‘I am a human first’: This is how photojournalism is supposed to be

[Lisa Guliani]

Sabiha Mahmoud is a Palestinian freelance photojournalist currently based in the United Kingdom. She travels around the world documenting people and their everyday struggles. She captured the following image of a tearful Kenyan boy whose hands and feet had been cut off by a gang earlier this year.

Chances are you’ve seen the photograph before. The portait earned widespread praise and caught the attention of photo agencies around the world. Sabiha was championed for her efforts and was soon informed that her photo had been awarded a prize in conflict photography.

____________________

She refused the award. Read the article and learn why.
Profound.

http://smpalestine.com/2013/10/30/i-am-a-human-first-this-is-how-photojournalism-is-supposed-to-be/

 

[loreta]

It is an extraordinary picture. It hurts, really. And her words hurt also because they put us in front of the reality, our reality in front of what is happening around us. Our conformism, but also our desperation.

This morning reading all the news I feel very sick and almost wanted to puke. Some mornings are like this. But I saw this picture and... I wanted to cry. This is not enough, puke, cry. Desperation is not enough.

People like her give us insight, not just of what is happening in this planet but how to see this planet. But what can I do, me, to help this little boy? I say, crying is not enough.

Thanks Lisa.

 

[Gertrudes]

Reading the article and seeing the photo made me feel a mix of awe and profound sadness. Awe at the photojournalist's words, profound, gut wrenching sadness at the little boy's story.

However, it was also inspiring and, truth be said, speaking for myself, it is in stories such as the one of this woman who has her "heart in the right place", that I am reminded that there is still some good, honesty, and empathy in a world where people chops other people's limbs off with the ease of changing a shirt.

It is an extraordinary picture. It hurts, really. And her words hurt also because they put us in front of the reality, our reality in front of what is happening around us. Our conformism, but also our desperation.

This morning reading all the news I feel very sick and almost wanted to puke. Some mornings are like this. But I saw this picture and... I wanted to cry. This is not enough, puke, cry. Desperation is not enough.

People like her give us insight, not just of what is happening in this planet but how to see this planet. But what can I do, me, to help this little boy? I say, crying is not enough.

Thanks Lisa.

I can relate loreta, I really can. I always go through emotional turmoil before opening something that I know will be difficult to see. If it hurts me that bad witnessing it by the distance of a computer screen, I can't even begin to fathom how much it must have hurt them. Unimaginable.

Than you for sharing it Lisa.

 

[Lisa Guliani]

It hurts me too. But I think it's important to see it, to bear witness to it.
This is our world. Are we not obligated to try to be our best as long as we're in it?

 

[SMM]

It hurts me too. But I think it's important to see it, to bear witness to it.
This is our world. Are we not obligated to try to be our best as long as we're in it?

Thank you for sharing this Lisa.
The photojournalist's words in response are powerful. This is a reality some choose not to see because it hurts, or for them doesn't exist.

 

[Gwenllian]

Yes, it is very important to bear witness to it. I often find that it has to sink in first. I can't imagine that people go around chopping off hands and feet of young kids, but then I think of the acts of pedocriminals and I know that I can expect anything. I find it hard to process it sometimes.

Loreta, you could leave behind a message on the site of the photographer or write her a personal e-mail. She will be going back to Kenya next summer and you could extend your love, compassion and support for this child through her. Just an idea.

 

[Gertrudes]

It hurts me too. But I think it's important to see it, to bear witness to it.
This is our world. Are we not obligated to try to be our best as long as we're in it?

I admit I have pondered over this for a long time and have posted about it on the forum some time ago. It is a subject that touches me since I have struggled a lot with it.
The very least we can do is indeed to bear witness, however, this can be done at different levels and in various ways depending on a person's individual level of threshold.

People have different degrees of sensitivity and thresholds and what maybe be difficult for some, is perhaps completely intolerable and gut wrenching for another. For some, witnessing war at the war field may be hard, but for another, it may be "soul destroying".
People react very differently to what they see and hear.

So yes, bearing witness is the least I can do, however some of us will show more extreme reactions, some of us less extreme. To me, "extreme emotionality" has been a theme. It is a conundrum! You want/have to, but you're not emotionally "attuned" to be able to use constructively instead of being crushed by it.

Following the above, I suppose one can explore how much to see, and that fine level is found by our attunement to the feeling of being empowered enough to do something about it, versus withering over the weight of what feels unbearable. Does this make any sense?

Sorry if I digress.

Edited wording for clarity.

 

[Carl]

I agree that looking at the bleak picture of the world sometimes becomes too much, and you just have to take a step back.


But usually I find that, when an emotional piece like this makes me cry, I find it to be an exquisite cleansing experience. It puts my own problems into perspective, helps me treat others with respect and courtesy when I'm feeling stressed, allowing to become more outwardly focused. I think we all need to stare reality in the face sometimes and appreciate the suffering of others.


What really gets me is how powerless I feel when I see the enormity of the filth and corruption that rules the world and causes so much misery for so many. It's just an enormous black hole, too big and dark to even comprehend, let alone tackle. These are the moments I have to detach a little, and remind myself that I'm not here to save the world and solve everyone's problems, as I have enough of my own. And also that whatever small difference we can make to improve the situation (or at least avoid falling into confluence with it) helps.

 

[Jasmine]

I agree with much that has already been said. And though some of the news articles of late feel heart wrenching, It's a test of how I can keep my compassion as well as emotions in check. I like to fall back on the belief that all is balanced in the universe. I have no proof of it, but it does make sense to me. And what may look gruesome to us because of our limited understanding, might only be a case of soul karma for another soul. Perhaps the level of suffering in this dimension has some kind of parallel effect on the outcome of the souls destiny. Perhaps there is some connection between the level of suffering and the quickening of soul advancement.

Sabiha Mahmouds' response letter was very noble. I admire her for not accepting the award.

She was interviewed by a blogger known as DNW, it was insightful to read more about her on a personal level:http://socialnetworkinterviews.blogspot.com/2012/02/interview-sabiha-mahmoud.html

She says in the article that she likes to use Twtter to rant her frustrations, so I looked her up on on Twitter, and found her tweets very insightful and even amusing at times.
https://twitter.com/SabihaMahmoud

ﺻﺒﻴﺤﺔ ﻣﺤﻤﻮﺩ@SabihaMahmoud 29 Aug
Martin Luther King: I have a dream.... #Obama Hussein Barack: I have a nightmare

And on one of her photography blogs, this following blog post was very good too:
http://lifethroughthecameralens.com/2013/04/05/the-sheeple/

I couldn't find her facebook page.

 

[Deleted member 8431]

It hurts me too. But I think it's important to see it, to bear witness to it.
This is our world. Are we not obligated to try to be our best as long as we're in it?

I think so yes. Looking at the world I live in right now as it is is the least I can do, or so I think. Most people will refuse to look at such things because they don't want to see how messed our reality is.

But let me tell you, if I were this boy, the last thing I'd want is the rest of the world ignoring it.

That picture did hurt me as well. I just feel like hugging this boy and crying.

 

[l apprenti de forgeron]

It hurts me too. But I think it's important to see it, to bear witness to it.
This is our world. Are we not obligated to try to be our best as long as we're in it?

I think so yes. Looking at the world I live in right now as it is is the least I can do, or so I think. Most people will refuse to look at such things because they don't want to see how messed our reality is.

But let me tell you, if I were this boy, the last thing I'd want is the rest of the world ignoring it.

That picture did hurt me as well. I just feel like hugging this boy and crying.

I feel the same. And it is terrible to have to learn these things, but there are. This exists. I sometimes think that as an adult I still have to learn a lot of the "dark side" of life, that sometimes unintentionally deny to continue living a mechanical or "Normal" life.
And How much true can tolerate a child (in the case that they say for their sake and not as a sadistic tool)? This child of the note has been through hell and I hope he and many souls as he can recover from these horrible wounds of this world. Although it is very hard to think of a child in a terrible situation without despair or distress, maybe is learning something very important on a spiritual level. I was thinking also in what the C's said about that children should know the truth.
In a world ruled by people who should not rule anything, we are "condemned", anyone with empathy lose everything. True empathy should be something dangerous to the status quo. Although the mutants also can use the empathy of the people to direct them to where they want (against the people themselves and their future). That is another reason of why is so invaluable to acquire knowledge and its application. And that I know thanks to this forum.
Thank you Lisa, and thank you Gertrudes too for your thoughts.

 

[Voyageur]

Thank you for sharing, Lisa. We are bombarded with the horrors each day from the thugs of our times, and so many just give it a cursory look, if at all, while wearing special glasses the media provides to frame whatever context they desire. People's attentions spans are limited, and often move on thinking they've got it figured out, perhaps because they have been told and, more so, it is not here, it is somewhere else - over there, and then they just move on to what affects them, not others.

It is our obligation to bear witness; to this boy, to Palestinians, to the police for clubbing their way through life..., and speak out, to Do and remember, and the system wants us to desperately ignore and forget, and on some matters, if we refuse this, it acts against us for giving a sh.t.

 

[Redrock12]

Israeli soldiers shooting Palestinian infants and children with the support of American, Canadian, German, British, French governments. Western governments destroying sovereign nations. A little boy with his hands and feet chopped off. Pedophiles in high places in Western governments, the police, and judiciary.
Poisoned air, water, land, food. Mass starvation. A corrupt banking system. Our world is totally evil.
Thanks again Lisa.
Bring on the asteroids. Humanity is beyond redemption.
I'm sick of it all.

 

[happyliza]

Thank you for sharing this and for all the true comments. What did children, and most people, ever do wrong to deserve this? I pray I never grow complacent or accept atrocities as the 'new normal' as people may. These horrendous doings are a good wake up call and continual reminder to do what we can by working on ourselves. (if any of us here really need it at all). It makes me feel so bad for maybe having a slip-up on the diet or not having strong enough will-power sometimes as that choice was mine to make rightly or wrongly. But that little boy, and so many like him everywhere, didn't have a choice. Subjected to such torture that will affect the rest of his life. Such barbaric doings all around us.

It makes my own daily concerns just so petty in comparison, grateful for the choices I can still make for now. Puts my own sufferings truly into the past as greater and greater sickening ponerology and evil doings continually come to light - thanks to such brave, outspoken and caring reporting. Pushes the trivial worries backwards and the resolve to do better to the forefront. Lest we forget, they say.

Getting out of our ivory towers while literally the slaughter for ivory continues to our 2d friends too. So many catastrophes to witness and atrocities happening everywhere at random and feeling so powerless is also what hurts. How can we rationalise such horror here? To cleanse my heart and learn to love the holiness of true existence? A small part of me can understand the law of 3 aspect and the names of God aspect from a distance but how can our hearts accept this suffering - they cannot.Such sad and dark times we are witnessing.