Tag: child
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Day 12~ April 12th~ Congo
It was so clear to me the day I saw these children dancing for hours, that Africa, the land, radiates and infuses its people with rhythm. Moving seems to be the most natural thing to them and they move with a lightness and swiftness that are most beautiful to witness. These children are young demobilized…
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Day 11~ April 11th~ Congo
When I knew I would be meeting child soldiers in Congo, I had no frame of reference as to what I would be meeting. I had seen some snapshots sent to me before my trip, I had read the statistics, the articles, seen photos, but all of that did not prepare me for my first…
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Day 10~ April 10th~ Congo
It was a Sunday morning in Goma and we had spent the early morning in the medical center meeting and photographing refugee children. The children and their parents had nothing but rags on, some had bandages, very tired faces and exhausted smiles. And then driving back on the black volcanic streets of the city I…
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day 9~ April 9th~ Congo
Childhood is the most sacred part of life. We as adults are entrusted with it to shield it, protect it and allow it its full potential… And yet, in places like Congo, children are forcefully taken from their families by armed forces, sometimes as early as 7 years old, forced into military training, a life…
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Day 8~ April 8th~ Congo
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…
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Day 7~ April 7th~ Congo
Another innocent face, another curious gaze, another little life that was forced to shift course because of tribal conflict. In a region that has seen the loss of over 5 million people to genocide, poverty and conflict related casualties, this boy could be considered one of the lucky ones. He will receive medication, food, shelter…
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Day 4~ April 4th~ Congo
Until I went to Africa and saw the children face to face, the issues resided in my head as statistics, facts and numbers… This child is no longer a number. This little girl has a unique story, she has a name, she has parents, a favorite game she liked to play back in her home…
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Day 3~ April 3rd~ Congo
Each time I hear parents trying to convince their children in our western world to eat more, to drink more milk, to eat just another bite; my mind goes back to the children I met in Congo. A glass of milk can have the power to transform a desperate little face into a bright smiling…
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Day 2~ April 2nd~ Congo
“The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed more than five million lives – making it the planet’s deadliest conflict since World War II. But despite the horrific levels of sexual violence and millions of people displaced from their homes and schools, it remains Africa’s forgotten war and rarely makes the headlines of…