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Rufo
age 7, Yabelo, Ethiopia
pigmented platinum palladium print
20 x 24 inches
I first noticed Rufo as she was
walking to school with her sister. The elegant wardrobe that
she had created with remnants and scraps of cloth fasinated
me. Like most Boran girls in southern Ethiopia, she spends
her days collecting water and firewood, herding the goats
and helping her mother cook. Her labor plays a vital role
in her family’s survival.
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Mohamed
selectively
toned silver gelatin print
20 x 24 inches |
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Yeshi
age 13, Drigung Valley, Tibet
selectively toned silver gelatin print
20 x 24 inches
Yeshi was practicing her Tibetan script on a painted board in
this small village school. I was amazed by the quality of her
work. It was like some of the finest caligraphy I had seen.
Her teacher was a Tibetan who had been educated in a Chinese-run
university. My interperter told me that even though the Tibetan
language was being taught, the content of all their books on
history and Tibetan culture were written from a Chinese perspective.
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Lourdes/Benigno
age 9, Willoq, Peru
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Lourdes
gets up at five o’clock in the morning to take her cows
up the mountain before school begins. After school she makes
the three-mile trek back up the mountain to retrieve the cows
and returns home to help her mother cook dinner. She carries
her sister Benigno with her most of the day. At school she currently
speaks Quechua, her native language, but next year she will
be taught in Spanish.
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Rudi
age 7, Tana Toraja, Indonesia
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Rudi’s small village is a day’s walk from the nearest
road in the mountains of Sulawesi. He took me to his one-room
house where many of the villagers were crowded around a small
television watching Mike Tyson fight Evander Holyfield. After
my arrival, all eyes were in constant motion between me and
the television set. As Tyson bit his opponent, I couldn’t
help but wonder what these people thought of me and my culture.
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Byamba
age 9 Renchinkhumbe, Mongolia
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23.5 x 42 inches
Byamba spends her day herding sheep, collecting water
and watching her younger brother. She hopes to move into the
neighboring village next year to attend school. Even though
several members of her extended family were visiting when I
arrived, they invited me to spend the night in their little
ger (tent). All eighteen of us managed to find enough room on
the floor to fall asleep around the centrally-located hearth.
The ger, which can be assembled in about an hour, accommodates
their nomadic lifestyle.
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Vincentina
age 15 months, Ollantaytambo,
Peru selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Vicentina’s father met her mother three
years ago while selling firewood at a market several miles from
his village. Once Vicentina was conceived, the couple built
a home in the mountains and moved in together. It is not the
custom of the Quechua for couples to marry; however, they remain
very monogamous. Like most Quechua children, Vicentina will
breast-feed until she is almost three years old as a method
of contraception for her parents.
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Delgermaa
age 8, Tsagunnuurr, Mongolia
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Delgermaa belongs to the Darkhad ethnic group which has a strong
shamanic tradition. Her family lives in a small village in the
northern Mongolian taiga where
the temperatures in the winter routinely reach minus 24-30°
C. All year long, she carries water to her house from a river
one mile away. Even though this was her first
year at school, she already has ambitions to become a teacher.
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Parsho/Suma
ages 4 and 8, Murile, Ethiopia
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Now that the maize is ripening,
Parsho and Suma have been given the responsibility of guarding
one of the communal fields from birds and baboons. Because of
this year’s drought, the crop is sparse and their job
is critical. Suma said that a group of baboons had tried to
raid the field a short time ago, but he and Parsho screamed
until the warriors came. Baboons have been known to carry off
children Parsho’s age.
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Bat
Dalai
age 3, Tsaatan
Camp, Mongolia
selectively
toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Batdalai was just learning to ride the large reindeer standing
behind him. With his older sister holding him tight I watched
as they went trotting across the taiga at sunset Within a year
he should be riding well enough to help bring in the herd at
night for milking. Unlike most children in the Tsaatan clan,
Batdalai was born in a hospital. His mother had heard about
“painless births” and decided to make the three
day journey to the little clinic by horseback.
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Buzayan
age 6, Jinka, Ethiopia
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Buzayan lives with her
mother and three older sisters in a small Ethiopian village.
Her father took a job as a policeman in a neighboring town and
later abandoned the family for another woman. Even though it
is very expensive for her, Buzayan's mother is committed to
keeping all the children in school. When I asked Buzayan about
kindergarten, she squealed with delight and started jumping
up and down.
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Abi Gul
age 7, Rumbur Valley, Pakistan
selectively
toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Abi Gul's father spent eleven
years fighting in the Pakistan courts to keep the Kalash valleys
from being logged. For the Kalash, who have an animist cosmology,
trees are very sacred. Three years ago Abi Gul's father was
killed by a bomb that was thrown into their little two room
home. Her uncle continued the court case and finally won the
judgment. Abi Gul was very serious and quiet. Very diligent,
she stayed by my side and assisted me as I photographed her
friends and relatives in her small village.
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Alan
Slickpoo III
18 months, Lewiston, Idaho (Nez Perce,
Yakima)
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
I watched Alan as he danced tirelessly
for nearly an hour, working his way in and out of the adult
dancers. His mother told me, “He has been dancing since
he was able to walk. He feels the drums and, bang, he’s
out there dancing. It’s wonderful. Old ways are being
remembered and taught to the young. We’re coming back.”
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Dawa
age 15, Drigung Valley, Tibet
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Dawa is
a student and the eldest son of a barley farmer. Although
responsible for his family's herd of 400 goats, he spends
most of his free time reading--especially anything written
in Tibetan. He proudly showed me a well-worn copy of an English-Tibetan
phrase book that a western traveler had given him two years
before.
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Yadira
age 5, Amazon basin, Ecuador
selectively toned silver gelatin print
24 x 40 inches
Yadira is one of
320 Secoya Indians living along the Aguarico river in Ecuador's
northern Amazon. Since oil was discovered in 1972, more oil
has been spilled in this area than was spilled by the Exxon
Valdez accident in Alaska. The Aguarico river has been covered
by over a foot of oil on several occasions. In this time,
the Secoya have seen most of the animals in their territory
disappear. Today an oil company is again trying to start seismic
exploration in Secoya territory.
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Dimicia
age 7, Chahuatire, Peru
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Dimicia’s mother was instrumental in establishing a school
in their small village. About the time Dimicia started first
grade, her nine-year-old brother began working as a porter on
the Inca Trail. For less than three dollars a day, he carries
some 40 pounds of camping equipment for tourists making the
popular four-day hike to Machu Picchu.
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Lutdai/Kolle
ages 7 and 6, Omorate, Ethiopia
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Lutdai and Kolle belong to the Galeb
tribe, who inhabit an extremely dry and desolate area of southwest
Ethiopia. For weeks at a time, the wind begins to blow early
in the day, creating dust storms that last until the sun goes
down. Shortly after I took this photo one morning, the wind
-- like clockwork -- began to kick up a blinding haze. The boys
went about their play as if nothing had changed.
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Mama
age 10, Dimeka, Ethiopia
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Mama was on her way to the Dimeka market to sell the
honey she had collected over the past week. Last year her father
died of tuberculosis, leaving her mother alone to care for the
children. Hamar custom does not allow a widow to remarry, so
the children will be expected to carry the extra workload. When
I gave her a Polaroid of herself, Mama stared at it for several
minutes in disbelief. She didn’t think it was really her.
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Kinesi
age 6, Mt. Nyiru, Kenya
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
Kinesi often helps his older brother take care of the
family goats. He is the only one of seven children who was selected
by his parents to attend school. Since his Samburu family is
semi-nomadic, sometimes he must walk alone nearly four hours
-- over terrain populated by baboons and leopards -- to get
to the only school in his district. His mother says that Kenesi
runs most of the way -- not from fear of predators, but from
the excitement of school. Samburu Tribe.
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Mimi
age 8, Yavello, Ethiopia
selectively toned silver gelatin print
23 x 27 inches
As one of five children, Mimi spends most of her day collecting
firewood and water. Her parents will soon choose which one of
their children will go to school. Mimi said she would love to
go but doesn’t believe she will. Not only is her help
crucial to the family’s survival, but parents also customarily
choose boys over girls to receive an education.
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Kinesi
selectively toned silver gelatin
print
19.5 x 38 inches
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Irma
age 9, Tana Toraja, Indonesia
selectively toned silver gelatin print
19.5 x 38 inches
Irma had just arrived
home from school when I saw her. She set down her books, picked
up a scythe and waded into this large rice field. Within minutes
she was joined by some forty men, women and children from her
village. They started from the edge of the field and worked
toward the center. In less than an hour, they had cut and stacked
the entire crop. Most of the farming is done collectively in
Tana Toraja.
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Dapan
age 9, Noragaru, Irian
Jaya (Indonesia)
selectively toned silver gelatin print
19.5 x 38 inches
Dapan, the youngest of three
brothers, had just begun school. Of his family’s $240
annual income, $43 will be spent on his education. His parents
also support the older brothers’ schooling. I asked his
father why they make this sacrifice since the few jobs available
in the Indonesian-dominated economy are given to Indonesian
transmigrants instead of the native Papuans. He replied, “We’re
hoping things will change.” |
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