Pataxó

Pataxó 8, originally uploaded by Fernando Porto.

Tha Pataxó Indians – Brazil.

 
 

Photos by Fernando Porto, BRAZIL.

Claudelle, street portrait, part II.

Claudelle, street portrait, part II., originally uploaded by btezra.

Claudelle had a certain flamboyant nature that caught my eye many years ago, regrettably I never photographed her, until yesterday.

I sat down next to Claudelle for a bit and chatted about living on the streets in Pittsburgh. The conversation quickly moved towards her rings, the copies of Vogue that she had with her, and she suddenly struck a pose, her Vogue cover shot.

Despite the raindrops that fell she and I spoke for twenty minutes or so. Claudelle is one more person that makes up this city I call home. She's one piece of the puzzle that most tend to not take notice of, yet alone speak with, but if you take the time to do so you'll find out Claudelle is not really that much different than you and I, don't let appearances fool you to think otherwise.

NB! See Part I of this image below >>>

Photo by Btezra, Pittsburgh - USA

Detritus

Detritus, originally uploaded by Jan Dara.

This elderly woman lived in a makeshift "hut" at the end of the soi that I lived on in Bangkok. The location of her dwelling was next to the train tracks and over a sewer drainage ditch.

Photo by Jan Dara, The Netherlands.

The brave on you

the brave on you, originally uploaded by Tatiana Cardeal.

That's Jonathan, the artist!
This is how he started that Children's day :)

At the end of the afternoon he was painted, and singing a music with a microphone, alone on the stage, in front of all the community! What a brave!

I'm very happy, because I've just seen at Gregory's photostream that he is already in the classes that Hummingbird Foundation
began last week on the Morro do Macaco's slum, with the orphanage
Lar Maria & Sininha partnership :)

Photo by Tatiana Cardeal, São Paulo - BRAZIL.

In/Out

In/Out, originally uploaded by Evren Sahin.

A street kid from New Delhi.

Photo by Evren Sahin, New Delhi - INDIA.

Claudelle - Part I. "Problems"

Claudelle, part I. "problems", originally uploaded by btezra.

Claudelle gets her rings from a guy right down the street...just as you head into the Market Square area next to PPG Place.

I have seen her for what must be 9 or so years, maybe slightly less, but definitely an indelible fixture in downtown Pittsburgh. I always remember the rings, all of them...all of them!

IMO, a person's hands tell a story of their life, they are quite revealing and rarely noticed by others. Claudelle's hands tell a story indeed of her life, and much the reason for me starting a brief photo essay with them, they introduce the person, the charatcre, w/out including the face.

Here are the rings that make up one small slice of Claudelle. We shall certainly post part II. later on in this Blog.

Photo by Btezra, Pittsburgh - USA

Away from Home

Away from Home, originally uploaded by Samantha Casolari.

Photo by Samantha Casolari, Brooklyn, New York - USA.

Meninos dormindo na rua

Meninos dormindo na rua, originally uploaded by JazzCatNIne.

Kids sleeping on the streets.
After so many bananas ...

Photo by Gijs Andriessen, Rio de Janeiro - BRASIL.

Looking for loved ones in El Salvador

Looking for loved ones in El Salvador, originally uploaded by Marcelo Montecino.

Photo by Marcelo Montecino, Bethesda, MD, USA.

No Glamour

No Glamour, originally uploaded by D LeRoy.

Prostitutes, relaxing during the day in Monterey, Mexico. When the sun sets, their door-curtain will swing to and fro quite often.

Photo by David Nelson, Oregon - USA.

This is Our World

This is Our World, originally uploaded by Samantha Casolari.

For more than 17 years the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group trying to overthrow the Ugandan government, has been attacking the north of the country, where the Acholi people live. More than a million are now displaced as a consequence of these bloody merciless attacks, this is more than 80% of the Acholi people. These forgotten lives live in conditions that to none of us could believe possible: overcrowded camps with little food, generally provided by the World Food Programs and NGOs, almost no sanitation and no other protection other than the one provided by the Ugandan Army, whose soldiers are certainly no better off and at times harass the displaced themselves. The most affected by this largely unknown war are the children. Often without a family, they are constantly at risk of being kidnapped by the rebels, trained to kill and to loot and forced to use the same brutality of their kidnappers on their own families and friends.

These are two of the many children I met in the camps around Gulu, the main town in the North. The Acholi children are incredibly nice, curious and warm, despite the tragic nightmare they had to live every day. They want to grow up and become doctors to help their people, or teacher to give others kids that chance to learn they don' t have. They asked no food, no money, no help. They just asked me to go out there and tell their story, cause they are aware nobody knows out there. And there is no doubt only few people know about this endless tragedy, its forgotten faces and their little great wishes.

I hope this can be a good way to let you know about them.... and I hope you don't forget.

Photo by Samantha Casolari, Brooklyn – New York – USA.

b l o k e s. . .IV

b l o k e s. . .IV, originally uploaded by dR. . ..

Photo by dR...
Go check out dR...'s wonderful Photo Galleries

Up Close

Up Close, originally uploaded by camera_rwanda.

Without a doubt, my favorite subject is the child. Spontaneous, unguarded, dramatic, children let their spirits guide them. What a joy to be in the presence of unfurling emotion. With those little hands, and wide eyes, and lips that quiver or draw thin, children use their entire bodies to be.

But their faces, especially, inspire.

Orphanage For Handicapped Children.
Gitarama, Rwanda.
June, 2005.

Photo by Kresta King Cutcher, Tucson - USA.

Binondo

, originally uploaded by ♠ `enzo.

Photo by EnzoMakati, Philippines.

Kashmir

Kashmir, originally uploaded by babasteve.

Photo by Steve Evans, Bangalore - INDIA.

Street Kids

Street Kids - 02 (7-21-05), originally uploaded by RTQ.

These boys & girls live on the streets in some of the slums in Chennai, India.

Photo by Rick Quisenberry, Oakland - USA.

ChildHope – a never-ending story...

ChildHope – The never-ending story VII, originally uploaded by carf.

Alone we are nothing! We can’t save all of the lost souls on the streets but everyone can do a little more to avoid this from happening:

Djalma, a lost soul!

(On one of his seldom visits to Hummingbird, memories of better days).

Look at me in this photo; on the streets as a child on the Praça da Sé (Cathedral Plaza) in 1993.
In 1994, I was rescued from the streets by Gregory and CARF, together with Eliana, Fábio and Sandra, but after five years off the streets in his safekeeping, I decided to go back home to my mother, brother, sister and stepfather.

I shouldn’t have done that!

Look at me today; 2005 and still floating as a juvenile delinquent, between the streets and prison.

Yeah! I’m the kinda’ guy who’d stick a gun through your open car window at the crossroads, then I’d tell you to give me whatever you have of value. I probably wouldn’t shoot because lucky for you, I was raised with certain values, which I have tried very hard to live by but never really succeeded. I sometimes get shot at by the drivers, but they usually miss because they don’t really know how to use those guns.

Lucky for me! But for how long? One driver beat me over the head the other day with an iron pole and I had to sow a few more stitches. Take a look at the stitches! Do you remember the big hole I got in my head when I was only 9-years old? I fell of the roof of a speeding train. My mate did too, poor kid, he died! You remember!

I miss those good years. I yearn for the comfort of a home I once had, for the love and caring from the people who once surrounded me. "Do meu tio!" For my “brothers” and “sisters” from the streets, who now live normal lives because they decided to stay. Why I didn’t, I really don’t know. I wish I had (at which he gave me a very tight and hard hug!) I’d love to stay but I know I can’t! My life won’t let me! It’s too late now, I just have to keep going as long as I can. Drugs! Streets! You know...

My mother? I really don’t know where she is anymore. What can she do for me anyway? Nothing! Maybe I should try and find her. On the other hand, I need to get back to the streets, that’s where I belong!

Photo by Gregory J. Smith, CARF, São Paulo - BRAZIL.

After Tsunami...

, originally uploaded by shadowplay.

Photo by Hans Proppe, Agua Dulce, Ca. & Whidbey Island, Wa - USA.

Brazilian Children's Day

brazilian children's day, originally uploaded by Tatiana Cardeal.

Yesterday was Children's Day in Brazil.
Gregory, from CARF, honored me with an invite to go to the favela (slum) called the Morro do Macaco (Monkey's Mount, behind the boy on the photo), with him and his Humminbird leaders.
Inside this favela there is an old orphanage, large, but declining and poor, supported by its own founder and some brave women from the community,
mostly of them are cooks.
The Humminbird project was opening his wings there, to share love, hope,
knowledge, creating new possibilities for those children.
I hope he will always count on me for that, making a difference for these looks and our future.
Thanks, my friend.

Photo by Tatiana Cardeal, São Paulo - BRAZIL.

Moderators Note:
Thank you my friend, dear Tati!
This was the image I dreamt of having on this Blog in commemoration of Brazilian Children's Day. I couldn't find a suitable one before suddenly just now, late at night, this magnificent image arrives in our photostream. I look forward to seeing the rest!

Beautiful Smile!

beautiful smile!, originally uploaded by k-girl.

Many Indigenous Australians are faced with crushing circumstances as they (and their culture) try to fit into the cogs of our Western Society ... and they are churned out, often broken. For a large part, the two cultures just don't fit. There are, however, other subtle ways in which the two cultures have met and exchanged ... learned from each other. It's not entirely straight forward (nothing, indeed, ever is). But this girl will probably face an awful lot of tragedy, injustice, sickness, alcoholism, misunderstanding, denied opportunity ...

But look at the joy in her eyes!

It's stunning.

Photo by Kristy, AUSTRALIA.

B E G G I N G. Madurai

B E G G I N G. Madurai, originally uploaded by clauderenault.

An older woman begging in front of the sacred tank inside the Meenakshi temple in Madurai. A fabulous place..

Photo by Claude Renault, Reykjavik - ICELAND.

The Old Swig

The Old Swig, originally uploaded by Shavar.

Photo by Shavar Ross, Los Angeles - USA.

Generations

generations, originally uploaded by jto_.

There are approximately 3,000 to 4,000 Yagua people in northeastern Peru. Modernly they live near the Amazon, Napo, and Yavari Rivers and their tributaries. Ethnographic descriptions of the Yagua are found in Fejos (1943) and P. Powlison (1985). The history and migrations of the Yagua are described in Chaumeil (1983). As of 2005, apparently some Yagua have migrated northward to Colombia, near the town of Leticia.

The Yagua language is a member of the Peba-Yaguan language family. The language is documented in various works by Paul Powlison, Esther Powlison, Doris L. Payne, and Thomas E. Payne.

Photo by James, New York - USA.

Yagua Chief

Yagua Chief, originally uploaded by jto_.

This Yagua (Yahua) Chief has put some kind of natural red dye on his face to ward off evil spirits.

The Yahua Indians are a large, widely-distributed indigenous tribe who live mainly in the western Amazon basin near Iquitos, Perú.
The Yahua people live a simple but demanding lifestyle supported by slash and burn agriculture, fishing, and hunting.

The Yahua are skilled craftworkers. The men make nice wood carvings of animal figures, decorative blowguns and bows and arrows.

Traditional male Yahua dress consists of skirts made of chambira palm fiber.

The women typically wear skirts of red cotton cloth. Girls often have their first child at fourteen or fifteen years of age.

The Yahua culture functions as a large extended family, with each member accepting a role of responsibility to the welfare of the tribal group.

The Yahua were historically expert blowgun hunters of monkeys, tree porcupines, pacas, sloths, birds and other small rainforest animals.
The darts are made of palm-leaf midrib and tuffed with kapoc fiber. They are carried in a quiver made from pleated palm leaves.

A small huingo "gourd" attached to the quiver holds a supply of kapoc fiber to tuft the darts.

Text by The International Biopark Foundation

Photo by James, New York - USA.

Westminster couple

Westminster couple, originally uploaded by Mernas.

Photo by Mernas, London - UK.

Looking at You

Looking at You, originally uploaded by Samantha Casolari.

They are looking at us and asking the whys and the reasons for their forgotten tragedy... That's how I see it and that's what they kept on asking me too.

Photo by Samantha C, Brooklyn, New York - USA.

Scavengers, Santiago - Chile 1989

Scavengers, Santiago, Chile 89, originally uploaded by Marcelo Montecino.

Photo by Marcelo Montecino, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Años

Años, originally uploaded by Ram!.

Photo by Ram Martinez, Barquisimeto - VENEZUELA.

Balloon shirt girl in Deheishe Camp

Balloon shirt girl in Deheishe Camp, originally uploaded by velvetart.

Deheishe Refugee Camp, West Bank; September 2005.

She is a little darling.

Photo by Shabtai Gold (Velvetart), New York - USA.

Selling newspapers

Selling newspapers, originally uploaded by BoazR.

One of my favorit shots. So natural.. and all the "blue" in the picture.

Shot in Shilong, Meghalaya, India in 1997

Photo taken with Nikon F601, Sigma 28-70mm lense, by BoazR, Nanjing - CHINA.

Forsaken...?

, originally uploaded by d.r.lynch.

I´m uploading this to remind myself to quit taking pics of people sitting in windows...

With many reservations, I have sent this to the "Forsaken by Society" group... The child is certainly poor, but he is also being taken care of not only by his family but by the people at the fraternal organization (burial society, really) where he is pictured. Indeed, although society has forsaken many people, individual members of communities throughout Brazil and the world take it upon themselves to provide an emotionally and physically safe space for their children.

Photo by d.r.lynch, São Paulo - BRASIL.

Moderator's comments:
Thanks for your great photo and your reflections regarding it d.r.lynch!
Although there is much truth in what you say, I feel that as long as there is inequality in the world, there will always be many who will eventually join the ranks of the forsaken.
Those who lack means of access to basic education, health and nutrition, and other minimum necessities to lead them on to become self-sustaining and productive citizens, will repeat the cycle of poverty and forsakeness.
It is a very sad situation that only we humans can make adjustments to, so as to bring forth positive changes to our societies.