still home to members of the Tan family. The architecture was an interesting mix of Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese – reflecting Hoi An’s days as a major Asian seaport – but what interested me most was the colorful kitchen and the pot boiling on the stove, simple reminders of every day life still going on in the old home.
Elephants in Queen Elizabeth National Park
And suddenly there they were, a herd of elephants crossing the dirt road at sunrise. Two started play fighting with each other, which made for some very nice pictures. I’ve been back from Uganda & Rwanda for almost one month but haven’t edited through all my photographs yet, so stay tuned…
The Kindle goes to Vietnam
Chinese All-Community Assembly Hall
Lonely Planet can rest easy: The Kindle can’t replace it – for now. An e-reader like the Kindle is great if you only read in a linear way, i.e., page one, then page two, three, etc. But when you’re reading a Lonely Planet book, which requires you to reference other pages, it really is annoying. You have to hit the back button over and over and over. Also, the Lonely Planet maps are teeny on the Kindle. Several times I tried enlarging the maps with my fingers a la the iPhone, completely forgetting the Kindle screen isn’t a touchscreen. Somehow, that made the Kindle seem a little antiquated.
Not everything was bad about reading Lonely Planet on the Kindle. It was great to be able to whip out this small, light “book” wherever we were and read up on the area’s history or great restaurants. I just think the Kindle experience would be even better with a touchscreen. Amazon, you hear me?
Tran Family Chapel
Tran Family Chapel
My Son
My Son
My Son, Vietnam
My Son, a group of crumbling Hindu temples built by the Cham people between the 4th and 14th centuries, is often compared to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. But from what I’ve read, My Son is smaller and has fewer intact buildings. The ones that are left are made of brick with intricate patterns and imagery carved right into the brick. The biggest My Son mystery is how the bricks are stuck together. Some organic glue? Some mineral substance? No one knows for sure.
There’s one group of My Son buildings that was almost completely obliterated by U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War. A French museum curator of Cham culture was so upset that he wrote to U.S. President Nixon asking him to stop the bombing, according to Lonely Planet. Below you can see my picture (third from the bottom) of the bombed monuments.
Johanna was quite fascinated by all the lingams and yonis, especially the ones that had cracked apart, thus the last photograph.
An early morning run around Hoan Kiem Lake
The usual swarm of people riding motorbikes around Hanoi was replaced by a swarm of people exercising on the shores of Hoan Kiem Lake this morning. This is a daily Hanoi occurence, according to Lonely Planet, and it really is a sight to see. Indeed, this morning there were tourists milling about, taking pictures of the exercisers!
I left my hotel at 6:30 a.m, ran down the street leading to Hoan Kiem and saw hundreds of people walking, stretching and sometimes running in a counter-clockwise direction around the lake. It’s that counter-clockwise direction that surprised me the most at first. Until I ran out there, I hadn’t realized I expected to run clockwise. Those Communists, they have to do everything differently. Hehehe. Better to go with the flow than get run over.
Any exercise you can imagine people might do around a lake, people were doing it. Most people walked while chatting with friends or family. About a half dozen men ran (no female runners except me). Most people wore loose clothing but there were a few groups of young girls wearing tight tank tops and shorts. There were old people in pajamas pushing their wheelchairs. Several groups of about 25 women performed synchronized calisthenics to music, including the Muzak version of Que Sera. Barechested old men swung their arms to and fro while walking at a brisk pace. Lots of people stood around moving their hips in circles, like they were hula hooping without the hoop. There were about 10 women dancing while balancing plastic balls on small tennis rackets. Several couples waltzed to classical music blaring from a portable speaker. I saw one older man stretched out on a yoga mat and one woman walking backwards. There was even one enterprising lady sitting with a small scale, so you could check your progress after your morning constitution.
By 7 a.m. the fun was pretty much over. The exercising ranks had thinned to almost nothing and the motorcycle traffic had picked up considerably. I wish I were around for another morning of running and people watching around Hoan Kiem!
Hoi An Beach
Johanna made the interesting observation that Vietnam and Mexico have a lot in common: good food, interesting historical sites and beautiful beaches. I agree. She and I biked to Hoi An Beach and spent a relaxing morning reading under umbrellas and swimming in the clear South China Sea. I could have spent all day there! I wanted to get a workout (as if bicycling all over town in 100-degree heat wasn’t exercise enough) so I actually swam some laps. It was even harder than I thought it would be what with the waves pushing me around and forcing water up my nose when I came up for air. Guess I won’t be winning any ocean swim races any time soon.
People are funny creatures
These pictures document one of the funniest sights I saw in Italy last year: the walkway leading to the Pisa Tower.
For about a quarter mile, all you see are people with their arms thrown up in the air “supporting” the leaning monument. Some of the more creative tourists try to “eat” the tower or “kiss” it or “lift” it. Most people are enthusiastic, really hamming it up for the camera. Others are like, “Just take the picture and get me out of here.”
I witnessed one argument break out between a couple. The woman couldn’t hit the pose that her boyfriend was art directing her to make. He got out from behind his camera to move her arms, hands, legs and hips into the “right” position. Heated words flew between the two. She did not smile for her picture. This is serious stuff, people! (You can see this couple in the fourth-to-the-last photograph.)
The last picture is my Mom in the Pisa pose most people seemed to be aiming for: hand supporting the tower, body leaning slightly back (because the building is so heavy, you know?) and a smile on her face. Bonus points for planting one foot in the street for extra support.
Farming in Appalachia
Rhubarb – the leaves are poisonous but the stems taste delicious in strawberry rhubarb pie.
I love my job. I sometimes get to travel around and ask people questions and photograph and film their lives. Basically, I have professional license to be nosy. This past week I worked in southwestern Virginia, documenting farms and farm-related activities. I learned a lot about small-holder farms and what it takes to survive in this country. These are some generic photographs from the past few days. More will eventually appear as stories on the Bread for the World website.
Winter rye in a field near Duffield, Va.
Farms near Duffield, Va.
Did you know asparagus grows straight out of the ground? I didn’t.
The Price of Immigration for Bread for the World
Part of my work as multimedia manager at Bread for the World involves producing poverty- and hunger-related stories that humanize these issues. It’s not easy. I think people suffer from ennui when it comes to seeing pictures and reading stories about poor and hungry people. It’s like, “Oh, another hungry child. Another poor, homeless man. I feel so bad.” And then people move on.
The response has been different with “The Price of Immigration,” a story that I worked on earlier this year with my colleagues Molly Marsh, Ivone Guillen and freelance multimedia editor Brad Horn. The idea was to show the life of an undocumented Mexican worker in the United States – to show that he is a real person with real dreams, hopes and feelings.
The immigration dialogue in the United States tends to characterize undocumented workers as unwanteds who steal American jobs and must be kept out with a border fence. In most cases, these people have come to the United States because they couldn’t support themselves or their families back home. A border fence will not prevent them from trying to help their families. Just think: If the United States were plunged into poverty and Canada loomed as a source of jobs – any jobs – wouldn’t many Americans do whatever they could to get to Canada and make money to support their families back home?
My colleagues and I spent five days getting to know “Jose,” the main subject of this story. It was challenging to photograph and film him in a way that didn’t reveal his identity. There are several photographs and video clips that made it into the final edit but I had to exchange out at the last minute because some of my co-workers thought they could identify “Jose.” From the day I started researching this story to the day I published this video was almost four months. It takes time to produce a good story. I think this one is pretty good. Though, of course, there are quite a few things I’d do differently. But that’s for another blog post on another day.
What follows is my original text that ran with the video on Bread for the World’s blog.
++++++++++
Jose likes soccer. He likes his car. And he loves his family, which is why he left Mexico for the United States when he was 17, started working, and now sends home about 20 percent of his pay to support them. Like many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, Jose came here for opportunities that don’t exist at home.
“We’re not criminals,” said Jose (not his real name). “We just come here to seek a better life.”
Indeed, economic necessity is the reason people risk their lives to work in the United States. And contrary to rhetoric that immigrants steal American jobs and drive down wages, immigrant labor is essential to the U.S. economy, as research shows:
- The Arizona economy would shrink by $48.8 billion, or 20 percent, if all undocumented workers left the state, according to an Immigration Policy Center study out last week.
- Immigration improves employment, productivity, and income but needs adjustments that respond to the economic cycle, states a 2010 Migration Policy Institute study.
- Hispanic immigrants contributed $9.2 billion to the North Carolina economy in 2006 and created 89,000 spinoff jobs, according to research by Dr. James Johnson, professor at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Flagler Business School.
Jose is one Hispanic immigrant contributing to North Carolina’s economy. He moved there five years ago, found a job, and joined a church. My colleagues Ivone Guillen, Molly Marsh, and I first met Jose at his church this past January, and we found him to be very kind, polite, and open to talking with us. We could tell he missed his family. He showed us pictures. He shared stories of life back home.
Listening to Jose speak and watching him live his limited life in North Carolina (we spent five days with him), you just think to yourself, “You don’t leave people you love unless you must, because economic and social circumstances force you to go.”
The Zócalo in Mexico City
Police are present every few feet in the Zócalo, the main public square in Mexico City. My hotel is near the plaza, so I’ve had the chance to walk through the area a few times. I love the colonial architecture and the hustle and bustle.
Above: A policeman silhouetted with the Catedral Metropolitana in the back, on the northern side of the square.
Below: A policeman on his Segway in front of the Palacio Nacional, on the eastern side of the Zócalo.
The Basilica of Guadalupe
Unfortunately, I haven’t had much of a chance to be a tourist in Mexico City because I’m busy with work-related activities. But I did have a chance to catch this machete dance in front of the Basilica of Guadalupe today. The men in white clothes and plumed hats represent Spaniards. The men in colors represent natives, who fight a valorous battle against the conquistadores. My Mexican colleague wasn’t sure why this drama took place in front of the Basilica but it was fun to watch.
Charlotte Douglas Airport
Charlotte Douglas Airport in North Carolina really got dressed up for the holidays. The festive decorations made me smile as I transited through the airport on my way to Mexico City.
The power of the purse: Haitian women build their economic strength
Therese Vilfare, 40, Fonkoze client since 2010
Purses: They carry all sorts of useful sundries such as pens, business cards, lipstick, and gum. Most importantly, purses carry money.In Haiti, where 54 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day, microfinance organization Fonkoze is helping women build businesses that feed their families, lift them out of poverty and pad their purses with a bit of cash.
Last week at a Fonkoze community meeting in Mirebalais, I noticed the variety of handbags women carried around. Many bags were black. Some were small. All seemed to be carried with pride by their owners. I had been looking for a way to visually connect non-Haitians with Haitians in a way that wasn’t patronizing or demeaning; here was my way. Many women around the world carry handbags and can relate to carrying a purse that reflects her personality and style.
The Fonkoze women were more than happy to be photographed with their purses. They patiently waited in line while I photographed woman after woman against the exterior white wall of an old church. Women who didn’t bring handbags to the meeting borrowed one from a friend. Everyone wanted to be photographed. I had fun watching the different ways women chose to hold their bags. Some held them, others clutched them, some hung them around their neck, which really made me laugh. You can see all the portraits on Bread for the World’s blog.
Fortifying Haitian kids against malnutrition
Molly and I had the privilege of visiting a Fonkoze vitamin distribution meeting in rural Haiti. Babies and toddlers everywhere, some crying and some silently awaiting their fate: a dark blue gel capsule cut open and the contents drained into each kid’s mouth. See more on Bread for the World’s YouTube channel.
(Above: That's me photographing while snowshoeing through a snowstorm. Picture by 