Kevin Carter, the Kireka Quarry and Karamoja: thoughts on the limits of photography

Kevin Carter was a South African photographer who originally made his name covering the violence in Johannesburg townships during the drawn-out ending to apartheid. He and three other male South African photographers pounded the pavement every day for years.

Only two of the four survived.

It was during a brief lull during the ongoing violence in South Africa that Carter took a trip to Sudan. At that phase of the conflict, few images existed to show the magnitude of suffering and misery.


When his photo was eventually published in the New York Times, there was a public out pour: what happened to this little girl? So close to the feeding center, did she make it? Carter sat back down under the tree and the little girl, with a burst of energy, crawled to the feeding center.

The NYT called him to ask what happened – they needed to address their readers’ questions. Carter admitted that he hadn’t helped the girl, but insisted he was sure she had made it to the center. Eventually, for some reason explained by neither the book The Bang Bang Club nor the magazine article in Time, the NYT editorial said that it was unknown whether the girl made it to the center. People were outraged at Carter’s callousness.

Fourteen months after he took the now famous photo, Carter won the Pulitzer. Two months after that, he was dead – suicide, when he was only 33 years old.

Carter didn’t kill himself because of strangers’ judgment. He had plenty of his own problems. But feeling the appraisal of strangers, when it’s all you can manage to get out of bed and face things again the next day, is overwhelming. It takes a psychological toll to be out there, every day, doing this. I haven’t done war photography or conflict photography, but I don’t know that the kind of structural violence inflicted by poverty and famine, which I have covered, is so distant from the frontlines.

Carter’s suicide note was a garbled list of money problems and nightmares of violence.

The lingering memories of what I have witnessed, often incomprehensible to others, keep me up at night. I’m not going to do anything drastic, but Carter’s dilemmas remind me of Stephen at quarry just outside Kampala. In the quarry, Stephen and hundreds of others, mainly urban refugees who at one point fled the violence in Northern Uganda, pound away at piles of rocks for pennies a day with almost no opportunities for education, health care or advancement. At the quarry, it seems as if people have crushed rocks there for an eternity, and will crush rocks for another eternity.


I posted on this blog about how sad I felt about Stephen, how I wanted to do something to help, but what would I do? And would it be sustainable? A few people wrote in comments chastising me: I could pay his school fees easily, after all, what is $50 to me?

I responded a bit, posting here about ways people could help Stephen and the community.

But honestly, I felt bitter about these comments. I don’t know who these people were telling me that I should do more. Where do they live? What do they do?

If they haven’t been here, what they don’t understand is that right next to Stephen is another kid, equally desperate, also crushing rocks for pennies a day.

Yes, I can afford Stephen’s school fees – for a term, or even a few terms. But I probably won’t always be in Uganda. And then what? And what about the boy next to Stephen? And the little girl next to that little boy?

Some of the replies here were more thoughtful than just a base criticism – maybe my part, after all, is to take the photos that can tell people about suffering in a corner of the world they couldn’t find on a map. Maybe that was enough. Or, if I, or someone else, were to help Stephen, then that’s enough. We don’t have to save everyone, and helping Stephen is important too.

But Stephen is just one story. I haven’t yet written here about the pediatric feeding center in Karamoja. I’m still trying to sell the photos, publish a story, but the truth is, most people don’t care about some Africans dying in some remote corner of the some bush.


To me, this part is devastating. If my part is to take the photos and inform readers and interested parties, if I can’t even get my work published, then I’m not doing my share. It’s not for lack of trying, or because of some failing in the quality of my work, but because even the people who do care have a limit for this kind of devastating tragedy.

I sent an SMS from the feeding center to a photo editor. “At pediatric feeding center outside a town in Karamoja. Malnutrition rampant, children dying. Have pix.”

He texted back: “No thanks. We just did famine in Ethiopia.”


Ultimately, whether or not I get my photos and stories from Karamoja published, it probably won’t matter that much. After all, Carter’s photo was seen all around the world, and little has changed between when he took the photo in 1993 and now, 15 full years later.

In other related news, an American couple emailed me recently to tell me that they adopted Stephen’s little sister.

Stephen, however, despite photos, despite many inquires, remains in the quarry.

And the famine continues in Karamoja.

And the violence continues in Sudan.

Tomorrow morning, I will wake up, take more pictures, and write more stories, despite all evidence pointing to the futility of such work.

After all, it's more futile not to try.

You know you've been in Uganda for too long when...

With 1,400 members and 645 wall posts, few things ring as true as some of the comments on the Facebook group You know you've been in Uganda for too long when...

-You argue with the police officer over the bribe whilst driving yourself to the station
-When Al's Bar is a form of Speed Dating
-You start referring to people as "this one" and "that one"
-It's 32 degrees Celsius and you still see people dressed in sweaters and winter parkas
-When you point with your lips and say yes with your eyebrows
-When going to Garden City is even more special because the escalator is on

You go through a period of adjustment at the beginning, where everything is new and different and exciting. Where it's hilarious that someone's wearing a sweater when it's so warm! Where every what? Every sentence can make you what? Can make you laugh.

But really, you know you've been in Uganda too long when all those things aren't even that funny anymore. After awhile, you won't tell a boda to turn left because he will go up to the right because you didn't tell him which way to "slope." You don't ask for your change, you ask for your "balance." When bargaining takes less than a minute because you're so accustomed to it.

So yes, I'm feeling a little too accustomed to Uganda right now. I never get lost in the city because I know where I'm going. I never have crazy phone call encounters where I try to explain who I am and what I'm doing because I already know how to do that in a way that makes sense to people.

I'm going on a vacation soon, thankfully, since it's much needed. (Anyone been to Addis Ababa before? I have a few days of layover there en route to the final destination.)

Before then, and also for when I return, I'm going to try to get lost. Not literally - but to just walk to places I don't know, talk to people I don't need to speak to for a story or a photo or a purpose, and generally try and find new perspective.

Suggestions welcomed.

You know you've been in Uganda too long when...

-The pentecostal church in the compound next door keeping you awake until 4 in the morning is cause to spend time googling David Matsanga.

Matsanga, Mugabe and Kony

COPYRIGHT Glenna Gordon/AP

Ever wonder what Robert Mugabe and Joseph Kony have in common? Besides being generally unliked people in circles opposed to human rights violations, they both work with this man: David Matsanga.

Look no further for proof than Africa News Flash, a site whose headline is in blue with animated flames. There are even phone numbers to contact our friend Dave while he's in Zimbabwe or the UK, where this member of the Acholi diaspora apparently makes his home.

The site includes headlines like, "The president will survive the media onslaught," and "I have quit the casino politics of Uganda."

Fun reading. Especially if it's Saturday around 4 AM and the Penetcostal Church right next to your home is displaying unusual stamina and vigor...

Matsanga emerges from the bush, without Kony, at the failed Juba peace talks this April. COPYRIGHT Glenna Gordon/AP

Ugandan local media going through some, um, changes.

Yep. Joachim Buwembo's out as managing editor of the Daily Monitor, and Daniel Kalinaki, current editor of the East African, will replace him. It's unclear who will replace Kalinaki. And it will be interesting to see how both papers change.

Joseph Kony goes on the radio

On Sunday, Joseph Kony went on the radio and spoke to a presenter at Radio France International, Billie O’Kadameri.

He said, “I’m not going to go back to war with people of Uganda. I’m going to struggle or to see that everything is perfect.”

See more on Reuters.

It’s unclear why he went on air Sunday, or why with RFI. Word on the street here is that he’s friendly with O’Kadameri.

Upon googling the presenter, I found this photo in Vanity Fair, courtesy of none other than our friend Billie. There are very few pictures of Kony at all, and even fewer from the mid-90s.


Strange.

There are a lot of reasons Kony may have decided to speak out. With military action looming, his operations will at least be restricted, if not destabilized. Also, Kony et al weren’t exactly doing badly during the peace talks. In fact, they were enjoying huge per diems and donated food rations as incentives to continue. Those per diems can be used to buy arms, and Kony could just be buying time right now to continue doing just that - buying more arms.

What I don’t understand now, and have never understood, in fact, is if Kony is calling people on his satellite phone, anyone with high tech equipment (ie, US Army in the area, elite branches of the UPDF, etc) would know exactly where he is from readings of his longitude and latitude. I’ve heard all kinds of theories about Kony’s sat phone and why no one knows where he is, though at many points in time he has used it regularly. My favorite is that he has some kind of shield-like deflector that blocks his coordinates.

Funny, the technology one might have in the jungle.

Jinja: Two photos, two stories

This photo could have been taken on Tuesday or about ten years ago or a lot longer ago, and not much would look different. (It was taken on Tuesday. And technically, the water level would be different because of recent construction of the Bujugali Dam.)

Note the sign, "No alcohol will be served before 11:00 AM."

Virunga Gorillas: Misleading Photos

When I first chanced upon this photo of a blurred out man walking in front of an elusive mountain gorilla, I thought the photo did a good job of illustrating this National Geographic Story, Who Murdered The Virunga Gorillas?

Who is this man? Why would he kill a gorilla?

Upon closer inspection, you can clearly see the badge on his arm, a park ranger badge. While there is a question about who did this, I don't think anyone is blaming the rangers. The story even says,

There was no shortage of suspects. The gorillas share the park with tens of thousands of heavily armed soldiers engaged in a three-way guerrilla war between two rival militias and the Congolese army. The park is also home to poachers and hordes of illegal charcoal producers, and it is bordered by subsistence farmers and vast refugee camps overflowing with families fleeing the bloodshed.

This is a clear outline of who-might-have-done-it and park rangers are not among the list of suspects. The photo, therefore, in this context, is another case of equating any old person, who happens to be around and available for a snap, with the culprits. I find this to be especially true of photos of Northern Uganda - people will regularly put photos of UPDF (Ugandan Army), along with a caption that makes reference to the rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). It's much easier to get a photo of the UPDF, so they have to make due. In this situation it would be pretty hard to get a photo of a Congolese rebel, but it's pretty easy to get a photo of a park ranger. So this will have to do, it seems.

But, allowing this makes any African man in a contested area both a rebel and a suspect.

419 takes on the conference circuit

Every now and then, mainly when I am procrastinating, I check that there's nothing important in my spam folder.

I just found this email:

Hi,

My name is _______. I am presently working with (YOUTHS FOR PEACE ORGANISATION) Seattle, WA, USA. We are cordially inviting you to our twin combined conference which Will be held in Seattle, WA, USA from the 21st to 24th of July 2008 And Athens Greece from the 28th to 31st of July 2008. If you are Interested to participate and want to represent your country, you may Contact the secretariat of the organizing committee for details and Information.
You should also inform them that you were invited to participate by a Friend of yours (Elizabeth Bukala), who is a member of the American Youths For Peace, We care2 and a staff of (YOUTHS FOR PEACE ORGANIZATION). The benevolent donors of the Organizing Committee will provide round Trip Air tickets and accommodation for the period of participants Stay in The United States, to all registered participants.
You will only be responsible for your own hotel booking in Athens where The second phase of the conferences will be held. If you are a holder of an international passport that may require visa to enter the United States/Greece you may inform the conference secretariat at the time of registration, as the organizing committee is responsible for all visa arrangements and travel assistances.
Please contact the Conference secretariat with the address below for Detailed information.

Email: global_conference@eml.cc and copied to vassos_anthonis@eml.cc

By TEL: +1 206-333-0338
By FAX: +1 206-984-3466
You can also directly register here www.gyofhd.org

Contact them with your full names and address.

Sincerely,
_____

A big tip of is of course the "benevolent donors" line. I was curious, though, so I went to the website. (IE, more procrastination.)

The front page of the website site looks semi-official, if not that professional. But, then, I clicked on Participation Information:

We have made arrangements for subsidized hotel for all participants as follows.

A three/four star hotels is 80 euros daily for five days per participant totaling 400 euro including meals. Five star hotels is also subsidized for 120 euros daily for the 5 days totaling 600 euros including meals.

To guarantee your participation, do send the hotel accommodation fee because of the urgency to the informations below.

Through western union money transfer visit www.westernunion.com or money gram visit www.moneygram.com

First Name: Mrs Barbara,
Last Name: ILIC
Address: GYOFHD OLYMPIA 45, 11688 Athens, GREECE.

or By Bank Transfer to:
ACCOUNT NUMBER : 113/632619-64
ACCOUNT NAME : VASSOS ANTHONIS
IBAN NUMBER : GR0201101130000011363261964
BANK NAME : NATIONAL BANK OF GREECE
BANK SWIFT CODE (BIC): ETHNGRAA
BANK ADDRESS : PATISION ROAD 288. ATHENS - GREECE.

Once we receive evidence of payment by sending us the transfer documents, we will proceed to final registration and where necessary secure the visa authorization from America and Greece which guarantees you a visa for participation.We will also send you the relevant documents and travelling itinerery. All participants must pay for the hotel as arranged for security reasons.

Note: Completed application form should be returned to info@gyofhd.org with the hotel booking fee as advised latest by 30th June 2008 as admission is by first come first serve.

It is very nice of them to organize a hotel for you - just make a deposit in the bank account, information provided here!! And with amazing sponsors like these, how could you go wrong?

I like that Merrill Lynch is listed twice.

Baboons and mangoes. And the UPDF.

These images aren't copyright anything. They're mine, and google image foragers, I leave them here for you.

About two weeks ago I was coming back from Gulu to Kampala, and at Karuma, where the Nile River meets the road from north to south Uganda, there are always baboons sitting around, waiting for you to give them mangoes.

We started taking photos of these cute guys munching away, and UPDF pulled us over, assuming that two white girls, an Acholi lady and a driver named Charles were trying to take pictures of the Karuma bridge, which they saw as a security risk.

A brief argument ensued, and though the UPDF wanted to take my camera, I made it abudnantly clear that wasn't going to happen. I showed them the images on the LCD - of kids in Gulu, other Northern Uganda sites, and of course, baboons. They begrudgingly let us pass. The colleague with whom I had been traveling was terrified, but I assured her this was both common place and incidental, and indeed, nothing came of it.

I have no terrorist plans involving Karuma, or anything else for that matter. I just like monkeys. And I have a camera. And our driver Charles had purchased about 20 kilos of mangoes for Ush 4,000 ($2.50), so we used one for a photo opp.

Goes to show you what happens when you give a baboon a mango.

Updates on Stephen in Kireka

Most of the time, when I take photos, someone will ask me for money in exchange for their image. Journalists aren't really supposed to do this, but tourists can and do, and that creates an expectation. I tell people, I can't give you any money, but I'll take your picture and tell your story and maybe someone will know about this situation and about you, and maybe something will be different.

Lately, those words have felt hollow. I take a lot of pictures, and not a lot of things change. And something changing at some point in the future doesn't pay school fees today.

But, there's been a lot of response to the AP story about Stephen and the quarry in Kireka. The Nairobi bureau chief of AP called me the other day and said she'll probably want Katy and me to do a follow up story. Additionally, the AP has had so many letters saying people wanted to do something that she asked me where she should direct them.

I've also gotten several emails, not to mention comments on this blog, about the topic. So, here are a few places you can look into if you want to do something.

• If you're in Uganda, one of the women in the community who acts as a local leader is named Milly and can be reached via her mobile, which I won't put here, but if you'd like her contacts, leave a comment or send me an email.
• Meeting Point International works with HIV positive women in the quarry, and they are supported by AVSI.
  

Mainly, though, I would like to emphasize that though Stephen's story is sad and heartbreaking, right next to him on a pile of rocks is another kid who is also sad and heartbreaking. This is one of the fundamental problems of both aid work and journalism - every time there's one kid like this, there's a dozen. Or a hundred. Or a thousand.

I honestly think that while Stephen deserves help of course, something structural must change and it's more important to funnel resources to that end. The Refugee Law Project had done a lot of advocacy work around the issue of IDPs in Kampala, and in terms of helping the community rather than an individual, they would be the way to go.

The size of Africa

Congratulations Frank!!!

This camera isn't on, but the kid sure is cute! Frank in on the Uganda-Kenya border reporting on Kenyan refugees after election turmoil.

Frank Nyakairu has received one of the two Knight International Journalism awards for 2008.

Frank on a UN chopper in Sudan, on our way to Nabanga for the most recent attempt at peace talks.

Pepfar: Americans come to Kampala!

I'm attending the HIV Implementers Conference this week. It's a whole bunch of PEPFAR officials in town for a few days.

A few facts about the conference, compared to facts about ARVs:

1,500 people attending the conference
$22 for lunch

$33,000 for lunch. In Kampala, you can get a nice local lunch for about Ush 3,000 ($1.50). The conference goes from Wednesday to Saturday, so that's 4 lunch sessions, for a total of $132,000.

$15 Generic ARVs for one month

Therefore, if all these delegates forgo their pricey lunch, 8,800 people could be on ARVs for a month, or 733 people for a year.

PlusNews: Insecurity affecting HIV funding in Karamoja

Insecurity affecting HIV funding in Karamoja

KOTIDO, 3 June 2008 (PlusNews) - Frances Otim, living in Kotido, an urban centre in Uganda's northeastern Karamoja region, doesn't use condoms because he doesn't know how, and doesn't use a mosquito net because the one he has is ripped.

For most adults, malaria isn't life threatening, but for people living with HIV, acute malaria causes a spike in viral load - the amount of the virus present in the body. This in turn heightens a sexual partner's risk of contracting the virus. "I had malaria last week," Otim, who is HIV-positive, told IRIN/PlusNews at the Church of Uganda Health Centre in Kotido.

"We need to teach about condoms," said Patience Ajok, the centre's programme coordinator. She would like to do this, as well as a lot of other activities related to HIV prevention and treatment, but is limited by a tiny budget and having very few staff members. "The number of [HIV-positive] clients is increasing, but personnel and funding is not."

(More...)

AP: Ugandan Children Work on Dangerous Rock Pile

Copyright Glenna Gordon/AP

Before I went to Karamoja and said, "This is the worst, saddest, poorest place I have ever been," the quarry in Kireka took that title, which I visited earlier this month. The little boy profiled in this story had lost everything, had nothing, and no options. I went to the neighborhood to take photos for a story another journalist had already reported. I'd visited Kireka before, but I hadn't met Stephen.

Copyright Glenna Gordon/AP

One drunken evening, or rather, sometime in the wee hours of the morning, several journalists, myself included, discussed Stephen's fate. Should we pay his school fees? Put him in an orphanage? He has HIV/AIDS, and he's not eating enough to absorb medicine in Kireka, nor is the man acting as his guardian, his uncle, likely to do much for Stephen. His uncle has AIDS, too. The conversation turned to the horrors of orphanages, but ultimately, we didn't know what else to do. Paying some money now for school fees or medicine is temporary, unsustainable, and will just mean Stephen is left without anything should my pack of journos up and leave for another country, another story.

This the kind of conversation had too frequently by expats in Africa, so aware of our own futility.

We still haven't sorted it out, and for now, our indecision is Stephen's continued poor health.

Now, several photos are on the web, a nice photo slide show, and as usual, more are here.

All photos Copyright Glenna Gordon/AP

All photos Copyright Glenna Gordon/AP