In 1994 one of the worst genocides in the history of the world happened in the African country of Rwanda. It's incredible how little was known about this terrible act when it was happening. The hate that entered into the hearts of the people in Rwanda caused almost one million deaths.

There where two tribes: the Hutu tribe (majority) and the Tutsi tribe (minority). The effects of a long time racial discrimination between the two tribe (cause by the Belgians) ended up in a bloody ethnic cleansing. The Hutu tribe attacked the the Tutsi tribe and murdered them. The Hutu's goal was to wipe the Tutsis off of the face of the earth. They murdered the old, the young, and everyone in between.

The horrific things that were happening in Rwanda forced many people to leave their homes and it created a lot of refugees. This picture is from a refugee camp in Zaire. The camps members either had to walk a really long way to get their water or wait in enormous lines to get water that the tank trucks brought in.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people from Haiti that have been displaced from their homes because of the earthquake. They are now refugees because of the earthquake and will have to live in the meager conditions of refugees camps as well.

Salgado, Sebastião. Photograph. 1996 Migrations: Humanity in Transition. 18 Feb. 2010

Ilibagiza, Immaculee. Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. Hay House, Inc. 2006

In 1991 a second Sudanese civil war broke out. This war proved to be one of the most deadliest (and longest) of the latter end of the 20th century. Ending in January of 2005 with a peace treaty, there was an estimated 1.9 million civilian casualties in this war. The situation didn't help with the continuation of new rebel groups forming during the war. Also Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda organization moved to Sudan during this time and Osama bin Laden supposedly organized some of his first terrorist attacks from Sudan.

The picture above is taken in the country of Kenya. The youth in this picture are Sudanese and they have been sent away by their own families. Why? Their families sent them away so that they would not be enlisted to fight in the civil war. The war got so ugly and long that they started recruiting teenagers to continue the fighting. These boys in the picture were living in these refugee camps, provided by the United Nations, to be able to ensure a longer life.

Although better than war, refugee camps are hardly comfortable. They are always over packed and a lot of the time are ridden with disease and pests. This also reminds me of something that we can do to remember and help the refugees from Haiti. We should always try and see what we can do to help them. A lot of the time, things that we do to help actually go to improve the conditions of the temporary living quarters that these people have to live in.


Salgado, Sebastião. Photograph. 1996 Migrations: Humanity in Transition. 11 Feb. 2010

Massacre de Eldorado dos Carajas

This picture is shocking. Why are there so many coffins in the back of this truck? All of these coffins were filled at Eldorado dos Carajas on April 17, 1996. This tiny little city in the northern state Pará of Brazil was receiving "help" from the government. The government relocated about 3000 families to a ranch to help them get started and earn money. The only problem was that this ranch was very unproductive and the workers didnt like it. They protested and during that protest 19 members of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) were gunned down by state military police.

It's remembered as a very dark day in Brazil and I think Salgado did a very good job of capturing how dark it was in this picture. There is hardly any light at all. There is enough to see the coffins but it was a dark time. I think it is horrific that there was something like that.

Personally, after living in Brazil for two years, I can see it happening though. They have a problem with a good number of police being corrupt and "loose cannons." They are trying to resolve the issue and hopefully they will do it soon. Recently, the President of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies gave a speech of this event calling it the "Massacre of Eldorado of the Carajas."

Its always tough to see this many people dead and it reminded me of a youtube video that I saw of Haiti a couple of weeks ago. Even though it wasn't a massacre at the hands of men it is still heart wrenching to see how many people have suffered so far and how many have died.

Salgado, Sebastião. Photograph. 1996 Migrations: Humanity in Transition. 28 Jan. 2010 .