Did my 2nd day in the dump here in Mae Sot Thailand. Watched people fill
a 5 gallon pail half full of cooked rice they found in the garbage.
Children here eating oranges they found in the garbage as well.
Yesterday saw a young child of maybe 2 crying in the garbage with flies
on her face after her mother left her to do some work (scavenging in the
garbage for recyclables).
Even with all these hardships the people smile and laugh and share jokes with me. There is singing and joy along with the dirt, smells and flies. Its a hard world to explain in photographs. I have a strong belief in the power of photography, I believe that documentary photography has the power to change. Seeing all this thou makes my faith wander, can anything I do here really matter? Can a photo raise awareness? Can it cause positive change?
I gave out to bags of rice care packages to two families living in the open, they are new to the dump and only have basic lean-too's for homes. An hour after I gave out the rice one of the families was boiling it in a small tin pot over an open fire (the pot was on some rocks, the fire beneath). This type of thing seems much more practical than a photograph, it had an immediate impact on the families lives, it made things a tiny bit better at least for that day.
Not sure why I am writing all of this but my heads spinning a bit with what I experienced today.
Thanks for listening Gerry
Even with all these hardships the people smile and laugh and share jokes with me. There is singing and joy along with the dirt, smells and flies. Its a hard world to explain in photographs. I have a strong belief in the power of photography, I believe that documentary photography has the power to change. Seeing all this thou makes my faith wander, can anything I do here really matter? Can a photo raise awareness? Can it cause positive change?
I gave out to bags of rice care packages to two families living in the open, they are new to the dump and only have basic lean-too's for homes. An hour after I gave out the rice one of the families was boiling it in a small tin pot over an open fire (the pot was on some rocks, the fire beneath). This type of thing seems much more practical than a photograph, it had an immediate impact on the families lives, it made things a tiny bit better at least for that day.
Not sure why I am writing all of this but my heads spinning a bit with what I experienced today.
Thanks for listening Gerry
