Another Afghanistan

[Andrea Taurisano]

What are the first things that come to your mind when you think Afghanistan? Those are the same things I used to think of, before I started coming here three years ago, two weeks every spring, to help a NGO committed to Disaster Risk Reduction in the country's most remote province, Badakhshan.

That made me discover the real Afghanistan, and the real Afghans. They are so far away from the impressions created in our minds by years of carefully selected war news, that I keep coming back even though I have never been any Rambo.

The 2nd of May this year, a huge landsldie stroke a village and buried many hundred people, some say over 2000. Many of them were children, many others were trying to rescue the victims of a first minor slide that had only destroyed few houses, as the second collapse occurred.

Yesterday I was the first western geologist to enter the area and I later also visited the camps where survivors are now evacuated. I'll also try to help as a photographer, telling these people's stories as I can and letting others (at least those who are willing to rethink) know what the real Afghans are like.

If you care to see what their lives are like, check out the recent posts on my blog, or (when they will no longer be the latest), search key word Afghanistan in it. For now, I'll post some first color photos every time I have some free time. My personal work on Tri-X will come later..

http://ilcimento.wordpress.com/travel-documentary-photogaphy/the-village-that-was/
http://ilcimento.wordpress.com/pages-in-color/faces-of-the-hindu-kush/
http://ilcimento.wordpress.com/trav...hy/steep-lives-in-the-hindu-kush-afghanistan/

 

[lynnb]

a terrible tragedy. Good to see that aid, with shelter and clean drinking water, has arrived. Thanks for the story and link.

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

a terrible tragedy. Good to see that aid, with shelter and clean drinking water, has arrived. Thanks for the story and link.

Thanks to you, for taking a minute to see the story. Flying home from Afghanistan tomorrow, as always with so many stories, impressions and memories..

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

Just scanned some images from the same places, but made on Tri-X. I'll paste some below here, for the few who care.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

I think it's extremely good that you are showing a different side to what must be a very complex situation in that country.

More balanced information like this would surely help to dispel the myths that the mainstream press have created in our minds.

 

[Lauffray]

Great work again Andrea, I enjoyed your pictures from Iran and now this too

 

[Bill Clark]

Thank You for showing your photographs.

After looking at the images, it reminds me how fortunate I Am to be living where I live.

 

[Out to Lunch]

I am confused...after a period of six weeks you have 'discovered' the 'real Afghans' and show pictures of people displaced by a natural disaster. How do they differentiate from those other Afghans displaced by war?

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

I am confused...after a period of six weeks you have 'discovered' the 'real Afghans' and show pictures of people displaced by a natural disaster. How do they differentiate from those other Afghans displaced by war?

Sorry Peter, it wasn't meant to confuse. I did not mean that these are the real Afghans as opposite to those displaced by war. Most "real" Afghans, and particularly most of those of the mountain regions in the north, are among the world's poorest, tormented and displaced by decades of uninterrrupted war and, more and more during the last years, now also by endless natural disasters. A people of extreme hospitality and generosity despite their extreme poverty. Proud men who would not hesitate to protect a guest in their village, from the very moment they've welcomed him among them, and even at the cost of their own life, should anything happen there that puts his life at risk (just the day after my visit to a village, the next village was reconquered by talibans.. that kind of things, I meant). These, I meant, were the "real" Afghans. Or at least those I met lots and lots of the last three years of work among them.

 

[LazyHammock]

Very nice work Andrea. I really like the third B+W picture of the generations of men. I live in the US and the mainstream news coverage is quite biased and pretty poor in most cases so I'm always happy to see/read another perspective.

 

[Emile de Leon]

Thank you!!

 

[NY_Dan]

Fantastic photos -- on many you can really feel the noonday heat.

 

[Addy101]

I am confused...after a period of six weeks you have 'discovered' the 'real Afghans' and show pictures of people displaced by a natural disaster. How do they differentiate from those other Afghans displaced by war?

I am confused - the first link are pictures from 2012; those aren't people displaced by a natural disaster; what makes you think it took him six weeks to discover the real Afghans? He doesn't mention that anywhere :bang:

Great pictures, beautiful faces, thank you for sharing!

 

[froyd]

Nice pictures and great story. If I may venture some feedback, I found the flash a bit overwhelming in some images, but the content and the story you told quickly made me forget about that.

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

Just a little precisation: Although this particular landslide at Ab-e-Barik is the first (or one of the first ones) that ever made the world news, such disasters in Badakhshan occur each and every year. During my three visits, I have been at many villages that were swept away or just partly buried during the last 10 - 20 years, and unfortunately very many villages that may be swept away at any time. Our work consists actually of identifying those that should be relocated ASAP, those where risk may be reduced by measures, and those that are more or less fine (the latter being alas an irrelevant fraction).

In addition to thousands of families annually affected by landsldies in the little Badakhshan only, thousands are being displaced by floods and by erosion / loss of agricultural soil.

 

[farlymac]

My last year in the service, half of it was spent on a cruise around the Indian Ocean. We got as far as Sri Lanka, with stops in Senegal, Liberia, Angola, Kenya, Iran, Bahrain, UAE, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Everywhere I went, when possible I sought out the regular folks, instead of doing the touristy thing. I saw many a sight that would not make it into the travel brochures, and met many people who were friendly and kind. My only regret is that I only had one camera with me (a Nikkormat), and seeing as it was a prime target for thieves, usually left it on the ship. A small compact would have been more conducive to the shots I would have like to have taken, but at least I can still remember a lot of the sights and faces. There is a whole different world when one gets past the label of tourist, and truly looks for the real wherever. Thanks for your photos.

PF