Cambodian Kids
For the last four years I have conducted a series of workshops in and around Phnom Penh. My plan is simple: to teach children the useful aspects of photography and more importantly its capacity in tapping their creativity. The idea of working with poor children appealed to me immensely as I firmly believe that with this training program, at least some of the children might turn this knowledge into small commercial ventures while moving toward a just world.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Saturday, March 11, 2006
A military question: why blow off the feet and the legs of innocent children?
Answer: because the cruelty of this has a dramatic effect on the populace. It makes them think. It is unsettling in a way that direct force is not. It is better to disable the enemy than kill him.
If a mine victim in Cambodia or Mozambique is asked the question "Who did this to you? Who laid the mine?" they will invariably say they don't know. The fact is that more than two thousand people are killed or maimed by these infernal machines every month.
Behind these numbers are individual human beings, with faces, families, stories, hopes and fears...
Friday, March 10, 2006
Cambodia has now the highest percentage of disabled inhabitants of any country of the world. Walking through capital city Phnom Penh, it is unusual to go for more than a few minutes without seeing someone missing an arm or a leg. Disabled children are often abandoned. Female amputees are less desirable as wives because the can not work. Many employers will not hire amputees, no matter how skilled they are. In some cases male amputees have not been allowed to become Buddhist monks because they are no longer "whole."
All mine victims have one thing in common: they are randomly selected.