'Wiping out the daughters': new work for De Volkskrant, De Morgen, El Pais & The Guardian

De Volkskrant, El Pais, De Morgen and The Guardian published Hidde Boersma’s piece on genetically modified mosquitoes in Burkina Faso. For this story, Hidde and I traveled to the Burkina Faso village of Bana, where we spent a week learning about the work of ‘Target Malaria’. In Bana, a radical experiment to genetically modify a strain of mosquito is ongoing. The main goal of the researchers? To stop mosquitoes from breeding malaria-carrying daughters.

‘Target Malaria’ is the Gates Foundation-backed organization that wants to genetically modify mosquitoes in order to combat malaria. In the small village of Bana, Burkina Faso, researchers are looking to change mosquito DNA, so that the mosquitos that can transfer malaria can only give birth to male baby mosquitoes, which will eventually mean that one type of malaria spreading mosquito will die out.

The plans of Target Malaria are contested. Western countries, where malaria is causing many people to die, have their doubts about ‘GMO’s’, ‘Genetically Modified Organisms’. Dutch biologist and journalist Hidde Boersma wrote about Target Malaria’s plans and efforts, and what it will mean if they are allowed to genetically modify mosquitoes in Burkina Faso.

The story was first published by Dutch medium De Volkskrant, both in their newspaper edition and their website. Online, an extensive online multimedia version of the story is visible, which boasts videos by Karsten de Vreugd and René Hoeksema and many of the images I took in Burkina Faso. After De Volkskrant, also De Morgen (Belgium), El Pais (Spain) and The Guardian (Great Britain) published the story. The creation of our story is made possible with financial support of the ‘Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten’ and the European Journalism Centre. For a behind-the-scenes glimpse of our activities in Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso and Bana, you can check out this pinned Instagram Story!

The publication of the story about GMO mosquitoes comes a month after my photography debut in The Guardian, for which I photographed Kenyan women who are planning on leaving Kenya to work in Gulf states - despite abuse fears.

VPRO Bureau Buitenland multimedia project: 'Grit & Grass'

If Nigeria is mentioned in Dutch media, chances are high that the news story is about Boko Haram. But just a couple of hundreds kilometers from where the Boko Haram insurgency is taking place, thousands of Nigerians have been killed in a lesser known conflict between herdsmen and farmers.

For Dutch broadcaster VPRO’s Bureau Buitenland platform, Saskia Houttuin and I traveled to Plateau State, where we created two interactive stories which focus on both sides of the conflict. The first story is about Nding, where Fidelis tells about the Fulani herdsmen that attacked his family. The second chapter is about a nearby settlement of Fulani herders, who explain why they had to move their cattle into famers territory - one of the biggest reasons is drought caused by climate change.

This multimedia interactive story is made with the Slices storytelling tool, and includes photography, video, text and infographics. You can watch both (Dutch) chapters of the story in the video below, or click through the English two chapters through these links:

• Grit & Grass 1: the farmers

• Grit & Grass 2: the herdsmen

In July 2020, the production was a finalist in the 7th edition for the LUMIX Festival for Young Visual Journalism, in the ‘Digital Storytelling’ category. Read more about the festival here.

To watch more multimedia stories about climate refugees, you can take a look at this VPRO Bureau Buitenland web page.

Rising sea levels in Mombasa: a story for Samsam

For Dutch newspaper / magazine Samsam, I met up with Swabir, a 12 year old boy who lives in the Kenyan city of Mombasa. His father is Head of Education at the renowned Fort Jesus, the number one cultural attraction of Kenya’s coastal area. But the fort has seen better days: due to coastal erosion, rising sea levels and erosion caused by rain water (all linked to climate change), the centuries old structure is deteriorating rapidly.

Together with Raphael Igombo and his son Swabir, I visited the fort to have a look at the recently constructed wall that should protect Fort Jesus for the next hundred years. You can read the story in the current edition of Samsam, online on their website or you can click on the image below to enlarge the article. Samsam is a magazine and learning method, which is distributed to and used by primary schools all over The Netherlands.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Travel story about Dakar - New work for Msafiri Magazine

For this month’s Msafiri, the inflight magazine of Kenya Airways, I created the ‘lead travel story’ about Dakar, Senegal, focusing on where to eat, sleep and stay. Above, you can read how I described my trip to the Senegalese capital (some photos are mine, too). To read the whole issue of Msafiri, you can click here!

If you’d like to read more travel stories, you can click here for my piece on Ethiopia (including Lalibela, Gondar, Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar) or click here for my Uganda travel story (focusing on Kampala, Queen Elizabeth National Park and Bwindi).

Photography for The Guardian: women leave Kenya to work in Gulf states

On my first assignment for The Guardian, I have photographed the women of the East African Institute of Homecare Management, who are preparing their move to countries like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Kenyan women used to make a lot of money in the Gulf region with domestic work, but because of high numbers of mistreatment, the Kenyan government have put a ban in place to prevent Kenyan women from being beaten or raped.

After some years of bilateral talks with Gulf states, the Kenyan government promises to make domestic work safer in a region notorious for labour trafficking. And so the aforementioned ban has been lifted. Now, Kenyan women who want to move to the Gulf region have to go to institutes like the one I visited, which prepare them for their domestic work abroad. Here, they learn how to cook, clean and tend to children - the women also learn Arabic to ensure that communication with their future employers will not be a problem.

Most of the women I photographed for the article told me that they have to make money to make sure that their children will have a better future than them. You can read the full article, written by Jillian Keenan, on The Guardian website.

Travel stories in Ng'aali, the new inflight mag of Uganda Airlines

For the inaugural issue of ‘Ng’aali’, the inflight magazine of the recently launched Uganda Airlines airliner, I created three travel stories about German lion doctor Ludwig Siefert, chimp trekking in Uganda and the Nai Nami Tour experience in Nairobi. You can read the first-mentioned piece above, or check out the whole magazine here, on the Ng’aali website.

Work in progress: an interactive storytelling project for VPRO

Sneak peek: Africa correspondent Saskia Houttuin and I are working on a new interactive story for Dutch broadcaster VPRO. In two chapters filled with audio, video, texts and photography, we look at two perspectives on the deadly conflict between herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria. The two stories, created with the Slices storytelling tool, will be published on VPRO’s Bureau Buitenland platform in November.

Website update: photojournalism, NGO photography and more

You’re looking at the 3.0 version of my website! You can now find selected photography work on my Photography page, sorted in four different categories: photojournalism, NGO photography, travel photography and corporate photography assignments. On these pages, you can find some yet-to-be-published work created for The Guardian newspaper and Dutch broadcaster VPRO.

Also, my blog page is now called ‘Recent work’, you can find a list of clients on this page and I have added a separate page dedicated to video assignments for companies like Simyo and RTL Nieuws.

New work: video for the British HM Government

For a video I created for the British HM Government, Pallavi Singh and I interviewed Kenyan innovator Bernard Chiira, about his innovative accelerator program 'Innovate Now', which should benefit Kenya's disability sector. The HMG Africa Campaigns Hub shared the video on their social platforms - on Twitter, the video has been watched over 3.000 times. To watch the vid, click on the ‘play’ icon on the still above.

To see more videos I have created for Simyo, Amref, RTL Nieuws and others, click here.

Photography for The Africanists: read Koert Lindijer's story about Kenyan governor Kibwana

After the initial publication of Africa Correspondent Koert Lindijer’s article in Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, the English version of the article on Kenyan Governor Kibwana is now also featured on The Africanists website. To read the story and see some of my never before published photographs, you can click on the link below. To read more about the Dutch version of the article, you can read this blogpost.

“In Makueni the arrogance of power and corruption are being resisted. And that is exceptional in Kenya.“

Net 5 Ladies Night and AD talk show appearances: Tob Cohen murder case

Yesterday evening and this morning I made appearances on two Dutch talk shows, to answer some questions about the much talked about Tob Cohen murder case. Cohen, who was found tortured and murdered in a sceptic tank near his Nairobi home, was missing for weeks before his mortal remains were found. His wife Sarah W.K. is the prime suspect in the murder case.

I first talked about the case in the pilot episode of Net 5 TV show ‘Ladies Night’, presented by Merel Westrik. Crime journalist Jessica Vilerius, Linda de Mol, Fidan Ekiz and Dutch popstar Roxeanne Hazes also joined the conversation. This morning, I talked about the same subject on ‘De Ochtendshow To Go’, which is broadcasted daily on the online platform of Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. The video can also be seen underneath this news article.

Goodwill Dumping: VARA Gids Interview

What happens when the lid of the container slams shut and our donated clothes embark on their global journey? That’s the main question film maker Teddy Cherim and fashion designer Lisa Konno wanted to answer in their BNNVARA documentary ‘Goodwill Dumping’.

Teddy and Lisa are literally following the massive amounts of donated clothing, which are sold many times before they end up on the ‘mitumba’ markets of Kenya. For an article in the Dutch VARA Gids magazine, I spoke with Teddy and Lisa when they shot Lisa’s ‘fashion creatures’ on Nairobi’s Gikomba Market.

You can read the article through Blendle, or click on the image below. ‘Goodwill Dumping’ will be premiering on the NFF, the Dutch Film Festival, and will air on Dutch TV station NPO3, Sunday 29 November at 00.10 o’clock.

View fullsize

Front page portfolio feature: Kibera Stories photographer Brian Otieno

For Msafiri, the inflight magazine of Kenya Airways, I have interviewed Brian Otieno, arguably one of Nairobi’s most talented photographers. Brian, who is also known as ‘Storitellah’ and is the main man behind the much awarded Kibera Stories account, told me why he photographs Kibera in the way he does. As he was born in the huge Nairobi slum, he has a unique perspective that he shares with the world through social media outlets like Instagram.

“When I document a fire outbreak or houses that were washed away by the rains, people don’t get angry at me and my camera; they want their plight to be documented because maybe someone out there will want to extend a helping hand. That’s the power of photography: it can change lives.”

You can read the interview here, on the website of KQ’s Msafiri! If you’d like to read more about my work for Msafiri, you can check out this blogpost about my cover shot for the November 2018 edition, click here to read my Ethiopia travel story or read my recent Uganda travel story here.