Happily unaware of the future Photo

Photographer’s Note

Some children smiling and giggling in front of the camera. This picture was taken in January 1983 in Yei, southern Sudan, not far from the border with Congo-Kinshasa, then known as Zaïre.
Only a few months after my visit to Sudan the civil war between the North and the South broke out and lasted for more than 20 years. The atmosphere was quite tense in the south. I was stopped and questioned by the police and security agents many times, and it was not easy to take pictures.
These children didn't mind posing. As usual when I look at my old slides I ask myself what happened to these kids. In this case the question is very relevant. Let's just hope that these girls were not raped during the war, that they were not forced to become soldiers' "wives". Let's hope that the boys did not have to join any ragtag militia.
This was scanned from a Kodachrome slide.

saxo042, mafegan, Waylim trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

fanni (8737) 2008-08-16 3:45

Hello Gert,
well, one more excellent (already documentary) portrait of the little children! One of these kids (the one standing at one of the houses in the background) seemed to be too shy to come up closer to join the group?
war doesn't ever care about children, but still, let's do hope that nothing bad happened to these kids and they escaped the realities of war.
As for the photo itself, the composition is excellent (I like the row of the houses and the way the children are posing to the photographer:)); the colours are rich and balanced.
best regards,
Elena

saxo042 (16058) 2008-08-16 6:08

Hej Gert,
Another fine picture with excellent colours. Very good portraits!
Hälsningar
Gunnar

raszid62 (3349) 2008-08-17 0:19

Hello Gert
Picture how from ,, National Geographic ''. How you reached there - yet in south Sudan civil war. The words of admiration and the congratulations.
Jozef

mafegan (4381) 2008-08-17 0:47

Hello Gert
Another of your excellent daily life scans. A nice composition of happy children. I understand your thoughts when you post old photos as I am always wondering if the people who are my subjects are still alive. In this case in such a sensitive area it has to be a real concern. TFS, Marlene

kschanna (6) 2008-08-17 2:57

Hello Gret,

What an interesting way of being. Lets hope that no girl ever gets raped and no boy ever is forced to become a buy soldier.

Hoping for a change is the first step towards the change.

Regards
Kamran

gaby (19793) 2008-08-18 12:06

Excellent image and compo - the smiles of the children are priceless - superb
Regards
Gaby

Waylim (11045) 2008-08-18 17:08

Gert,
A very documentary style shot, like something we see in old National Geography, showing the children near their home builg with straw and mud, very similar to what I have seen in Kenya and Tanzania. Good enough details for such old photo. These kids are now grown up. Hope they as happy as they were.
Way

CaesarP (3652) 2008-09-23 10:30