NGO photography
As a freelance photo journalist in East Africa, I’ve photographed several NGO projects. This is a selection of commissioned pictures.
1. Former Dutch minister Neelie Kroes and Nice Leng’ete visit an Alternative Rite of Passage with the Masai Community of Olentoko, Kenya.
2. A series of portraits, highlighting the importance of Africa’s Community Health Workers in order to achieve universal health care coverage.
3. A series of pictures I took in Beira, Mozambique, of victims of cyclone Idai. Christian NGO Caritas used the images for raising funds.
4. A series of pictures taken during the UN Environment summit in Nairobi, where Dutch Princess Laurentien initiated an agreement with Chinese companies to ban rhino products.
5. Dutch writer Saskia Noort visits the Masai of Kilindi, Tanzania, to attend a ceremony to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
6. For the Canadian Obakki Foundation, I have photographed over 150 women in the largest refugee settlement of the world, Bidi Bidi.
1. Neelie Kroes visits the Masai community of Olentoko in Kenya
Commissioned by: Amref Health Africa
In many Maasai communities, female circumcision or ‘female genital mutilation’ (FGM) is a common ritual practice, associated with the transition from a girlhood to adulthood and marriage. ‘The cut’ kills many girls, who can be as young as eight years old when they undergo the ceremonial ritual. Former Dutch minister and Uber Board Advisor Neelie Kroes visited this ‘Alternative Rite of Passage’ together with Nice Leng’ete, who is from Masai origin herself and one of TIME Magazine’s most influential people of the world. I was there to capture their attendance.
On the eve of an alternative rite of passage (with the festivities, but without the circumcision), I attended a beauty pageant organized to empower the young girls of Maasai tribes surrounding Olentoko, a region in Kenya. I asked the girls, filled with self-confidence after their ‘catwalk’ run outside the school building, if I could photograph them in a class room that was used for anti FGM classes earlier that day. The beauty pageant was organized in order to show Maasai girls that they are indeed beautiful, to let them feel appreciated and celebrated by their community. After the beauty pageant, a candle light ceremony was concluded by prayers and blessings from the Maasai elders, completing the first day of ceremonies.
2. A portrait series featuring Community Health Workers
Commissioned by: Amref Health Africa
When Amref Health Africa heard they would be able to exhibit 40 pictures during the Global Conference on Primary Health Care in Astana, they asked me to shoot 40 portraits all over the African continent. During the event, which is organized by the World Health Organization, Amref pleaded for the payment of Community Health Workers (CHWs), who are playing a vital role in the development of primary health care in African countries like Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda.
The forty portraits I shot for Amref Health Africa, all show Community Health Workers from four different African countries. I’ve recorded their stories, which are audible at the exhibition for the duration of the conference in Kazachstan.
If you’d like to hear what the Community Health Workers have to say to the ministers who attend the WHO conference, you can check out the dedicated ‘Dear Minister’ website, which boasts my photographs and audio recordings.
3. Pictures of the Cyclone Idai aftermath in Beira, Mozambique.
Commissioned by: Caritas
Cyclone Idai, which hit Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe on 14 March, caused massive flooding and killed more than 840 people. Catholic relief NGO Caritas used some of my pictures for fundraising, both on their website as on their social media channels. Read more about the pictures I took in Beira here or check out my Al Jazeera photo feature.
4. Princess Laurentien visits the UN Environment Summit in Nairobi
Commissioned by: the Number Five Foundation
During the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands spoke about the launch of a new initiative by the Chinese Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology (SEE) to voluntarily ban the use of rhino-based products across the Society's members. Later that day, the Dutch princess and SEE hosted a reception to mark the launch of the SEE initiative, where I took pictures for Laurentien’s Number Five Foundation.
5. Saskia Noort visits Alternative Rite of Passage in Tanzania to end FGM
Commissioned by: Amref Health Africa
When Dutch writer Saskia Noort isn’t working on her new novel, she’s working as one of the ambassadors of Amref Flying Doctors, the Dutch branch of Amref Health Africa. Noort attended an ‘Alternative Rite of Passage’ in Kilindi, Tanzania, during which Masai girls make the transition from a girl to womanhood. During her trip to Tanzania, Noort also visited a local Amref clinic and talked to Community Health Workers. Some of the photographs of Saskia Noort’s trip to Tanzania were shown in this NPO Radio 1 video segment and were used by De Nieuws BV and NPO online.
6. Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement Portraits
Commissioned by: Obakki Foundation
Uganda harbors one of the largest refugee settlements in the world, called Bidi Bidi. For the Obakki Foundation, I visited the settlement, where hundreds of thousands South-Sudanese refugees have sought shelter from the conflict in their neighboring country. In the week that I have spent in Bidi Bidi, I have portrayed over 150 women who work on several projects with the Canada-based organisation. The Obakki Foundation, which is led by Treana Peake and is linked to fashion brand Obakki, states that they have helped over 2 million people worldwide, providing access to education and clean drinking water.