Gatluak Yien, 7, fighting a sever case of malaria and rheumatic fever, is encouraged by his father Simon to eat. Gatluak had been at Akobo Hospital in Akobo, Sudan, for nearly three weeks. Doctors said that if not for the hospital he would have died at home
March 15, 2010
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Visual Journalism
Photojournalism is changing, propelled by newsroom budget cuts, multimedia possibilities, and the ubiquity of digital images. In Visual Journalism, photojournalists write about emerging digital business strategies and their efforts to expand the reach of their photographs online and on gallery walls. They also share ideas about how to fund projects of personal passion and societal value. Their words tell vital stories about how they do their work; slideshows of their photographs—exclusive to our Web site—and multimedia presentations convey their visual stories. Read and watch as the future of photojournalism unfolds.
RELATED ARTICLE "Newspaper Employee to Nonprofit Director: A Photojournalist's Journey" -Christopher TyreeAs he stood beside a dirt airstrip in the remote village of Akobo in southeastern Sudan, Dr. Michael Tut Pur squinted into the scorching afternoon sun. An ancient DC-3 banked to land. Months of anticipation showed in his round dark face as the plane kicked up a cloud of red dust. The plane carried boxes of medical supplies—surgical instruments and vital antibiotics—that his hospital staff desperately needed. But the plane’s passengers were its most precious cargo. Villagers had gathered to greet them. (Story continues below.)
Dr. Benjamin Mach smiles after examining a healthy little girl as her mother looks on during a medical clinic in Akobo, Sudan
Many Sudanese wait patiently in the heat to be seen by the “Lost Boys” doctors visiting the Akobo Hospital in Akobo, Sudan in 2008. Despite treacherous travel conditions, the risk is worth the opportunity to be seen by a doctor
Gatluak Yien, 7, fighting a sever case of malaria and rheumatic fever, is encouraged by his father Simon to eat. Gatluak had been at Akobo Hospital in Akobo, Sudan, for nearly three weeks. Doctors said that if not for the hospital he would have died at home
Malaria patients fill more beds in the Akobo Hospital in Akobo, Sudan than any other illness. A nurse helps a malaria patient to drink water that is pumped from a well on the hospital grounds
Andrena Jamis hovers over her son, Sunday, 3, who is severely dehydrated and malnourished from a sever case of malaria. His limp and unresponsive body was brought to Akobo Hospital and after receiving intravenous fluids and antimalarial medication under the care of the “Lost Boys” doctors, he rebounded
Doctor Scott Shannon, left, and Michael Tut Pur examine the boxes of medicine and supplies delivered for the week-long medical clinic in Tut Pur’s hometown of Akobo, Sudan. Tut Pur had been operating the clinic with very few medicines. Because of the donated medical equipment, the clinic was able to establish a working operating room, the first in this rural country
Within hours of landing on the dirt airstrip in Akobo, the doctors perform life-saving surgery on a woman suffering from severe complications from childbirth. Without electricity, flashlights and headlamps guide Dr. James Nyabanda’s hands
In a village in southern Sudan Akobo County police keep order during a medical clinic by former “Lost Boys” who are now doctors
Dr. Michael Tut Pur examines a newborn with spina bifida. When he returned just hours later to treat the infant, both the mother and her child had disappeared
With minimal knowledge of proper burn care, countless children suffer and often die needlessly from burns that in the United States would be easily treated. The net over the boy at Akobo Hospital serves two purposes – to prevent malaria and to keep flies from congregating on his burn
As cows grazed on the runway, screaming children swarmed around the new arrivals. Dr. Tut Pur’s infectious smile warmly greeted the nine men. It had been more than a year since the 10 of them had been with each other, though their epic journey together seemed like it began a long, long time ago. Friends now, they were children then, so-called “Lost Boys” fleeing the southern region of Sudan on the heels of a civil war. They were among the thousands of frightened refugees who fled Sudan to escape the fighting between the Muslim-controlled government and Christian rebels in the south.
Now, more than two decades later, these 10 men—trained as doctors—were together in a part of the world desperately in need of their expertise. Samaritan’s Purse Canada, First Presbyterian Church of Norfolk, Virginia, and the University of Calgary arranged for and funded this reunion. They also supplied medical instructors and support staff as part of this weeklong homecoming trip. It was part of a continuing education program that had begun in Canada in 2005 after Dr. Tut Pur and his friends arrived there as immigrants from Cuba.
Stephen Katz and I, cofounders of Wéyo, a nonprofit that utilizes the power of narrative storytelling to help nonprofits and NGOs, were hired to document the remarkable journey so the story could be shared with supporters of the mission and potential funders.
Read more about this trip in Need Magazine.Selected as being among the brightest of 600 children, these boys had been sent to Cuba and educated as doctors. As youngsters, they barely escaped their country’s civil unrest by crossing the river near Akobo, across from Ethiopia. Now they had returned to the country of their birth as doctors. In treating those who had once fought against them, these young men were providing hope for peace and reconciliation in this still war-torn land.
Visual Journalism
Photojournalism is changing, propelled by newsroom budget cuts, multimedia possibilities, and the ubiquity of digital images. In Visual Journalism, photojournalists write about emerging digital business strategies and their efforts to expand the reach of their photographs online and on gallery walls. They also share ideas about how to fund projects of personal passion and societal value. Their words tell vital stories about how they do their work; slideshows of their photographs—exclusive to our Web site—and multimedia presentations convey their visual stories. Read and watch as the future of photojournalism unfolds.
