Portraits of a Rising Zimbabwe (5 of 5)
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This is the part five of a five part assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration on the rebuilding of Zimbabwe after an unprecedented economic and civil collapse. Photos Copyright ©2009 Austin Andrews / International Organization for Migration (IOM) except where noted. Not to be reprinted or reproduced without permission.
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Last August, Will van Engen (blog link) and I visited Zimbabwe on a photographic assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting safe and humane migration in high-risk nations. Few countries recently have been in the headlines as much for migration issues as Zimbabwe, a failed state wracked by economic implosion where one third of the population now lives abroad, much of it illegally in neighbouring South Africa.
As a photography trip, it was ill-conceived: IOM organised an itinerary that compressed an entire country’s worth of far-flung project sites into one week of shooting. A Land Cruiser sent us tumbling down some of the worst roads in the world, chasing light and perpetually behind schedule. For every ten minutes spent travelling we’d be lucky to have a minute shooting. But as an experience it was one of the richest and most worthwhile trips of my life. I look back on the photographs below with rose-tinted fondness.
Wrapping up the series, part five takes us through some of IOM’s schemes in place to aid returning migrants with reassimilation.
A woman watches over goats donated by IOM to households of migrants returning to southern Zimbabwe from South Africa. A sustainable biogas is produced by harnessing the methane in the goats' waste, bringing power to far-flung regions that previously had none.
Animal husbandry.
Biodigester.
Residents of the Caledonia township south of Harare queue for attention from an IOM-sponsored mobile clinic. The twice-monthly clinic is the only access Caledonia's 2000 residents have to medical care.
Doctor visit.
Inspection.
Departing patient.
Meanwhile in the city, a patient gets treated at Harare's Parirenyatwa Hospital.
This doctor returned from the UK after a unity government was established in Zimbabwe to help participate in her country's economic recovery.
This welder returned to Zimbabwe through an IOM sponsorship for small business start-ups.
Statues in play.
Portraits of a Rising Zimbabwe (4 of 5)
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This is part four of a five part assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration on the rebuilding of Zimbabwe after an unprecedented economic and civil collapse. Photos Copyright ©2009 Austin Andrews / International Organization for Migration (IOM) except where noted. Not to be reprinted or reproduced without permission.
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Last August, Will van Engen (blog link) and I visited Zimbabwe on a photographic assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting safe and humane migration in high-risk nations. Few countries recently have been in the headlines as much for migration issues as Zimbabwe, a failed state wracked by economic implosion where one third of the population now lives abroad, much of it illegally in neighbouring South Africa.
As a photography trip, it was ill-conceived: IOM organised an itinerary that compressed an entire country’s worth of far-flung project sites into one week of shooting. A Land Cruiser sent us tumbling down some of the worst roads in the world, chasing light and perpetually behind schedule. For every ten minutes spent travelling we’d be lucky to have a minute shooting. But as an experience it was one of the richest and most worthwhile trips of my life. I look back on the photographs below with rose-tinted fondness.
Part four takes us to IOM’s two Safe Zone activity sites for children at risk for trafficking, one in Bulawayo and the other in Chiredzi.
At the Safe Zone in Chiredzi, a local volunteer runs through the rules of a tire track obstacle course.
Contender.
Winners' circle.
The Chiredzi Safe Zone, one of two IOM-sponsored youth activity centres in Zimbabwe.
Point / Shot
Counterpoint / Reverse Shot
Primed.
Blue on target.
Story of a football.
Mirrored sliver.
Portraits of a Rising Zimbabwe (3 of 5)
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This is part three of a five part assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration on the rebuilding of Zimbabwe after an unprecedented economic and civil collapse. Photos Copyright ©2009 Austin Andrews / International Organization for Migration (IOM) except where noted. Not to be reprinted or reproduced without permission.
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This past August, Will van Engen (blog link) and I visited Zimbabwe on a photographic assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting safe and humane migration in high-risk nations. Few countries recently have been in the headlines as much for migration issues as Zimbabwe, a failed state wracked by economic implosion where one third of the population now lives abroad, much of it illegally in neighbouring South Africa.
As a photography trip, it was ill-conceived: IOM organised an itinerary that compressed an entire country’s worth of far-flung project sites into one week of shooting. A Land Cruiser sent us tumbling down some of the worst roads in the world, chasing light and perpetually behind schedule. For every ten minutes spent travelling we’d be lucky to have a minute shooting. But as an experience it was one of the richest and most worthwhile trips of my life. I look back on the photographs below with rose-tinted fondness.
Part three takes us to two separate project sites on opposite sides of the country with different focuses on the same issue: safe migration.
PROJECT ONE / AWARENESS
IOM volunteers suit up at a UN World Food Programme distribution gathering in rural Masvingo province, an area that has seen an alarming percentage of its population flee into neighbouring South Africa. Their mission is to promote safe migration, raise awareness of hazards and prepare would-be migrants for the difficult journey ahead.
Spirited.
Locals crowd around an IOM volunteer distributing information on safe migration.
"Are you thinking of migrating?"
IOM volunteers distribute and play a game of Safe Migration Snakes and Ladders.
Eager fingertips await information.
Tattered.
PROJECT TWO / MIGRANT PROCESSING
An IOM billboard demarcates the dusty border between Zimbabwe and Botswana outside the town of Plumtree. A hotspot for illegal crossings, IOM operates a migrant processing centre on the Zimbabwean side of the border.
A truckful of deported migrants rounded up in nearby Francistown, Botswana arrives back in Zimbabwe at the IOM processing centre. The centre sees an estimated 3000 failed migrants a month, not accounting for those who attempt the dangerous border crossing more than once.
First steps back on Zimbabwean soil for a few of the 3000 illegal Zimbabweans captured and deported monthly from Francistown, Botswana.
Zimbabweans walk toward an immigration office for processing after being deported from Botswana.
A Zimbabwean immigration official addresses a room of would-be migrants deported from Botswana for illegal immigration.
The immigration official addresses the group to ensure no Botswanan citizens were mistakenly rounded up.
Migrants await repatriation papers in a processing queue in the IOM compound.
A dance troupe entertains the repatriated migrants while they await transportation back to Harare and Bulawayo.
Portraits of a Rising Zimbabwe (2 of 5)
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This is part two of a five part assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration on the rebuilding of Zimbabwe after an unprecedented economic and civil collapse. Photos Copyright ©2009 Austin Andrews / International Organization for Migration (IOM) except where noted. Not to be reprinted or reproduced without permission.
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This past August, Will van Engen (blog link) and I visited Zimbabwe on a photographic assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting safe and humane migration in high-risk nations. Few countries recently have been in the headlines as much for migration issues as Zimbabwe, a failed state wracked by economic implosion where one third of the population now lives abroad, much of it illegally in neighbouring South Africa.
As a photography trip, it was ill-conceived: IOM organised an itinerary that compressed an entire country’s worth of far-flung project sites into one week of shooting. A Land Cruiser sent us tumbling down some of the worst roads in the world, chasing light and perpetually behind schedule. For every ten minutes spent travelling we’d be lucky to have a minute shooting. But as an experience it was one of the richest and most worthwhile trips of my life. I look back on the photographs below with rose-tinted fondness.
Part two in what I’ll admit is an only occasionally compelling series focuses on IOM’s livelihood and employment programs for families and returning migrants in rural Manicaland, near the Mozambican border.
A family crowds around as water gushes from a deep borehole pump in rural Manicaland.
Stalks of dead grass line a child's walk back to her family's small rondavel village.
A midday scene between terms at an IOM-built, government-run school in rural Manicaland. This compound was once part of a white-run commercial farm that fell into disrepair after President Robert Mugabe's forced land grabs put it in the hands of urban blacks with no previous experience in farming.
Attentive eyes know.
Lessons for Wednesday 26 August 2009.
An uncertain hand rises in the back of the class.
The women behind the scenes of a local bakery, one of the many employment schemes IOM runs for returning migrants in the rural Mutare area.
Bread's last daylight as dough.
Hot loaves, hand delivered.
Hot loaves, hand delivered II.
Replacing the now-defunct Zimbabwean dollar in April as the country's street currency, a single US dollar now buys what 10,000,000,000,000 (10 trillion) Zim dollars once did.
Another IOM initiative, this community garden provides growing space, seeds and water access for its 28 members. The residents of these sunbaked rural highlands otherwise has little access to fresh vegetables.
Children work away in their family plot.
Prudence.
The fingers and shadows of ownership.
Construction implements and evidence.
Portraits of a Rising Zimbabwe (1 of 5)
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This is part one of a five part assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration on the rebuilding of Zimbabwe after an unprecedented economic and civil collapse. Photos Copyright ©2009 Austin Andrews / International Organization for Migration (IOM) except where noted. Not to be reprinted or reproduced without permission.
——
This past August, Will van Engen (blog link) and I visited Zimbabwe on a photographic assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting safe and humane migration in high-risk nations. Few countries recently have been in the headlines as much for migration issues as Zimbabwe, a failed state wracked by economic implosion where one third of the population now lives abroad, much of it illegally in neighbouring South Africa.
Part one focuses on IOM’s homebuilding programs in remote rural communities for returning migrants.
Boys look out from behind a gate in an IOM-built community outside Mutare, an MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) stronghold near the Mozambican border.
IOM vests supervise a project site near Chiredzi. Here, locals build their own homes from materials provided by IOM.
Staring contest at the washing station. Photo ©2009 Will van Engen / International Organization for Migration (IOM).
A woman sits in her living room under wall-mounted pages from the Qur'an. With electricity sporadic at best, the television sees little use.
Foot traffic outside a new IOM-constructed brick house situated in a community of traditional rondavels.
A father and son make their way through the home-specked flatlands off the grid in Zimbabwe's remote Eastern Highlands.
Chasing the day's last golden light, an IOM convoy makes its way through the bush toward a far-flung building project.
Construction gang on the left, residents-to-be on the right.
Earthly Hands / Materials of Habitation.
Rim tracks in the path to a new home.
A family pauses midway through moving furniture into their new IOM-constructed house.
Cut Scenes from Zimbabwe’s Dark Decade
This past August, Will van Engen and I visited Zimbabwe on a photographic assignment for IOM International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting safe and humane migration in high-risk nations. Few countries recently have been in the headlines as much for migration issues as Zimbabwe, a failed state wracked by economic implosion where one third of the population now lives abroad, much of it illegally in neighbouring South Africa.
The following are cut scenes from an upcoming photo series on the slow rebuilding of Zimbabwe after one of the darkest decades in recent African history.
With the cooling towers of the Bulawayo Power Station looming behind them, residents of Zimbabwe's second-largest city wander township streets.
Main street bustle in the town of Chiredzi. With goods back on shelves after a long period of uncertainty, shops have reclaimed their status as community hubs.
Families stream in and out of a rural general store in the hills surrounding the border town of Mutare in Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands.
A cattle drive by morning light.
A long-haul busliner. Vehicles like this one are a common sight on the nation's roads, with most domestic routes plied by dilapidated buses that are more than a half century old.
T-shirt ballot.
Sunset split.
Suggested treatment at Harare's Parirenyatwa Hospital.
Reminders of 2008's controversial elections still haunt many of the streets of capital city Harare.
Roaming from driveway to driveway, two buskers stop to play a streetside tune in the affluent Avondale neighbourhood.
A group of suburban youth wander home after a Friday night hanging out at the Avondale shopping centre.
Once a popular diversion for middle-class Zimbabweans, the nation's cinemas have fallen into disrepair and neglect in recent years.
Round-the-clock electricity still eludes Harare, with power cuts stretching for six hours or longer on most days. Her computer down, a cashier tallies up orders by hand at a Nando's fast food restaurant in Avondale.
As good a sign as any of the nation's topsy-turvy currency, the runaway hyperinflation of the Zimbabwe dollar has given way to stability as the nation shifts to the US dollar.
Another indication of the stabilising economy, shops are reopening as hard currency trickles through the population.
A Black Hole in the Rainbow Nation
My photography project on the Zimbabwean refugee crisis, most of which appeared on this blog in March, has found new life as a thirty shot multimedia slideshow. Check it out and don’t forget to turn the pesky captions off.
The slideshow can also be viewed in high resolution on the Medecins Sans Frontieres site and on The Times‘ online multimedia portal.
Special thanks to Thato Mogotsi and Alon Skuy at The Times and Zethu Mlobeli at MSF for helping put it together!
Sanctuary in the Sunburned North
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This is part four of a five part assignment for Médecins Sans Frontières on the migration of refugees from impoverished Zimbabwe into South Africa. Photos Copyright ©2009 Austin Andrews / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Not to be reprinted or reproduced without permission.
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As the world’s worst humanitarian crisis outside a conflict zone, the collapse of Zimbabwe has had profound consequences reaching far outside its borders. They’ve been better documented elsewhere so I’ll just skim their surfaces here.
Perhaps the most visible sign has been the mass exodus of people from the cities and towns, most of them escaping to weather the economic storm from the relative stability of neighbouring Botswana and South Africa. Some estimates put the current population of Zimbabwe below 8 million, down from a peak of 12.5 million at the turn of the millennium, with as many as 3.4 million recent emigrants residing in South Africa alone.
This is a visit to the border regions of Beitbridge in Zimbabwe and the nearby refugee camps in the South African town of Musina.
A razorwire fence frames a view of Beitbridge, a Zimbabwean bordertown of 20000 and last port of call for would-be refugees migrating to South Africa.
Guards at a South African border post near Musina.
The three-fence electrified border between Zimbabwe and South Africa retreats into the distance toward Botswana. The border patrol employs a full-time team of workers to patch up sections of the fence snipped during illegal crossings the night before.
Snipped razor wire tailings and a discarded Coke bottle.
The main obstacle to Zimbabweans preparing to cross the border, the crocodile-infested Limpopo River in Matabeleland South is also a stronghold of the Guma-Guma, a gang of rebel bandits who prey on migrants hiding in the scrubland.
Riverscape. A human form camouflaged by reeds prepares to cross the Limpopo (centre of the image to the right of the waterlogged tree; click to enlarge).
15km from the border back in South Africa, the showgrounds in Musina were until recently an informal camp for as many as 4000 homeless Zimbabwean refugees awaiting their asylum papers. The showgrounds were formally closed two weeks ago, although several hundred still sleep every night on its dirt pitch.
Showground girl.
The tap awaits.
Fresh drink.
Social circle between rope links.
Wire link drink.
Suds and shoes.
Queue for asylum papers at a mobile Home Affairs branch.
Washing station at the Uniting Reform Church, a transit shelter for orphans and unaccompanied minors.
Writing practise.
Key combinations.
Pew berths.
Towel-clad boys walk to the shelter shower.
Moving places.
Share plate.
Supply tent.
A sunset toilet installation inside the men’s shelter.
Rock dust in a sunset haze.
Several major NGOs operate out of Musina; in addition to MSF, organisations with a base here include Save the Children, the International Organization for Migration, Oxfam, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and, pictured here, one of several chapters of the Red Cross.
Sunset boys.
A car snout peeks out behind children at a refugee camp.
Twilight washing outside the women’s shelter.
Women’s shelter in a Catholic church.
A story of shadows. Dinnertime at the men’s camp.
A story of shadows II. Settling in for sleep at the men’s camp.
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Part five, a return visit to the Central Methodist Church in downtown Johannesburg, will be posted here tomorrow.
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