I had to take this guy’s picture.

Woke up at sunrise in Matemwe, Zanzibar to catch the light… and made a new friend.  What a day.

Traffic on the road from Dire Dawa back to Addis Ababa.

Off the wall in downtown Stone Town.

My blog for this week is up at www.npac.ca

Live from Africa….check it out!

TIA or This Is Africa seems to get thrown around a lot, I don’t know if it’s just from people who have seen the movie Blood Diamond or what the source is, but to me, this photo is Africa.   The love and endearing touch of a grandmother on a young girls head.  I remember looking at how everyone, even the men, walked hand in hand in Rwanda and thought how amazing and warm and different it was to back home.  And realizing that the people who only know Africa by what wars the newspapers write about or safari treks that travel agents peddle really are missing out.  This place presents so many challenges and differences and experiences every day it really is tough to describe to people who haven’t experienced it themselves. And for me, the amazing strong women who work tirelessly to better their lives for themselves and their families are really the ones who are the unsung heroes.  Getting to know the people on the ground in the village over the past week was an incredible experience and now I am gearing up for another week of it here in Ethiopia.  Ready to take of for Dire Dawa in 4 hours and haven’t gone to sleep yet. Another big day tomorrow.

P.S. After a minimal amount of time in Ethiopia I have recognized two things of great beauty here. Women and Coffee. Not a bad place to be!

A photo of one of the local women on my first day in Gambella, Kenya where we were working on a project with the Borana people.  The Borana are a pastoralist ethnic group who inhabit parts of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, and are one of the poorest ethnic groups in the world.  Spending time in their village was an amazingly warm and eye-opening experience.  As a group and personally relationships grew with the locals and by the end it was tough to say goodbye.  Goodnight from Nairobi, more tomorrow.

-Brett.

I just got back from a 3 month journey to Central America and stopped by in Toronto on my way back for the News Photographers Association of Canada’s Annual National POY Gala, where I picked up an Honorable Mention for this photo I took in Rwanda last year. It’s great to be back home in Canada and I will be posting photos as soon as the insurance company cuts me a check to pick up my new gear.

Link for NPAC NPOY Results: http://npac.ca/?p=3833

September 9th, 2008 – Kigali, Rwanda – A UN MONUC soldier poses for a portrait on his way back to India after serving with UN Forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some 17000 UN troops, the world’s largest peacekeeping force, are in DR Congo.