|
©2009
The Duncan Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Any unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable
laws.
|
|
Q&A
with Author/Photographer Chip Duncan:
ENOUGH
TO GO AROUND
Searching for Hope in Afghanistan, Pakistan & Darfur
1. Your book takes a dramatic
turn from the words and images we often associate with genocide
and war zones. What did you find inspiring about your work
in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Darfur?
DUNCAN: The dictionary
defines "hope" as the grounds for believing that
something good may happen. What I found inspiring in Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Darfur was that hope was identifiable in people
everywhere I went. It wasn't about something that might happen
in the future under certain circumstances, it was happening
now, in the moment. In other words, in the midst of war, a
devastating earthquake and genocide, something good still
existed and that goodness was reason enough to keep going.
In a place like Darfur, hope would be meaningless if not for
its embodiment - that is, goodness manifest in human behavior.
How that's articulated can be as simple as the way a mother
cares for her child. Or the way a family with vastly limited
resources still finds a way to share what it has with someone
in need.
2. In your chapter called
"Abraham's Sandwich" you mention the word "Ayni."
What is Ayni?
DUNCAN: I was in Ethiopia
on 9/11 and was working on a film that included the work of
the NGO Save the Children. One of their field directors, a
man named Abraham Bongassi, taught me the simplest of lessons
and it had to do with sharing his sandwich with a stranger.
Of course, you'll have to read the book to get the full story,
but when I tried to put his actions into words in English,
I found that there was no word for sharing without consciously
thinking about sharing. But there is a word for it in Quecha,
a South American language associated with the Andean people
in Peru and elsewhere. The word is ayni. I've worked in Peru
on various projects for years and grappled with what the word
meant. Then, in one perfect act of generosity more than a
continent away, Abraham brought the word to life for me. Ayni,
to me, means sharing without consciously thinking about sharing.
It's sharing as a natural act.
The cover image of a mother and child in Darfur offers a great
visual example of Ayni. When I look at the mother's expression,
I see ayni at work. Her love for her child is shown in her
face along with the unconscious expression of sharing or giving
whatever she has to him - without exception and without condition.
3. Why did you choose Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan?
DUNCAN: It'd be great
to say I choose them, but the truth is that they choose me.
While working on a documentary in 2001, I had a chance to
film programming initiatives employed by the humanitarian
agencies Save the Children in Ethiopia and C.A.R.E. in Peru.
Impressed by their work and the commitment of their field
staff, I volunteered to document the humanitarian programming
of Save the Children in Afghanistan in 2005. That led to follow
up volunteer efforts for Relief International following the
2006 earthquake in Pakistan and, most recently, the work being
done by Relief International in Darfur, Sudan. The book and
related photography exhibitions evolved as a way to tell the
story behind these agencies and their work and, more importantly,
to personalize the stories of the people their efforts are
designed to serve.
Responding to manmade and natural
disaster can only be done with the support of people who are
more fortunate and have the capacity for sharing their personal
resources. In that sense, I hope the book helps inspire people
to find their own way to become involved - whether with donation
or volunteer efforts.
4. What can readers in the West learn from the people in
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Darfur?
DUNCAN: Many in the West
can learn by listening, a character trait not universally
practiced when it comes to exploring the truths that exist
in the myths, histories and legends of the developing world.
Certainly, these three nations, like much of the developing
world, have stories and truths to share. In a place like Afghanistan,
story and the related truths discovered by the Afghans during
the past few thousand years were suppressed by the tyranny
of the Taliban and the various colonial powers that came before
them. Despite the ongoing conflict, much of which has escalated
since my visit, there is a rebirth of art, culture and storytelling
taking place in Afghanistan. I believe this re-emergence will
help those seeking freedom to overcome extremism and the repression
of those who seek to limit human expression.
One example in the book tells
the story of a cab driver I had in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
When I approached his car at our hotel, he was listening to
a Billy Joel song cranked up on his beat up old car stereo.
He was quite proud of the music, which he was playing from
a bootleg cassette. It turned out that he'd hidden all of
his cassettes in a small box during the entire reign of the
Taliban. For him, freedom meant many things - including the
right to listen to the music of his choice. While we were
driving, he told me he'd have some hip-hop by the time of
my next visit.
5. In the foreword to the book, Jennifer Buffett talks
about the way you see the world. The faces you bring to the
reader are not those we often see. What's driving you as a
photographer?
DUNCAN: There's definitely
a place for images that show the tremendous adversity facing
the people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Darfur. It would be
hard to find places that do more to challenge the human spirit.
My goal in visiting each country was to document the work
being done by humanitarian workers from groups like Relief
International. Much of the motion footage and many of the
still photos I took during my visits do exactly that. But
what I found captivating, and in many ways life-affirming
and hopeful, were the faces of people whose spirit so often
rises above their circumstances.
The book includes the unexpected
- the smiling faces of children in refugee camps in Darfur
and pictures of fathers and mothers cradling their children,
their expressions depicting the same love we feel for our
children and families. When was the last time mainstream media
in the West showed images of Muslim men smiling or proud?
As I see it, it's much harder to create fear around an entire
population when we witness their humanity, when we realize
that they, too, love their children, when we find that they,
too, are good humored, generous and well meaning.
Yes, there are extremists in
every country in the world. But the vast majority of us, whether
we're Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Christian or simply non-religious,
spend the majority of our lives getting by. We work, we play,
we grieve, we love, and we try to move in a direction we believe
is forward.
6. What challenges do you see for humanitarian groups working
in conflict zones like Darfur and Aghanistan?
DUNCAN: The obvious answer
is that there are constant threats to personal safety and
security in a place like Darfur or Afghanistan. That said,
what I witnessed with the aid workers for Save the Children
and Relief International was a profound understanding that
the dangers to them were no worse than the dangers facing
the people they were there to serve.
As an emotion, fear may, at times,
play a healthy role in informing the way we choose to navigate
the world. It's not irrational to fear a poisonous snake,
a bone chilling blizzard or a house fire. But I'm a big believer
that how we manage fear makes a huge difference in our own
emotional well-being and, in a larger sense, in the well-being
of the planet. For much of the early part of the 21st century,
some Americans in particular had their head in the sand. Many
of us went about our lives with such extraordinary caution
and fear that we forgot, literally, that people and families
all around the planet share so many values and dreams. We
all have more similarities than we have differences.
Translating that to the way an
aid worker feels when assigned to work in a crisis zone is
simple. They don't deny their emotions. But they do try to
understand the emotions of others and to place their own in
a context that helps them do what they do best - providing
humanitarian aid. The aid worker is a person who has volunteered
to place the needs of others on a par with their own …
or higher than their own. It takes courage to live and work
in a place like Afghanistan or Darfur. It takes courage to
forego the conveniences and security of Western life and to
attend to the exigencies of others. It can even be a leap
of faith that the rewards of serving may be greater than the
rewards we often come to cherish that are related to money
or material wealth.
Experience helps aid workers
in challenging places because it's through experience that
we learn that the world is ultimately not as threatening as
we imagine it to be.
Few people are without fear and
I am no exception. When I feel fear, I ask myself whether
what I'm feeling is any more significant than the person whose
livelihood has been destroyed, whose home has been destroyed,
whose family has been killed and who now finds themselves
relocated to a patch of waterless, featureless desert to live
under a plastic tarp? Hardly. We are all in this together
and there really is enough to go around.
7. What's next for you in
terms of books and photography?
DUNCAN: I've spent more
than a decade working annually in the Andean mountains of
Peru. In addition to doing extensive photographic work around
noted temples such as Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, Pisac and
Chavin, I've led an annual pilgrimage on the Inca Trail from
Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu. Each trip has been guided by
a local shaman (traditional healer) with extensive knowledge
of the sacred traditions and rituals of the Inca and various
tribes that preceded the Inca.
During the past decade, I've
accumulated thousands of images from the Sacred Valley as
well as the area around the Cordillera Blanca and the temples
of Chavin. I've also spent considerable time with 3 generations
of shaman, all of whom have shared their insights into our
human past, present and future.
THREE SHAMAN - Images and
Ancient Wisdom from the Sacred Valley of Peru will include
extensive interviews with three generations of noted shaman
from the area around Cuzco as well as history and photographs
detailing the sacred sits of Cuzco, Pisac, Ollantaytambo,
Machu Picchu, Chavin and various sites accessible only by
hiking the Inca Trail
Enough To Go Around can also be purchased here
Learn more
about Relief International
For
more information on Chip Duncan, please click here
###
©
2009 The Duncan Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any unauthorized
duplication is a violation of applicable laws.
|
