‘Our cover image this week is powerful, shocking and disturbing. It is a portrait of Aisha, a shy 18-year-old Afghan woman who was sentenced by a Taliban commander to have her nose and ears cut off for fleeing her abusive in-laws. Aisha posed for the picture and says she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan, many of whom have flourished in the past few years. Her picture is accompanied by a powerful story by our own Aryn Baker on how Afghan women have embraced the freedoms that have come from the defeat of the Taliban — and how they fear a Taliban revival.’

The problem is that this editorial reads as if Aisha’s ears and nose were cut off before the American/UK invasion and therefore is a justification for the war.  Infact the barbaric act took place last year. Despite this the cover states that the girl’s face is representative of ‘What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan’.  But this is what is happening in Afghanistan now, after all the billions we’ve spent bombing the place. Some might say it’s dirty propaganda.

Much of my work in Ethiopia was related to women’s rights and the record in that country is as bad, if not worse than Afghanistan. Strangely the US and the UK take a different approach to Ethiopia. Instead of bombing the country every year they donate a couple of hundred million dollars in aid. It’s not always money well spent, but it sure beats bombing people as a way of changing barbaric cultural practices.

TIME’S editorial certainly makes for a great t-shirt ‘Bomb Afghanistan for women’s rights’, but I can’t see many behavioral change experts recommending it as a way to stop women being raped, mutilated or forced into early marriage.

Infact if you took all the billions we’ve spent on bombing Afghanistan and offered the money as payments to not abuse women’s rights (the aid way) then I’m pretty sure you would see change happening a lot swifter. The only problem is all those in the US and UK who profit from war would be a hell of a lot poorer and in this world their right to make money is the most important right of all.

I feel sorry for Bieber, she’s done a great job and cannot be faulted, but I feel this photo has been misused.

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2. Behind The Veil
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‘I’ve avoided the temptation to say that, in the United States, poverty is white. It’s true, however, that there are twice as many poor whites as there are poor blacks. While a larger percentage of the African-American population lives in poverty, the sheer number of poor whites — 24.1 million — overwhelms the number of poor blacks — 12.1 million. (Interestingly, there are also more poor Hispanics than there are poor blacks — 14.5 million.)

Nevertheless, Americans insist on associating poverty with blackness. According to the influential study by Gilens that I mentioned above, the fact that blacks “dominate public images of poverty” is the result of “network TV news and weekly news magazines [that] portray the poor as substantially more black than is real the case.” This needs to change, and photography can play a role.’

Read the full article by John Edwin Mason here.

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“Year-round in Ghana, the sun sets at 6pm and rises at 6am – thus, the residents of communities lacking electricity live half of their lives in the dark. Over ten years ago, the government of Ghana began a massive campaign to provide the country’s rural north with electricity, but the project ceased almost immediately after it began. The work sluggishly resumes during election years, as candidates attempt to garner popularity and votes. But at present, an estimated 73% of villages remain without electricity in the neglected north – an area comprising 40% of the country.”

Peter DiCampo.

Life Without Lights from Peter DiCampo on Vimeo.

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We’ve all seen it: the photo of a teary-eyed African child, dressed in rags, smothered in flies, with a look of desperation that the caption all too readily points out. Some organization has made a poster that tells you about the realities of poverty, what they are doing about it, and how your donation will change things.

I reacted very strongly to these kinds of photos when I returned from Africa in 2008. I compared these photos to my own memories of Malawian friends and felt lied to. How had these photos failed so spectacularly to capture the intelligence, the laughter, the resilience, and the capabilities of so many incredible people?

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NPR (National Public Radio) have invested heavily in multimedia and it’s paying off.  Along The Grand Trunk Road is one of their latest and most ambitious projects:

An ancient road spans South Asia, connecting the present and the past in a dynamic — and sometimes dangerous — part of the world. NPR journalists travel the route and tell the stories of young people living there, who make up the majority of the populations in India and Pakistan.

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“What happened to us should not happen to anyone.”

Photographer Susan Meiselas and reporter Dumeetha Luthra traveled to India for Human Rights Watch to retrace the steps of one woman who died after giving birth to a son.

Powerful and respectful work.

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There’s a wonderful interview and series of pictures on the blog Conscientious about Ugandan Skateboarders. Joerg has a good record of talent spotting this kind of work.

My pictures tell the story of the first Ugandan skateboarders, who built a skate park themselves in Kitintale, a working-class suburb of Kampala. Through skateboarding and without government help or support by any organisation, the teenagers of Kitintale have managed to ward off boredom and the negative effects caused by the poverty of their daily lives. When they are on their “Fantasy Island,” which is their skate park and their pride and joy, the skateboarders are not far from paradise: they feel freedom and a sense of community which allows them to dream and have prospects for the future.

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Photographer John Edwin Mason’s inspiring new book One Love, Ghoema Beat: Inside the Cape Town Carnival takes you behind the scenes of one of the world’s least known and  yet most colorful carnivals.  The Cape Town Carnival is unique in its history, which is rooted in South Africa’s troubled past, and in its music, which is propelled by the mesmerizing ghoema beat.

Warning: the following audio slideshow has a reputation for making people smile.

One Love, Ghoema Beat: Inside the Cape Town Carnival from John Edwin Mason on Vimeo.

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If you are interested in the story of child mortality you need to understand the real figures behind the horror stories we see in the news. The amazing GAPMINDER website and this video is a cracking place to start.

Nearly 10 million children under five die every year. Almost 90% of all child deaths are attributable to just six conditions: neonatal causes, pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS.

The aim (Millenium Development Goal 4) is to cut child mortality by two thirds by 2015.
How can this be achieved?
Which countries make sufficient progress?
And by which rate did a country like Norway reduce its child mortality the last 100 years?

Watch Gapcast #11 to understand the background and the current status of a Millenium Development Goal.

httvp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWI_1QoQ9aM

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This is the harrowing story of Srey Neth, a young Cambodian victim of human trafficking forced into prostitution. It’s part of a larger project by the photographer Tim Matsui to document the issue. Take some time out to watch the short film and read Tim’s words below:

Cambodia: Srey Neth from timmatsui.com on Vimeo.

Srey Neth is a young Cambodian victim of human trafficking. In this story she speaks of her experience transitioning from victim to survivor. At 14 she was sold by her mother to a pimp for $300; a week later he sold her virginity for the same price then he forced her to serve 10-20 men per night afterwards. Her refusal was met with beatings or electrocution. Srey Neth was later rescued by police and a non governmental organization. During her recovery, which unsurprisingly has taken more than five years, she was diagnosed with HIV.

This is not just a story about the darkness in humanity. Srey Neth is a victim who has found her voice and become a survivor; I see her as a figurative Cambodia, her home country. It is culturally permissive of human trafficking after struggling through thirty years of genocide, occupation, and civil war. From a trauma and victimization standpoint, Cambodian society is still finding the voice it needs to end the exploitation.

Srey Neth has been given guidance and the opportunity to find her own path. She has learned forgiveness, found self worth, received an education, worked hard to succeed, and been given life through anti-retroviral drugs. Many in Cambodia do not have this option; Srey Neth knows this and hopes that her story of pain and healing can help. It is why she is now working in the same slum where she was sold, to help the younger children find their voice and avoid the victimization she faced. Her story is one of hope and an example for those working in the field of anti-human trafficking. Her story is also a parallel to my incomplete project on the transition Cambodia, the country, is making from victim to survivor.

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