Matt Powell Humanitarian Photography :: Blog

Life Water Development + Thirst Relief

During December I visited Cameroon where I took a week off to document the work of a local grassroots NGO called Life Water Development.   LifeWater is headed by a man named Peter Njodzeka who is quite honestly one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met.  I won’t attempt to tell his story now- I want to save it for the video- but just believe me when I say that Peter is passionate about helping his own community, starting with providing clean water to schools in some very remote locations.  Peter’s work is supported by another great organization named Thirst Relief- you should definitely check them out here.  More pictures from Cameroon coming soon….

In other news- I’ve been asked to encourage my visitors to check out a humanitarian photography competition sponsored by Photocrati.  It is for Non-professionals and has been described to me as “a rare opportunity to get both funding and a platform for becoming known in the photography world. It provides $5000 grants to non-professional photographers working on important humanitarian and environmental projects. The grant is intended to identify great up-and-coming photography talent and give them a high profile platform for carrying out a worthwhile project”.

Sounds like a great way to get your name and work out there.  Go here to learn all about it .

Also, I’m heading to Hatii on Tuesday.  I’ll be looking for glimmers of hope.  Stay tuned for more on that…

Some travel shots from Timbuktu that didn’t make the portfolio cut.  It was such an amazing location, I just have to post more pictures.

A big thanks to my colleague Paul Sherar for doing the HDR work on this image.

The mountainous region of Jebel Marra, locally referred to as a “liberated area”, is the traditional homeland of the rebel insurgency which kick-started the war in Darfur. Almost entirely surrounded by enemy militias, the people here, known as the Fur tribe, are completely dependent on outside aid for survival.

South Sudan.

It really does exist.

The Episcopal Church in Rumbek celebrates Easter Week and a few very significant church re-openings.

In the Upper Nile region, outside the port-town of Malakal, the White Nile river forms a boundary between the Shilook kingdom and the Jonglei State. In the not-so-distant-past the river also formed a geographic battle line between government-backed militias and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Our boat captain Joseph spoke of when he was a boy growing up along these banks and “the river flowed with bodies”. Apparently the militias would cross over to raid villages, indiscriminately kill innocent people and toss the bodies into the river. But today this river represents hope. Those like Joseph, who fled as young children, are now returning in great number to re-settle along the fertile banks. They are planting crops, grazing animals and re-starting their communities from scratch.