Indonesia

 This picture was taken by Salgado back in 1996. I thought the picture was adorable, but feel slightly guilty for thinking so because it is an example of the how the poor in Jakarta(Indonesia's largest city) deal with the water crisis they face. According to Salgado's observation and research "running water and drainage services are almost non-existent in working-class districts." Fourteen years later water conditions for the poor are the same.The water is contaminated by the sewage and seasonal floods that wash up garbage. For this reason tap water is unsafe to drink, wash or cook with. The filthy water is full of diseases; the most common being the deadly cholera. Unlike the rich, the poor cannot afford the neighborhood with a better water system nor to pay for water purifiers to make the water safe. Instead they are left to deal.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 362.

 --Pamphlet. "Southern Sudan: A Population in Distress"Migrations: Humanity in Transition.   Aperture. New York, 2000. 27.

Invisible Children

So I just finished going to a documentary presentation by Invisible Children on BYU campus about the war in Uganda and the effects it has on the citizens, especially children. Clicking here explains how their campaign is used to help stop the war and deal with its devastating effects. I wanted to write about it as soon as possible while my thoughts are fresh. The movie was very moving and eye-opening, yet it avoided being sappy.

Pretty much these four college-aged students travel to Africa in 2003 with their video camera and document what they found. Joseph Kony leads the Lord's Resistance Army in efforts to overthrow the Ugandan government and set a government under God. His means are kidnapping kids aged from 3-12 years old and training them to kill. That only scratches the surface. I wrote an earlier blog about Sudan that is related to the Ugandan War. If you want to learn more Google or Wikipedia it, or check out the Invisible Children website.

It makes me realize how much I really have(how many times do I need reminding?), that even my own insecurities, weaknesses, bad experiences are in no comparison to the suffering and beyond-belief lives these others have endured, in this case the Ugandan children.The problems in the world are not so far away but they are bigger than we know or understand.

Work Cited:

"Lord's Resistance Army Insurgency." Wikipedia.Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 2 Apr 2010. Web. 9 Apr 2010.

Photo. "Child Soldiers." Covertress. Blogspot. 10 Jul 2008. Web. 9 Apr. 2010


"What We Do." Invisible Children. Invisible Children Inc. 2010. Web. 9 Apr 2010.

The Landless in Brazil

This is a picture of a landless peasant just getting off work. He is part of the Landless Worker's Movement that has been going on since 1984 and claims approximately 1.5 million members. Statistic show that in Brazil, 1.6% of the landowners control roughly half (46.8%) of the land on which crops could be grown. Just 3% of the population owns two-thirds of all arable lands(Wikipedia). This creates a problem for the majority of Brazil. Their cause is even more justified in their eyes because of the 1988 constitution that says land needs to have a social function. This social function is accomplished when the land and resources is used adaquately, when labor laws are followed, and both the employer and employee benefit from the land.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 303.

 --Pamphlet. "Southern Sudan: A Population in Distress"Migrations: Humanity in Transition.   Aperture. New York, 2000. 22.

"Landless Worker Movemement." Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 25 Feb 2010. Web. 07 Apr 2010.

Water

Trailer

In my English we are watching a movie about widows from India in 1938 called "Water."  According to Hindu scriptures women have three choices when there husband dies, they can remarry a younger brother if the family permits, they have to burn themselves with their husand, or go live in exile. This belief was carried into religious law for a long time.

When I think of a widow I think of an old person, but in India it was common for children, sometimes as young as 8, to be married off.  The widows were considered bad omens, forced to cut their hair, remove jewelry, refrain from make-up and only wear white clothes.  They had to beg on the streets for money, they could only eat one meal a day, and were not allowed to eat sweets.

 With help from Ghandi, many of the laws have been lifted. The dress code no longer exists, and because of new laws for the marriage of children, child-widows is less common. Widows still rarely remarry and society still considers them bad luck(Kamat).

Kamat, Jyotsna. "Plot of Widows in India." Kamats Potpourri. 28 Jan 2010. Web. 3 Mar 2010.

Photograph. "Movie Review Water: 64." Hubpages. Hubpages Inc. Web. 3 Mar 2010.

Video. "Water." IMDb Video: The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc. Web 3 Mar 2010

So this weekend I went to an international movie, Munyurangabo, hosted by BYU. It was about Rwanda. An earlier blog of mine talks about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. I figured it would directly cover the war and the horrors of the genocide. It didn't. It was still based off of actual events but it was filmed years later and focused on the aftermath of the war and what it is like to live there now.

A young, orphaned Tutsi boy, MAYBE 15,  travels across the country looking for the man who killed his father. Other than the machete he carries in his backpack he seems like a very normal young teenanger. He has a sense of humor and shows love for his best friend, travelling companion- not stereotypical traits of a killer. I have to say the ending, when he finds the guy, is very touching.

After I the movie I went home and I was thinking about all this. My roommate started telling me about her day, and about this movie she watched the night before. It was about this father who's son was killed by a gang member. He found the gang member began beating him up, something went wrong and unintentionally killed him. The gang member's brother and friends killed either the dad or the dad's family, i forget which. My roommate then said, "If I killed anyone it would be gang members and rapists."

It's interesting to see that my roommates reaction to a MOVIE was similar to the boys- they both wanted to kill. I think the movie has application beyond these extreme examples. Hate and prejeduce don't just go away. The Rwandan Holocaust killed between 500,000 to 1 million people. Obviously, the people doing the killing are still around and it's not like they all of a sudden decided they like Tutsi's. Also, that much killing is going to leave a tremendous amount of emotional damage to the survivors. Wouldn't you want revenge? Somewhere along the line someone's just has to turn the other cheek, or the hate cycle continues.

Mozambique

 

 This is a picture of refugees from Mozambique taken in 1994 during the Mozambican Civil War.  The Civil War started in 1977 and didn't end until 1995. Along with war, a Cholera epidemic was sweeping through the refugee camps. 

You can get Cholera from drinking contaminated food or water. It's pretty much a bad case of diarrhea that can kill you in a matter of hours if not treated(MedicineNet).When Salgado travelled through Mozambique it was not uncommon to see mother's carrying with them two or three orphaned children.

It's estimated one million people were killed during the Civil War. Civilians were the main target for the rebel group. Since the War, the country has went from Marxism to Capitalism, and is now a multi-party government(Wikipedia). After years of fighting, the country is finally settling and finding peace.

"MedicineNet.com." Cholera. MedicineNet.com, Feb 2010. Web. 18 Feb 2010

"Mozambique." Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., 14 Feb 2010. Web. 18 Feb 2010

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 233.

 --Pamphlet. "Southern Sudan: A Population in Distress" Migrations: Humanity in Transition.   Aperture. New York, 2000. 16.

 

 

A civil war was taking place in Sudan during the time the picture on the top was taken. Most of the war was happening in the southern part of Sudan. The war began in 1983. This picture was taken in 1995; these boys were probably born shortly after the war began and have never known anything besides war life. Sometimes young boys were taken by rebels under the idea they were being protected from the government draft; really they were being trained to fight on the rebel side. To avoid this families would send their children off to refugee camps located in Kenya. Travelling was done by foot and only at night.

The civil war did not end until just recently, in 2005. According to the United Nations, however, "more people have been killed in southern Sudan in 2009 than in Darfur, where a separate conflict drew international attention, prompted charges of genocide and led the International Criminal Court to indict the Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for war crimes." On paper, the war is over, but fighting still continues.

To watch a short clip on further information of the current situation of Sudan covered by CNN click here.

CNN. "Concerns Over Sudan Grow." CNN World. Turner Broadcasting System, 7 Jan. 2010. Web. 4 Feb 2010.

CNN. "Southern Sudan Needs Help to Avoid War, Aid Agencies Say." CNN World. Turner Broadcasting System, 7 Jan. 2010. Web. 4 Feb 2010.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 163.

 --Pamphlet. "Southern Sudan: A Population in Distress" Migrations: Humanity in Transition.   Aperture. New York, 2000. 11.

Walls, Jill and Wes. Photograph. "Africa." 2004. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.

 link to help

The Bosnian War began in 1992 and lasted for three years. It is estimated that in that time at least 100,000 people were killed- half of them civilians. A lot of ethnic cleansing episodes went on during this war in which the Serbs were determined to eliminate Bosnia Muslims.

The people in this picture had fled what was left of their homes and belongings hoping to find safety. Young men are absent from this picture because they had either been sent to war or already been killed. The women were an easy target for the Serbs to show that they had control. They set up camps for the women and then would proceed to repeatedly and publically rape them.

Thirteen years later, conditions have politically stabilized. However, a war does not end without scarring. The repercussions of war as described by Wikipedia

"Common profound complications among surviving women and girls include gynaecological, physical and psychological (post traumatic) disorders, as well as unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. The survivors often feel uncomfortable/frustrated/sickened with men, sex and relationships; ultimately affecting the growth/development of a population and/or society as such (thus constituting a slow genocide according to some). In accordance with the Muslim society, most of the girls not married were virgins at the time of rape; further traumatizing the situation."

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_War  2009

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 129.

This looks like to me this could be a snapshot from the early to mid 1900's depicting a city full old abandoned farms that some kids were rough-housing around in. The picture is actually from 1997; I was nine years old. I am not exactly sure on how God decides to who and what circumstance we are all born in, but I very easily could have been another blended in bare-foot trampling along in this picture. Their village, with many more just like it, was destroyed by the fighting between the Turkish Army and seperatist group known as the PKK. With much of their neighboring villages left in the same situation, finding solace is difficult. A very limited few are getting any kind of support form the Turkish government. The village destruction is constant as the fighting continues to this day in the Turkish area. The government has promised to rebuild the villages, but have yet to make significant action. With the recent earthquake in Haiti, many of the people there are in the same situation. Their city is destroyed, resources are limited and there is nowhere to go. However, they are getting tons of media actions, will likely be getting a lot of support to help rebuild, and better preperations for future earthquakes can be made.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 105

This is a picture taken by Sabastiao Salgado. Salgado travelled through about thirty different countries taking pictures to show a stark reality that is oblivious to many Americans and most of the world. In his book Migrations, from which this picture is taken, he writes and depicts the life of refugees. This particular picture is of a road used by those fleeing from the Rwanda genocide. Hutu extremists in the early 90's swept up the support of other Hutus in the country to entirely exterminate Tutsi tribe members. Friends became enemies, and neighbors became rivals as the both male and female, young and old Tutsi members were killed.  It is estimated that between 500,000 to 1,000,000 were murdered in less than a year. As you can see, many along side the road did not make it.

It's important to realize what has gone and what is going on in the world around us. The issues seem so distanced and removed from our reality that it can be hard to truly understand the situation and be motivated to action. Often we are weighed down by the idea that being touched by these stories requires radical changes in our behavior. Just helping others become aware is a positive step forward.  Furthermore, these stories can make a tremendous amount of difference in our own lives. Keeping up with society's endless supply of standards and expectations of what we should look like and who we should be, fades in importance as we reflect on the lives of those who have endured so much. Peeling off this superficial layer opens our eyes to what is really essential to our happiness, and allows us to live our lives more fully.

Work cited:
Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 189
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide

Who Me?

 Alright, so, well, hey! I am Kelly, and I want you to know that it sadly took me forever to figure out how to write under this picture and not on the sides or on the top or in hyperlink. Probably, the most frustrating ten minutes of my day... probably. Anyways, this is a beautiful picture of my favorite place in Alaska. It's about fifteen minutes out of Anchorage and that slab of rock in the chilled water is called Beluga Point. Supposedly, some have seen whales from this point. I have not. In fact I have never seen a whale and am doubtful that they actually exist Once, My friend and I were sitting pondering about life when we noticed this low-set cloud hanging out with the mountain across from us. It would slowly move to the right and then disappear as it hit some kind of imaginary wall, then reappear back where it started, and do it all over again. That's when I decided I wanted to be a cloud. It would mean I could travel wherever I wanted, take part in beautiful sunrises and sunsets, hang out with the mountains, rain on someone and perhaps their parade, or spend the day forming shapes for the imaginative and young and confuse the otherwise. Maybe some are thinking, "Why, a cloud is really just water." Well, I've thought of that too, and it is a bit overwhelming and not exactly what I am looking for anyways. My main form would be cloud. So, while this wasn't suppose to include a picture of me, I am kind of hanging out in the left hand corner. That's all, bye.