(The following text has several contributors- primarily Joyce Ho, a Graduate Media Fellow from the Stanford School of Medicine and Leila Darabi from Planned Parenthood Global). In Kenya, Planned Parenthood Global (PP Global) works with several local soccer leagues to...
Kibera
This past year I had two opportunities to photograph in Kibera, Kenya, which is the second largest slum in Africa and the third largest in the world. Even though I have witnessed poverty, the physical landscape of Kibera was, to put it frankly, quite overwhelming. The...
Nigerian Chronicles X- PPFA in Gboko II
This is the concluding chapter in this series, and will focus on healthcare training and an AIDS clinic at the NKST church headquarters facility. Some personal impressions will follow the visual presentations. The NKST reproductive-health project recently upgraded a...
Nigerian Chronicles IX- PPFA in Gboko
So far I have been documenting family planning in Muslim communities in Northern Nigeria. This next post brings us back together with Thank-God Okosun and PPFA’s activities in an evangelical Christian community in Gboko, Benue State. The NKST (Nongo u Kristi u k...
Nigerian Chronicles VIII- Social Networking
In a small village an hour outside Kano I was asked to photograph a large congregation of people inside a small courtyard. Apparently this was the beginning of a wedding ceremony where Traditional Birth Attendants take the opportunity to dispense birth control...
Nigerian Chronicles VII- Hospitals
Abortions are illegal in Nigeria; nevertheless, abortions occur and as they happen under non-medical conditions, serious complications are all too frequent. Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital (MMSH) is the primary public sector hospital in Kano State and has the...
Nigerian Chronicles VI: Bixby Girls Education
An hour outside of Kaduna, we arrived in a small village to document the Bixby Girls’ Education project. It was raining, and as we waited outside a small mud structure, a few women came to sweep out the water that had accumulated on the floor and then proceeded to lay...
Nigerian Chronicles V: SWODEN in Kano
SWODEN is a foundation supported by the Packard Foundation that operates in Kano, the second most populous Nigerian city after Lagos, which has an estimated population of 2.1 million inhabitants (from the 2006 Nigerian census). SWODEN is a multi-faceted NGO, whose...
Nigerian Chronicles IV- PPFA in Maiduguri
In Maiduguri, PPFA ( again supported by Packard Foundation grants) had set up a Reproductive Health Information and Services Center run by youth peer educators. PPFA considers peer to peer interaction very critical for successful youth and adolescent reproductive...
Nigerian Chronicles III- PPFA in Gwoza
Gwoza is a community in northern Nigeria that is over 90% Muslim. As recently as six years ago it was inconceivable to imagine any birth control or family planning options. They were regarded as taboo. The accepted norm was that “God gives children and God will...
Nigerian Chronicles II- Yola Nomadic Schools
These schools were funded by the Packard Foundation. According to the foundation, the education of girls is the best indicator of reproductive health outcomes as they mature into women of child bearing age. The plan is to make sure these children will receive an...