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Ciudad Valdeluz - The empty city
by Magali Corouge
Spain led the recent property boom in Europe with prices increasing annually at an average of around 13% from 2001-07. However, the global economic slump has taken it’s toll and many of the housing that was built to take advantage of the rising market now stands empty. …
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Palmas Bank: Microcredit in Brazil
by Eduardo Martino
In Conjunto Palmeiras, a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Fortaleza in Northeast Brazil, a group of resourceful inhabitants have found a way to fight poverty: they print their own money. By creating a currency that could be used for goods and services within th…
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Olive oil in Provence (Culinary Traditions in Europe)
by Guilhem Alandry
In provence 40 years ago, farmers were uprooting their olive trees plantations to replace them with other crops. Olive groves were simply not a viable crop anymore. Oil was cheap and wine and fruits were more profitable. Today the olive oil industry has regain its value…
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Maternal Mortality - Mommy's story
by Anna Kåri
Sierra Leone has probably the worlds second highest maternal mortality rate. In this impoverished country 1 in 8 women will die in labour in their life time. This story follow Fatima, called Mommy by everyone, who delivered a baby girl in August 2008. Unfortunately she …
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This is Kroo Bay!
by Guilhem Alandry
Kroo Bay is built on pile of rubbish. Devastating floods ravage the community and bring deadly diseases - and most people can't afford to pay for medicine at the rundown clinic. Kroo Bay's children are dying needlessly. 1 in 4 children die before their fifth birthday in…
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Boundless City: Helicopters in Sao Paulo
by Eduardo Martino
There are 420 helipads in Sao Paulo. This is 50% more than the whole of the UK. Sao Paulo’s chaotic traffic, with its 6 million cars, oppresses and complicates even more the ordinary citizen’s frantic life in this Latin America’s busiest city. Those with the means, ta…
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Gambaga-witches camp in Ghana
by Magali Corouge
Many Ghanaians, like many Africans, genuinely fear witches, old women who are said to cause all kinds of calamities and misfortunes, from infertility to impotence, drought to death. Suspicion and jealousy fuel the accusations, which are often supported by nothing more c…
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Nagorno Karabagh - an unrecognized homeland
by Magali Corouge
“ When there is hope, there is life. Only hope helps us to survive”, says Levon, a 70 years old man who is now retired and lives in the capital of Nagorno Karabagh. Between 1988 -1994, a war torn conflict divided Nagorno Karabagh (NKR) with Azerbaijan, causing thousa…
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Uganda – Peace is coming
by Anna Kåri
In Northern Uganda a new optimism and hope for the future is growing after the most peaceful year in two decades. Since 2006 the rebels Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government have had a ceasefire while they negotiate peace, and this time has allowed man…
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Transhumances in Couserans (Culinary Traditions in Europe)
by Guilhem Alandry
The transhumance, from the Latin "trans" (beyond) and "humus" (the earth, the country), is the summer migration of the flocks, sheep, cows or horses, towards the high altitude summer pastures. This is one of the oldest human activities. In Couserans the practice of th…
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Urban Farming in Cuba
by Eduardo Martino
With the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in 1989 a dark period in Cuba’s history began, called by Fidel Castro the “Special Period”. For the previous 30 years, Cuba’s sugar and other products had been exported at extremely favourable prices to the communist partners, whi…
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The Undesired Tomb Dwellers in Egypt
by Eduardo Martino
Original text by Nigel Richardson © 2007 We are standing in the interconnecting tombs beneath Mohammed Ismail’s house when he mentions the mummies, as one knew he would. The story of how the Abd el-Rassoul brothers discovered the “cachette” (everyone uses the French wo…
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Different Planets - the best and worst place to give birth
by Anna Kåri
A recent report revealed that Sweden is the best place to give birth and Niger is the worst. In Niger a womans chance of dying in child birth in her life time is 1 in 7, in Sweden its 1 in 29.800. In this report writer Joanna Moorhead and photographer Anna Kari travel t…
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Prisoners of Hope - Modern-day Slavery in Brazil
by Eduardo Martino
Even though 2007 celebrates the 200th anniversary of the fundamental landmark towards slavery abolition (the banning of slave trade by the British parliament in 1807), slavery has never been as intensively practiced as in present day. Modern-day slavery is very differ…
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Belle Image : 2 months with the displaced
by Magali Corouge
More than 650 people, many of whom are illegal immigrants, were evicted from a former squat in the campus of Cachan –a suburb of Paris- in August 2006. The official reason given was that the building was a ‘fire risk’. It was the biggest squat in France before the 17th …
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My Grandmother
by Magali Corouge
My family and I had suspected that my grandmother's health was deteriorating and that her sanity had become increasingly worse. During this time my grandmother began to invent things and even accused us of lying to her when we told her that this was not the case. It wou…
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The Red Balloon
by Guilhem Alandry
The Red Balloon, Cambridge, UK, is a very special school. Here Carrie Herbert, a long life educator, has been welcoming for 11 years now, girls and boys victims of bullying. 10 to 12 of them (from the age of 11 to 16) study in a cosy Victorian house, in the heart of Cam…
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Telejato
by Magali Corouge
From its warm and narrow alleys and coffee shops, Partinico gives at first sight a feeling of tranquillity, typical of Sicily. Nevertheless this town of 30 000 inhabitants, situated at equal distance of Palermo and Corleone, has been known since the 90s because of its l…
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Wine Making in Provence (Culinary Traditions in Europe)
by Guilhem Alandry
Les Traditions du Vin en Provence. Lorsqu’on parle d’un vin, on met souvent en avant la palette aromatique. J’aime bien défendre l’idée que le plaisir du vin est d’abord tactile. Empoigner une bouteille, faire glisser la lame du couteau sur la capsule, enfoncer le tire…
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Kosovo's Roma Refugees
by Anna Kåri
Approximately 60.000 - 70.000 Roma (Gypsies) fled their homes, when the Albanians refugees returned after the end of NATO's bombing campaign in the summer 1999. The Roma were blamed for co-operating with the Serbs and for stealing from the Albanians. But most Roma were …
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The Pilchards Works (Culinary Traditions in Europe)
by Guilhem Alandry
The Pilchards Works was the last Cornish Salted Pilchards factory in England. In the 16th Century Cornish Salted Pilchards were exported to the whole of Europe. Since The 1950’s The Pilchards Works was exporting its pilchards in boxes and barrels only to the Northern…
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Roma Holocaust Survivors
by Anna Kåri
"Everybody here knows that Jewish and Polish were killed in the war, but nobody ever says anything about the Roma who were murdered" says 65 year old Krystyna, a Polish Roma (Gypsy). She survived a massacre, several years in hiding and the Plaszow concentration camp i…
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7/7 London Bombings
by Guilhem Alandry
On the morning of the 7th of July 2005, 4 bombs blew up on the London transport system, 3 in the tube and one on a bus. A few hours after the bombs I was at Kings Cross Station working for different magazines. I photographed the event for days and started to think of d…
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XP Children - Part 2
by Magali Corouge
Imane, a 14 years old teenager, lives with her parents and old brother in El Djadida, Morocco. Second child of the family, Imane needs special care. She suffers from Xeroderma pigmentosum. She needs to avoid the sun raises and to protect her skin with a special uniform …
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Shia Muslims in the UK
by Eduardo Martino
Shia is the 2nd biggest sect of Islam, accounting for about 10% of Muslims worldwide (nearly 80% of Muslims are Sunni). In the UK, they also make up about 10% of the 1.8 million-strong Muslim community. To Shia Muslims, the importance of Prophet Muhammad's family is…
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Maggie's Centres
by Guilhem Alandry
Maggie Keswick Jencks is 47 when she discovers she has breast cancer. 5 years later, the diagnosis is a death penalty: metastasis. A doctor sentences her: "Your life span is probably 3, 4 months. Could you please sit in the lobby, dear? There are many people waiting". M…
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Facing the Future - Ugandan Child Soldiers
by Anna Kåri
For 19 years a senseless war has raged in northern Uganda between the rebel group Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and the government. The LRA small and without proper funds have no chance of ever wining, but they have caused great suffering for the local Acholi people, wh…
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Hotel Lokve
by Anna Kåri
On a beauty spots in the Montenegrin mountains, with a fantastic view over the valley, and its own ski station lies the unique conical shaped Hotel Lokve. Built 20 years ago, the architect is said to have loved his design so much, that he put in the contract that it c…
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XP Children - Part 1
by Magali Corouge
"I dream to be like other teenage girls of my age. If i could make a wish I would love to go outside under the sun and to play for hours" says Inès a 14 year old girl. Unfortunately Inès knows her dream may never come through as she suffers from a rare genetic disea…
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The Last Coopers of Provence (Culinary Traditions in Europe)
by Guilhem Alandry
Les Traditions du Vin en Provence. Lorsqu’on parle d’un vin, on met souvent en avant la palette aromatique. J’aime bien défendre l’idée que le plaisir du vin est d’abord tactile. Empoigner une bouteille, faire glisser la lame du couteau sur la capsule, enfoncer le tire…
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From London to Karbala
by Eduardo Martino
The ousting of Saddam Hussein's regime made it possible for Shia Muslims from across the globe to visit their holiest sites in Iraq. Despite the unstable situation and the dangers of going on a pilgrimage to that war-stricken country, a group of British Shia Muslims too…
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After the Fires, Portugal
by Guilhem Alandry
“My brother was not contactable so we started to look for him with friends and family. After searching for a day we discovered his burnt body near his farm. It is not just the land but also the people that died from the fires. We don’t have the strength to try to start …
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First Steps After City of God
by Eduardo Martino
The award-winning Brazilian film City of God used ordinary people from the slums of Rio de Janeiro as actors. After the big production was over some of the kids chose to remain involved with the film industry. The cinema group Nos do Cinema, created to train the kids fo…
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Genet, Christmas in Lalibela
by Guilhem Alandry
Every year, just before the 7th of January - Christmas day - thousands of pilgrims descend on Lalibela, a small village in the Ethiopian highlands; for in and around Lalibela are 11 rock hewn churches, the most holy place in Ethiopia. The Churches were carved out of th…
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Harvesting Cork in Provence (Culinary Traditions in Europe)
by Guilhem Alandry
Les Traditions du Vin en Provence. Lorsqu’on parle d’un vin, on met souvent en avant la palette aromatique. J’aime bien défendre l’idée que le plaisir du vin est d’abord tactile. Empoigner une bouteille, faire glisser la lame du couteau sur la capsule, enfoncer le tire…
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Le Canal des Pangalanes
by Guilhem Alandry
The Pangalanes’ Canal runs along 600 km of the Eastern coast of Madagascar. It was built by the French in the 40’s to facilitate the transport of goods (mainly minerals and tropical wood) from the interior of the island towards Toamasina’s harbour, the main commercial p…
