rankin | oxfam congo | pictures of thousands unbearable pain

kaki lima cafe, 26th march 2009...

Grazia...I was flipping lazily the glossy pages of Grazia. Nothing interest me. Every page tells the same story: new make up, problems in relationship, the latest diet- the south beach diet scheme which reported by Grazia beat the Atkins diet and so on. My eyes were still scanning the text lazily waiting for customers when out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a white man running with a serene smile while holding a camera in front of some sort of a refuge camp.
Interesting I thought.

I flipped to next page. There were no text. Just a portrait of a woman. A sewing machine which seemed attached permanently to her head. The eyes...O' Allah Almighty...the eyes...
Without alarm, my cheeks were wet with tears.
How does a portrait made me so touched, I just simply broke down?
I wish I can blow up the image to zoom in the eyes. But unfortunately, I have not reinstall my Photoshop yet.

The woman is smiling. The woman is smiling despite having embedded terror and horror of watching her family and neighbors slaughtered right in front of her eyes. Women she gossiped with were raped by soldiers. Men she trusted were beaten and slaughtered without mercy. Children ran aimlessly while others...so terror struck they just fell to the ground. But the woman ran. She ran for her life. She ran for her survival. She ran with her 8 children. She ran with her sewing machine. Her sewing machine...her lifeline to survive. If you could look as closely as I did into her eyes, you will see the dark fathom in her eyes...misty with tears but yet she smiled.


From Grazia magazine: the small caption:
Tiomani,38,tailor
" This sewing machine is my life. I brought it with me when I had to run in teh middle of the night. I sew every day for eight hours. I can't do anything else. I can make two dresses a day and sell them in camps and on the roadside. I sell them for $4 each. It is the sewing machine that feeds my family. I have eight children. If someone were to take this from me, they would be taking my life."




About Rankin:
He is a photographer from the glitz world of Hollywood. Faces such as Madonna and Gwen Stefani have received the Rankin's touch. However, in the name of humanity, Rankin set out to Congo to capture the untold story of the Congolese. As he got to know the people at the refuge camp, he decided to capture the positive vibe from these people. With a just white backdrop, he treated them like celebrities. As his subject was standing in front of the camera, staring blankly at the photographer with a gathering crowd around him, the subject was chided to smile by its amused audience. Chikka chenden (forgot the correct spelling...) which means 'smile a bit'. Rankins used this caption as his exhibition name. Thus, in front of his camera, these people relaxed, smiled, had fun teasing each other and gain a sense of living as they look at each printed portraits hanging around their camp. There are hope for living...and they all smiled.

For more pictures of Rankin's OXFAM project:
http://www.rankin.co.uk/portfolio/specialprojects
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/where_we_work/drc/rankin_gallery.html

To know more about Congo war:
the forgotten crisis,
http://www.theirc.org/special-report/congo-forgotten-crisis.html?gclid=CNDemLvpxZkCFYktpAodrkyBtw

world is witness,
http://blogs.ushmm.org/index.php/WorldIsWitness/520/?gclid=CM30z9XpxZkCFc0tpAod2E7IvA

brief facts about Congo War,
http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol5/v5n10congo_body.html
http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/congo-coltan.htm
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=3c99ea1d-84b9-467a-8d64-53e858738c76

p/s: i LOVE rankin
p/s 2: I have these 2 images, which I tore from the magazine (sorry aunty...), stuck on my wall where I can wake up to them and thank Allah s.w.t for giving me all his blessings. What are my pain and petty problems compare to theirs?
Alhamdulillah...thank you Allah ^__^