Agino, age 27, Mursi Hills, Ethiopia
Agino, a Mursi warrior, was adamant about wanting a Polaroid of himself. However, when I pointed the camera at him, he immediately looked down. I later learned that the Mursi believe that looking directly into the lens can cause blindness. Although unauthorized fighting within the Mursi tribe is a taboo, warriors who kill an enemy are accorded great status. Each curved scar on Agino's arm represents an enemy killed.
Three monks, Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Azumah, age 80, Bowku Village, Ghana
Azumah spoke with great pride about her daughter, who is the treasurer of a women's savings and credit group in Bowku called 'Tam-Ndi.' Historically, women in Bowku have not had a voice in community decisions and rarely met as a group. CARE helped the women develop a savings and credit association and elect leaders. After the group was established their membership grew rapidly and word of their success spread. The Bowku women's group were then asked to help form women's associations in neighboring villages. Azuma said, "Everything has changed in the last few years. Now women have a say in our village."
Buzayan, age 6, Jinka, Ethiopia
Buzayan lives with her mother and three older sisters in a small Ethiopian village. Her father took a job as a policeman in a neighboring town and later abandoned the family for another woman. Even though it is very expensive for her, Buzayan's mother is committed to keeping all the children in school. When I asked Buzayan about kindergarten, she squealed with delight and started jumping up and down.
Tenzin Gyatso, age 59, Dharamsala, India
Born to a peasant family, he was discovered to be the reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion at the age of two. At four he was installed as the 14th Dalai Lama and then as a teenager he faced the invasion of his country. Eight years later he was forced to flee to neighboring India. For consistently advocating the policy of non-violence and compassion in response to the aggression that has befallen his country, he was awarded the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.
Echuka, age 24, and Eragai, age 21, Baragoi, Kenya
Echuka and Eragai are good friends who had spent all day walking in 110-degree heat to the market in Baragoi to get salt for their camels and goats. They called me "the fish" because of the quantity of water I was drinking. They didn't seem to need to drink at all. The four cowry shells on Eragai's head indicate that she has had a miscarriage. She will wear the shells for the rest of her life.
Gilo, age 52, Yabelo, Ethiopia
Gilo spent much of her time fetching water for her family of five before the organization CARE built a cistern in her village. Previously she had to walk more than three hours, four times a week, with her daughter Galmo to collect water from the nearest spring in the mountains. The cistern freed up enough time to allow Galmo to start going to school. Galmo is her first child, and the first person in her entire family, to get a formal education. In many Ethiopian villages, something as basic as building a cistern or drilling a well will allow hundreds of children to get an education.
Jigme, age 8, and Sonam, age 18 months, Ladakh, India
Jigme and Sonam are sisters whose nomadic family had just come down from the Himalayan highlands to their 16,500 ft. winter camp on the Tibetan Plateau. When I gave Jigme a Polaroid of herself she looked at it, squealed, and ran into her tent.
Rufo, age 7, Yabelo, Ethiopia
I first noticed Rufo as she was walking to school with her sister. Like most Boran girls, she spends her days collecting water and firewood and helping her mother cook. Her labor plays a vital role in her family's survival. Recently, a school was opened in her territory. Since Rufo's mother could only spare the labor of one her seven children, she chose Rufo's sister, Loco, to get an education. As the sisters approached the school room, Rufo dropped back as she watched Loco go in. She paused, slowly turned, and walked home to begin her daily chores.
Shelo, age 20, and Benb, age 17, Nyalam, Tibet
Shelo and Benba, best friends since childhood, are currently working as hostel maids in Nyalam, an old Tibetan village that has recently become a stop over for climbers on their way to Mt. Everest. As Tibetans, they are rapidly becoming an insignificant minority in their own country because of the massive influx of Chinese into Tibet.
Sukulen, age 37, Mt. Nyiru, Kenya
As a young girl, Sukulen began having dizzy spells and hearing voices. She said she was very frightened and thought she was getting ill. Her grandmother assured her that she was healthy and was, in fact, very gifted. Sukulen is now a highly respected "predictor" in her tribe. Two months before I arrived, she had told several people in her village that I was coming, and had described in detail my appearance and the equipment I was using.
Transito, age 91, Cayambe, Ecuador
Transito, a legendary human rights figure, is often referred to as the "Rosa Parks of Ecuador." After the Spanish conquest, many indigenous people were stripped of their rights and forced to live as indentured servants in the hacienda system. In 1926, at the age of 17, Transito spoke out against a hacienda owner who had been molesting her. She was sent to jail for five months for protesting her abuse. Upon her release, she became a legend for speaking out about the plight of indigenous Ecuadorians. Later she organized a strike by indigenous farmers, which catalyzed a newfound respect for indigenous people in Ecuador.
Wouli, age 7, Atti Tomefa, Togo
Even though Wouli has to spend four hours a day fetching water and firewood, she religiously does her homework. Working with her best friend Atinyo, she spends two hours after school practicing her language and math assignments on a chalk board her father attached to the side of her house. Many uneducated children in Wouli's village fall victim to child traffickers with promises good jobs. The children typically end up as indentured household servants to individuals in Togo's capital, Lome. With few exceptions, their families never see them again. CARE is supporting education and awareness programs in the villages of Togo to address this prevalent problem.
Yadira, age 5, Amazon Basin, Ecuador
Yadira is one of 320 Secoya Indians living along the Aguarico River in Ecuador's northern Amazon. Since oil was discovered in 1972, more oil has been spilled in this area than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska. The Aguarico River has been covered by over a foot of oil on several occasions. In this time, the Secoya have seen most of the animals in their territory disappear. Today, an oil company is again trying to start seismic exploration in Secoya territory.
Humaria, age 11, Kabul, Afghanistan
Humaria sells eggs as a street vendor to help her family survive. As with many
families in Afghanistan, years of war have left them very poor. Only half of all Afghan children ages 7 to 13 attend school and typically boys are chosen over girls. When the Taliban came to power, education for girls came to an end. In 2003, CARE began the Out-of-School Girls Project, a program designed to help girls ages 9 to 14 catch up on the education they lost and rejoin the mainstream education system.
