PHOTOGRAPHY
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Sahel - Mauritania
In early February, I travelled to Mauritania in north-west Africa to investigate the looming hunger crisis in the Sahel zone. Failing rains had destroyed harvests. There was not a single blade of grass left for cows and sheep to feed on. Animal carcasses were lining the roads, while the people of the Sahel had just started to run out of food reserves -- five months before the next rains; seven months before the next harvest. 12 million people in the Sahel are faced with severe food insecurity and hunger. -
Malawi child tobacco labourers
Thousands of Malawi’s children who labour on tobacco farms are exposed to nicotine poisoning that equals smoking up to 50 cigarettes a day. At the height of the tobacco harvest season, the lush, flowing fields of Malawi’s key tobacco growing district Kasungu are filled with working children who pick the big green-yellow leaves. Some of them are only five years old. They receive an average of 1.20 Rand for twelve hours of unrelenting work. -
Chad
The central African country of Chad is severely affected by climate change. Shrinking lakes, desertification, temperatures up to 50 degree Celcius and very little rainfall have caused severe food insecurity, risking the lives of millions, especially children. Many Tchadians have started to migrate in hope for better lives. -
Northern Cape
The South African government recently issued a pharmaceutical company with a permit to research and plant Sceleltium, a plant that has been used for hundreds of years as a medicinal remedy by San and Khoi people. Sceletium, also named kanna or kougout, only grows in remote regions of the Northern Cape. Together with two journalist friends, I went to visit two villages where ancient knowledge about Sceletium still exists. -
Food Security
Malnutrition and poverty are widespread in Salima, a rural district about 100 kilometres east of Lilongwe. Recurring floods and droughts make it almost impossible for small-scale farmers to make an income, with many fighting for survival. The Red Cross helps farmers to increase their yields through several irrigation projects in the district. -
Dzaleka Refugee Camp
About 11,000 refugees from all over the continent have found shelter in Malawi's refuge camp in Dzaleka, where they anxiously hope for resettlement and a better future. The countries laws prohibit refugees to live outside of the camp, which used to be a detention centre for political prisoners before Malawi became a democracy. -
Earthquake recovery - Malawi
In December 2009, two major earthquakes in Malawi's north caused the houses of thousands of rural residents to come crashing down, driving the poor even further into poverty. Nine months later, the rebuilding process has slowly begun, with most of the affected still living in tents or makeshift structures. -
Mali
Mali is one of the poorest country's in the world - but its people are among the friendliest. Intimately related to the Niger river, Mali is the location of some of Africa's most interesting cultural sites. Legendary Timbuktu is located here, and in the center of the country is the magnificently dramatic Bandiagara escarpment, home to the fascinating culture of the Dogon. -
Cambodia
There’s a magic about Cambodia that casts a spell on many who visit this charming yet confounding kingdom. Ascend to the realm of the gods at the mother of all temples, Angkor Wat, a spectacular fusion of symbolism, symmetry and spirituality. Descend into the hell of Tuol Sleng and come face to face with the Khmer Rouge and its killing machine. Welcome to the conundrum that is Cambodia: a country with a history both inspiring and depressing. -
Milnerton Market
Just off the R27, the Milnerton Market offers the smell of the sea, a full view of Table Mountain and an industrial backdrop on the Paarden Island side. The wind usually blows over this bleak patch of sandy land and occasionally a freight train trundles by. It is at this odd car boot sale that Cape Townians gather early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to trawl through rows of gems and junk, hunt for bargains or rummage through genuine antiques.