‘Gambians, and local businesses, are hurting… and it’s not going to get better any time soon. Which is why I keep spouting on, annoyingly so perhaps, about Ebola-free Gambia! The beaches are deserted, the juice bars are abandoned, hotels and lodges are no where near the to capacity they should be by now (and need to be, if they are to survive), the bars and restaurants are empty; taxi drivers sit around in the shade all day and night, grateful for any trade they can get; the craft markets are too quiet – all of these places are places of work, for many, many Gambians, and business owners alike. All just waiting for the tourists to come...’ Helen Jones-Florio – read more here
Big thanks to NGO, Concern Universal, for featuring one of my recent blog posts on their site.
‘In Nigeria, Concern Universal‘s approach to improving rural sanitation and hygiene has led to the emergence of inspiring women leaders.
Our approach, known as Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS), creates an environment where entire communities are mobilized to end open defecation, and in the process, opens the door for women to become powerful agents of change‘ CU
Read more about the creative and inspiring community projects that NGO, Concern Universal, are helping to facilitate in Nigeria, and many other parts of the world, you can check out their website.
To see more of Jason Florios images, please visit floriophoto.com.
I once read an interesting travel article by a writer, Guy Trebay, about how he still sends postcards from wherever his travels take him to. I say ‘still’ because it does seem, at least for the vast majority of people I know, as if the action of putting pen to paper (or card) and writing ‘wish you were here’ is most definitely a thing of the past.
What with the advent of the ‘electronic postcards’ – i.e. Twitter, Facebook, iPhones, and blogs such as this one (we are guilty – see ‘postcards‘ posts) – snail mail seems far too… well, slow. Not only from sticking the postcard in the mail box, then its journey from the senders location to the recipients location (and depending where you are in the world, you could even get back before your postcard arrives – or doesn’t even reach its distination!), there is also the physical aspect that one has to put in to find a befitting card, and then wracking your brains to find a witty way to compress your travel stories onto a tiny 3 1/2 x 5″area; if you want to avoid the clichéd ‘wish you were here’ or ‘wish you weren’t here’. And, don’t forget the postage stamp – these days, if you don’t want to buy a book of stamps (of which the remainder will probably sit on a shelf, gathering dust), as most stores no longer sell single stamps, you will also have to line up at the post office. To much time, thought, and effort… perhaps?
On the whole, we seem happy to have shrunk our worlds into the electronic medium of (often round-robin because it saves time) communication and, hey, I am more than guilty of taking this easy option of late. There was a time when, whilst on my travels, I wouldn’t think twice about sending a postcard – if only to my dad, to add to the collection, stuck on his fridge (with magnets, also from mine and my sisters travels). It seems such a shame that we don’t take the time to hunt out interesting, quirky, or clichéd postcards – or make your own from photographs you’ve taken – looking for just the right card for, say, your best mate, the one that only they would get the joke, the nuance, of the particular chosen card.
As Mr Trebay so succinctly put it:
‘Historians of Facebook and Twitter will be left to scrounge around the internet for the fugitive relics of the present communication age’.
Not for them, scene upon scene of the diverse wonders of far off places – the sun set over a Costa Rican beach; camels overshadowed by monolithic pyramids; African drummers around a bonfire; or, heaven forbid, those ‘naughty’ 70’s cartoon postcards, depicting two old men, sitting on striped deck chairs, eyes popping out of their heads as two young, comically over-endowed busty, blonds (who apparently have more fun – allegedly) walk past in itsy-bitsy bikini’s, with some lewd comment written underneath, a la: “eeeh, Stan, you don’t get many of those to the pound these days!”
Let’s not deprive ourselves of this ancient(ish) ritual – apparently, the first picture postcard was printed in 1840 in London, UK – nor the pleasure of our friends, or loved ones, picking their post up off the mat, shuffling through the usual generic brown enveloped bills, boring circulars… only to come across a flash of colour in amongst the mundane and, moreover, along with a personalised hand written note on the back.
These are just a couple of images of some of the inspiring women we met recently – whilst traveling around Ghana, West Africa, on assignment for NGO, Concern Universal – who are working on projects that are enabling them to raise themselves and their families above the poverty level.
‘Concern Universal is a charity that brings opportunity to families in Africa, Latin-America and Asia to end the poverty they live in. Poverty is not just about being poor. It is being denied choice and opportunity – whether it’s a lack of food, water, healthcare, education or feeling powerless to make changes.’ CU
PHOTOS TELL STORIES - documentary | filmmaking | photography | people | travel 