Posts Tagged ‘Mozambique’

The power of photography in 2009, part 2

January 7th, 2010 | by Jessica Erickson
Note: This post is part 2 of a series about the power of photography in 2009.
 We are fortunate to be afforded the opportunity to work with a team of amazingly talented photographers from around the world. They each have the incredible ability to visually capture a complex number of characteristics—dignity, action, beauty, hardship, strength, and pride—in a striking, powerful way. This has always made it easier for me to communicate about the work that we do, while fostering the connection between our constituents and those people for whom we advocate.
I feel most lucky to be one of the first people at Oxfam to review new collections as they arrive from travels to the field. It is through these photos, and the stories that the writers bring back, that I learn about the intricate and personal details of the work that Oxfam is doing in collaboration with communities and local organizations around the world.
 
There are so many favorites to choose from, but here is a small collection of some of my favorites from the past year:
Photo: David Stubbs / Oxfam America

Photo: David Stubbs / Oxfam America

Sometimes it’s the small details that can make a photo compelling. In the above image from Peru, the visual beauty of the blue sky constrasts starkly with the reality of the subject matter: the barbed wire, chain-link fence, and plateaus of digging around a mineral mine in Cerro de Pasco, Peru.

Photo: Rebecca Blackwell / Oxfam America

Photo: Rebecca Blackwell / Oxfam America

Members of a village savings group in Mali. Rebecca Blackwell’s photo beautifully captures the graphic details of the vivid fabrics that the women are wearing, as well as this gesture of welcome and respect that the women use to begin their meetings.

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Can jatropha growers deliver?

November 23rd, 2009 | by Chris Hufstader
Violeta Sithole, with her son on her back, prepares her field to plant beans. Photo by Chris Hufstader/Oxfam America.

Violeta Sithole, with her son on her back, prepares her field to plant beans. Photo by Chris Hufstader/Oxfam America.

When the lights went out at 9pm last Wednesday with a loud click, I was just finishing up in the shower and was a little late getting out in time to find my flashlight. I was in a comfortable concrete house in the village of Inhassune, Mozambique, recently vacated by the South African manager of a 250-acre jatropha plantation run by ESV Group. Since he and the rest of the officials had cleared out, there was no electricity unless you can buy the fuel to run the generator, which costs about $10 an hour. I paid for three hours a night, from six to nine.

Jatropha trees produce seeds you can press to make biodiesel: it is one of the new biofuels we are hearing so much about as an alternative to oil. Oxfam is looking at how growing biofuel crops affects poor agricultural communities, and I interviewed a few farmers to see what they have to say about it all.

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New domestic violence bill to protect women in Mozambique

July 1st, 2009 | by Chris Hufstader
Local groups of human rights activists such as this one in Matola Gare, outside Maputo, are working hard to educate people about the rights of women under the 2004 Family Law. A new domestic violence bill will add more work in the education of women about their rights in Mozambique. Photo by Brett Eloff/Oxfam America.

Local groups of human rights activists such as this one in Matola Gare, outside Maputo, are working hard to educate people about the rights of women under the 2004 Family Law. A new domestic violence bill will add more work in the education of women about their rights in Mozambique. Photo by Brett Eloff/Oxfam America.

We are just hearing some good news this week from our program officer Michael Chimedza in Maputo that Mozambique’s parliament has passed a bill on domestic violence. This is a significant milestone for women in that it now allows police and prosecutors to act directly against perpetrators of domestic violence against women and children as a “public crime” or criminal matter. This is significant: the police no longer have to wait for a victim to file a formal complaint to take action. Read the rest of this entry »

Lilly Gets Her Legislation

January 29th, 2009 | by Chris Hufstader

Lilly Ledbetter sued her employer Goodyear 11 years ago because she found out she was not being paid as well as men in the same positions. But the Supreme Court threw out the case because she did not file it within six months of when the discrimination had occurred.

I just saw her on television standing next to President Obama when he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which according to this story in the Washington Post will “[expand] the time frame in which workers can sue for discrimination they have experienced based on gender, race, national origin or religion.” Read the rest of this entry »