Day 8~ April 8th~ Congo

~mimo~

street child in Kinshasa

Back in 2009, when I visited Congo, there were about 300,000 children roaming the streets of the country and categorized under the name “les enfants de la rue”~ children of the street.

I interviewed some of these children in the CAJED center in Kinshasa, a Congolese non-governmental organization created in 1992 to lodge, care for and support vulnerable children, including children separated from their families and those formerly associated with armed groups, before reunifying them with their families and/or reintegrating them into their home communities.  CAJED has been a UNICEF partner since 2004.

This girl in the photo caught my eye as she was passing across the way. She had a haunting look to her and eyes so expressive, they took my breath away. She was not one of the children I interviewed, she was just watching from a distance and her story was kept to herself, so was her name. I call her ‘the beautiful girl in front of the yellow door’.

 

34 thoughts on “Day 8~ April 8th~ Congo”

  2. Yes, a haunting look – and a haunting photo too, Mimo. Purely in terms of photography – which seems a little trivial with a subject like this – the positioning of her in front of that yellow door has made an absolutely stunning image – exceptional stuff! Adrian

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  4. Mimo, when you take a photo like this, do you ask your subject to stand in front of something like this door, or do you wait for just the right moment to ask for a photo? Your street images have such consistently great color – I am intensely curious about this!

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    1. hi lynn, with my street photos, I never pose them, they are all moments caught. Especially with Congo when I literally had a second to react. I just saw this girl passing the door and I reacted. Hope that helps.

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  9. Aloha Mimo! I’m curious. Are you in the employ, as a photographer, for a non-governmental organization? There is no need to answer if the question is too personal __ I will understand.

    Before presenting my question on your wordpress page, I wanted to send it privately to your email address, but I couldn’t find it.

    Re the girl in the photo: what grabbed my attention was the fact she is attired in a fashionable dress, is barefoot and striking a “model-like” pose. I see the irony in that pic. Maybe, one day, she will become a “fashion model”. In the meantime, may the Creator-God protect and bless her.

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    1. Hi Ron, at the time of these shots, I was working on a project called ‘by art we live’ where we had a partnership with UNICEF and access to their centers in Congo to meet, photograph and interview children who loved art. This project was closed earlier this year.

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      1. Thanks Mimo for your reply. I’m sure other opportunities will arise that will have need of your unique talent, skill and knowledge. Mimo, wishing the very best,,,ALWAYS! 🙂

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  10. Stunning! I think she’s at that age in between, but her eyes look like they’ve seen way to much.

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  12. Every picture tells a story – this one tells two: hers and yours.
    Every picture is worth a thousand words – this image is worth way more than a thousand.
    Great great image.

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