Eventually we got ourselves together and met the women a mile up the road where we watched them step from the desert track into the bush for points unknown - already in the process of hunting, gathering and cutting scrub wood from small trees and brush. Unlike the women in Meru who had to cut large limbed trees which resulted in heavier loads to haul, the Gabbra women appeared to have a somewhat easier time as most of their wood is in open desert or high scrub land. As they usually do, my first image of the day came out of nowhere. Standing in front of me was a young girl that was no more than 12 years old who along with another young girl nearing the same age, was picking up small pieces of scattered wood, twigs and branches to bundle up and tie together just like her mother has done for most of her life. Eventually she will take her place in Torbi's Gabbra tribe, performing this endless task of gathering firewood each and every day...providing that there's any wood left to find.
At the very moment this young girl looked up at me…I looked down at her. Through the viewfinder I waited for that moment in time when everything slows down in front of you and trying not to blink you hold your breath and your brain, intuition, experience and a bit of luck takes charge over your reactions as you seek to capture the “decisive moment” when all of the elements around you come together for just that one point in time.That all sounds great however my young subject froze in front of me like a statue and…she looked away and…I looked away and with each swing of her primitive axe the young girl’s mother laughed and her friend giggled and I just stood there…waiting for the “moment” to return. With large coal black eyes, her hair wrapped in torn remnants of black fabric for her headdress, her tiny arms at her side…I waited…for one glance in my direction just long enough for me to create one image that I might be able to pay respect to the spirit of this young girl…who in a tattered little green floral dress is simply trying to help her family survive…
I pretended not to notice as her eyes darted back to mine to see if I was still standing there with her teeth firmly clenched yet finally giving way to a quiet little smile. Cautiously she watched me out of the corner of her eye as she continued to work, all the while I gently walked in her shadow just a few feet away, still trying to compose an image. Again she noticed me and again she froze. Smiling now, we both shared equally in this little game. I’d push the camera away from my eye and she’d automatically take another small step away from me and as soon as the camera came back up...she’d freeze.
Over the next 5 minutes this continued until her mother said something to her with a smile. But, she wouldn’t budge, exchanging glances with me enough to say “just go away” and so I got the message, turned to give her room and I left. Regardless of the image lost or gained, it’s important that I understand my subjects and it’s equally important for this photographer to create images that mean something. Context to me is everything. As this project is in it’s infancy I needed to ensure I wasn’t viewed as being disrespectful because most likely I’d be back in Torbi again much sooner than I’d ever have imagined and would be remembered for the way I treated people…just seems to work out that way and it should.
It didn’t take long to forget about working the image and instead I became aware of just how small this young girl was and that she represented part of the bigger problem. Young girls aren’t able to attend school if they’re picking up wood. This isn’t to say she didn’t enjoy gathering wood with her family, friends and elders because I believe she did. But we value education for all in this world and in this society a lack of education, especially for a young girl, will keep her “down on the farm” forever…
Having said this I believe it’s important for us to realize that while they may live in a culturally different world than the majority of the western world…we can’t say that we’re any better or that their way of life is wrong…”If only you’d follow what we’re selling you you’d live a better life”. I personally and professionally don’t agree with this. While there are definite benefits in understanding the virtues of pre and post natal care or the benefits of proper nutrition, the importance of a good education or even something as simple as crop rotation…it has to be a peoples choice and to avoid at all times a situation where we “impose” our ideals on the lives of others…the phrase to be “culturally sensitive” actually means something…
While it’s our responsibility as fellow citizens of this world to ensure that ample food and clean water, safety, security and medical care are enjoyed by all of us, we have to keep it in the very front of our minds that it’s their prerogative to either accept our principles for living or simply to live their lives the way their ancestral elders have with all of the joys, trials and tribulations the rest of us have...
The point of this part of the story is that without a doubt this young girl was the youngest of the wood carriers I’d encountered on this journey and it made me pause…yet know that while she didn’t have a nice new dress to wear, maybe hadn’t eaten any food in the past few days, wasn’t in school with lots of rich books to learn nor had enough clean water to freely drink…I take comfort that she was with her family, was at peace in her tribe and always within the watchful eyes of her mother…
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