Top 11 pics of 2011 (post 2 of 9: Malawian Sheik)
In February of last year, I joined a friend of mine for a trip out to this village I had never visited before where a friendly Muslim Sheik was due to greet us. He had been warned we were on the way and he was prepared to allow us to photograph him and his family.
This Malawian Sheik, a Yawo by tribe, is an expert at making something called talismu, basically magical charms that people buy and wear to help to ward off evil. Within these charms (bracelets, necklaces) there is usually a common component: scriptures from the Qur’an written down on a piece of paper and folded up into a tiny bunch. You can see some of the tools of the trade lined up on the floor in the image background.
This photo was my favorite image from the series I took, our goal being to get a good shot for a soon-to-be-published book about Yawo worldview and culture.
A visit to CURE Hospital Malawi
Late last year, I had a run-in with my pellet gun as I was attempting to repair it. The tip of my left index finger was severed and I needed a bit of help to get it cleaned up and properly fixed. Enter CURE Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi. During my overnight stay and operation, I was highly impressed with the level of professionalism, cleanliness and interest in helping each patient by providing spiritual guidance too!
A year later, now in October of 2011, I find myself there again as my daughter needed to have a strange skin growth checked out and surgically removed. What better time to offer my skills and help the hospital promote their excellent private services? Here’s 15 of my favorite images.
Guest interview: Connie Wragge of PhotoMission & her visit to Ghana
Back in April, I made an unexpected trip to the U.S. to help out my family and spend time with my older brother who was critically ill in the hospital. As God saw fit, he got better and was released for further recovery making my time so much more happy than it could have been had matters continued to spiral.
While there, I had a coffee with Connie Wragge, founder of PhotoMission, an online stock photo agency with a unique focus that you’ll find out more about in this interview. (I’ve been a member of the site for several years now, but only recently was it refashioned into a more professionally-geared site.) Connie had just returned from a trip to Ghana and was eager to share her experience of Africa with another American who could relate a bit more than most.
I asked Connie to paint for us a mental picture of her vision behind PhotoMission, as well as share some of her favorite images from Ghana.
After I gave my life to Christ, God planted a deep desire within me to see other people give their lives to Him. It wasn’t long after I made the decision to follow Christ that this happened.
I’ve been involved in evangelism all my life and have participated in various kinds of outreaches here in the US and abroad. I’ve initiated and led Bible studies for small groups and have encouraged people I know to be bold in building relationships with non-believers.
I am an American with a home base in Philadelphia. During the time God was growing my faith, He was also preparing me to become an artist with a camera. God took my professional interest in photography and gave it a spiritual twist late in the summer of 2001. As I was sitting in worship I found myself being challenged by the words in Romans 13. Then the pastor asked a question that seemed to be directed squarely at me. The question was: what was I doing to prepare for Christ’s return. By the end of that service I knew that my life was taking a dramatic turn in terms of every experience I had ever known in getting the Word out to a hurting world. It was on that Sunday that the vision for PhotoMission came together.
At the time I had been a photographer for 16 years. I had worked with photographers and having been captivated by the creative side of photography, I had devoured entire books on the subject. All the while I was living the ordinary life filled with daily routines. But again, that all changed ten years ago. In those few Sunday moments the pace of my life accelerated from average Christian to spectacular Christ follower. I took hold of what God had planned, committed to obey Him and ran with it.
How did you first get interested in photography?
Like many moms I wanted to document the childhood of our two daughters. I did a great job at that; and at one time I thought about becoming a wedding photographer.
What types of images do you enjoy most creating?
Photography, for me, is a God-given talent. I think it is for every professional Christian photographer who understands that creating an image is not about boasting in your work or about comparing yourself to other photographers. It’s about service to the King. When I place what I do in the context of that understanding then any composition I’m bringing together through the lens of the camera is God-led.
So to answer the question…I don’t have a distinct preference for certain types of images but I will say that if an image I take conveys a better understanding of God’s world than if I hadn’t captured it, then that is meaningful to me and it validates the work I do.
Tell us about PhotoMission. What is it exactly?
PhotoMission is a Christian stock photo agency that serves as the visual resource for the Church. We provide images related to missions and outreach, creation and its conservation and social issues which run the gamut from A to Z.
Most of the images are one-of-a-kind which reflects the value of the photography found in the Gallery and which makes PhotoMission a one-stop resource for the Christian community.
In your wildest dreams, what would you hope that PhotoMission will one day accomplish or become?
I believe that with obedience comes blessing. I have followed through on my understanding of what God wanted done…to provide an online resource of visual excellence where the Church can come to find support for the expansion of His kingdom and the unfolding of stories which accompany that growth.
The other part of what I believe God calls PhotoMission to do is to witness to lost people who come to the site. For this reason we post the testimonies of all the selling photographers online and provide the means to review and store, as well as purchase, multiple images taken by them. By combining content in this way the user remains engaged for a longer period of time…and I’m hoping he takes away something that he can relate to in his own life.
But to return to your question…one day…I want to hear God say something to the effect that everything I have committed to do or have done where PhotoMission is concerned has made a difference.
This spring Connie traveled to Ghana where she served with a Ghanaian church planting team. She shares some of her impressions and experiences in the following images. (Please note: the following images are Copyright 2011 Connie Wragge, PhotoMission. Use only with permission from the owner.)
Pouring fuel into the van. We’re still a distance from our destination, and the temperature is 100 degrees Fahrenheit, roughly 38 Celsius.
This was the scene at worship taken at a church plant in Ghana’s Northern Region in March.
God’s Word is light, hope & salvation. The image is special because it shows a Ghanaian pastor reading to Ghanaian believers from I Timothy. The village where it was taken is isolated, and on most Sundays the pastor has to walk there over long unpaved roads to reach the people.
I see in this photo a woman who takes pride in her appearance while her face reflects the uncertainty of her daily routine. Will she earn enough Cedis to buy food?
The streets of Accra are filled with despair, at least in my cross-cultural understanding of the word. I saw this scene repeated throughout the city and it broke my heart. The people who know Jesus, smile. Those who don’t, wear hopelessness on their sleeves.
Life in Africa is about survival. This photo shows maize being taken off the cob. Notice the size of the ears.
Water, the most basic of all human needs, is like gold to many people living in Ghana…and throughout Africa. Pumps are dug 70 feet down, and this only happens when there are enough organizations and funds to make them a reality. When there is not enough water, the people drink what liquid they can from coconuts. Other water is often contaminated and unsafe for consumption.
False prophets and deception are found throughout the country. This portion of a street poster in Accra testifies to fake foreign pastors who arrive to prey on the people, take what little money they have and then leave.
In parts of Ghana animism is still popular and until Christian pastors reach the people with the Good News, there will continue to be idol worshipers. The top portion of this idol is filled with a small amount of water and is believed to bring good luck to the family who owns it.
I took this image after Sunday worship, showing an infant being carried on the back of his mother. I have to wonder what the future holds for babies like this one. Like nations in the west, Ghana is now facing changes to its laws that are contrary to biblical decrees.
Head chopping
Yesterday was a Tuesday which, for me and some colleagues, means we are out and about on bike visiting friends in the village. We learned about a sadaka that had already started (basically a memorial service for someone who has died, usually celebrated 3 days and 40 days after death). I ran into a number of friends who are chiefs in nearby villages and one thanked me for the photo I had taken of him back in January. He commented, however, that his head was cut off above the eyes.
I remembered vividly the photo. It was one I really liked and it made me start to wonder: do they see photos the same way I do? My coworker mentioned after that comment that a friend of his in another village I gave a photo to also said the same thing. Something to the effect of “yeah, it’s a really nice photo… except for the fact that my head is cut off.”
This is an eye-opening insight into the minds of those I live amongst. I have already learned that, to give someone a black-and-white copy that I’m particularly fond of, doesn’t necessarily mean that the recipient will understand that it’s a “classic” look. They want color, hands down, every time. Heck, my own mom (an American with artsy tendencies, though more of a “country crafts” style) doesn’t understand the point of black-and-white.
I’ve become a celebrity of sorts in nearby villages, in part due to the whole photography thing. Kids run after my bike yelling “ajambule!” (take my picture). Grown men practically are begging me to take their photo because they know they’ll not be charged for a memorable keepsake they’ll be proud of for years.
Or will they… even if their head is chopped off?
From an impromptu photo session at the sadaka, as I succumbed to the pressure being put on me by numerous chiefs all wanting a “one-one” shot of themselves (as opposed to being in a group). Some non-chiefs snuck in, but what am I to do?
Unyago 2010
In the small village of Kwilasya, just up the road from Mandimba, my family and I were invited to share in the celebration surrounding the “coming out” of the unyago initiates: boys and girls trained for 2-4 weeks in matters dealing with culture, respect, manhood and womanhood.
The boys are taken to a grass-walled area outside of the village, where they undergo circumcision and learn all kinds of secret stuff. The girls usually remain in the village at an elder’s house where they too receive instruction on what it means to be an adult. For these children, most of which several years away from adolescence, it is the biggest day of their lives. Wedding days (the many that will come, in most cases) will pale in comparison.
friends and family come from far and wide to party and dance throughout the night, after the initiates are released, and long into the next day
as a sign of respect, initiates are instructed not to smile or laugh; they are to remain silent as visitors drop some coins in front of them, or maybe a coke… several children must hold up cloth or money in front of their mouths so as not to show their smiles hidden below
Fishing (f)or pictures in Meponda, Mozambique
Stress in life seems to come in cycles and right now we’re in one of those cycles rather than out. Living in Africa certainly brings its own unique set of stresses, though in America we certainly weren’t stress-free. Planning time to get away is critical and life-giving and a few weeks ago as our family camped out on the beaches of Meponda in northern Mozambique, we hadn’t a care in the world…for a few days at least.
For me, Meponda presents not only sun and sand, crocodile hunting at night and wakeboarding by day, but a unique lakeshore opportunity for a photoshoot of Yawo faces. A few years back I went into the village and shot some images I still love dearly. I think it was a time when my D50 was still new; when I was still shooting in JPEG instead of RAW. (See my “Faces of Meponda” shots on RedBubble) So I was a bit eager to see what I could do this time with my D90 on RAW setting. I had already spent the night before trying, mostly in vain, to capture the excitement of being out on an inflatable boat with a spotlight looking for killer crocs. Perhaps the morning would be better?
I awoke earlier than the others and borrowed a bike to get to the top of town to a place where I could easily see each bay on the beach stretching out before me. I snapped a few pics for our host who wanted a shot like this and took a couple of snaps along the way back home. I was eager for a cuppa and thought I was done with the mini shoot. But then on the beach, just down from our camp, I saw a group of guys working hard at pulling in their fishing net that had been laid down the night before.
I walked over to them, greeting them in the Yawo language, and made a decision right then and there to set down the camera and take a place in line heaving the heavy load into shore. It was a conscious decision to not try to document it, but instead try to experience it. Why? I don’t know, but let me tell you this work was not easy. As I grabbed, time and time again, the rope attached to a net in the water, I became quickly exhausted. But refused to give up (though I’m sure they weren’t expecting me to do the entire job). One fisherman sat on the sand behind me, taking the slack rope and rolling it into a neat pile. Two men were ahead of me, closer to the water, and we all worked together in rhythym. Someone hummed a traditional tune of some sort and I smiled inwardly at the good naturedness I find all around me in Africa. Singing can go a really long way to making the tedium of life closer to enjoyable.
Eventually, we had to move closer to the same number of guys who were on another end of the rope further down the beach. And, panandi panandi (little by little), the net did come to shore with the night’s catch. It was a mix of a strange blue fish, brilliantly colored, and smaller varieties that added little to the color palette. The guys expertly separated the fish from the net and threw them into a makeshift hold on the sand while I struggled to get the fins unstuck from the net.
Finally, at the end, I grabbed my camera after asking permission to take their pictures. And, for my troubles, I was offered a fish (though I declined). My reward was already obvious. I had had an experience I won’t soon forget and felt that I understood just that much more about the life these fishermen lead along the shore of Lake Malawi. We shared moment in time, and I still got some shots. This time, with more of a connection because we were now friends. I wasn’t just some white stranger who walked up and shot pictures.
African Muslim Sheik
Last week, I visited a stately old Ya*o friend across the border for a quick photoshoot with an anthropologist friend of mine in hopes of capturing that perfect image for his upcoming book. Here are my favorites from the shoot.
Altar boys
These young Malawian boys were helping out at the Roman Catholic wedding mass I attended on April 10th near Mangochi, Malawi.
Che Masokosi
While out last week visiting Che Masokosi, I snapped a few pics of some of the residents. I tag this one (and future ones like it) “environmental portraiture” because these are quick shots of people in their normal environment. Sometimes people I shoot want to run inside and put on their Sunday best (or, the equivalent here perhaps… “Eid best”). While I can’t blame them if I were in their shoes, I always prefer as the photographer to see them in normal wear.
Ulendo
Ulendo means journey in Ciyawo. I think it might be a Swahili word as well that means the same thing. This guy looks like he’s on one.
Friday’s village visits
Favorite photos from last Friday as I was out on my bike trying to track down a few folks.
Breakfast time!
While visiting my language helper the other morning to check on his future openings to help me out, I found this happy son of his mid-breakfast. He was eating a rice porridge and the remnants thereof are noticeably evident. Shot in Mandimba, Mozambique, January 2010.
