29 December 2005

Great Photojournalism 2005


An Afghan man washes his face in the river on the eastern edge of Kabul before going to evening prayers Wednesday March 9, 2005.



An Indian man, covered in red dye, is ambushed from behind by a green powder throwing friend as people in the old city of Delhi celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colors on March 26, 2005. The festival, originally held to celebrate the fertility of the land, is also associated with the immortal love of Hindu God Krishna and Radha.



A Nepalese woman passes by others' apartment doors and windows in the Katmandu Valley town of Bhaktapur April 10, 2005


Unemployed Afghan men wait with their tools on a Kabul street corner_ one of several gathering places in the capital city for day laborers looking for work_ in March 2005. Aid agencies in Kabul estimated an unemployment rate of as high as 50 percent in Kabul in 2005.


A Pakistani man holds his injured child in his arms as they are evacuated by in Pakistani army helicopter from a refugee camp in Balakot to be taken to a hospital in Islamabad October 13, 2005


Sabir Hussein Shah holds his nine-year-old son Zeeshan while he is treated after having his arm amputated at a field hospital in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan October 30, 2005.


Pakistani earthquake survivors perform their evening prayers on the former rooftop of a flattened mosque in Balakot, Pakistan October 14, 2005.



A Pakistani earthquake survivor shivers in the rain as he waits outside a Pakistani army aid distribution site hoping in vain for a tent or a blanket in Balakot, Pakistan on October 15, 2005.


UGANDA'S CHILDREN IN CRISIS — A child cries while having his temperature taken as he is examined at the Paediatric Infectious Diseases Clinic (PIDC) of Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda May 13, 2005. Triage is the entry point for medical visits and this is where growth and develop monitor and vital signs are taken and documented at each monthly medical visit. Temperature is an important vital sign at the PIDC in Uganda as high temperature can be a sign of an HIV-related infection or of malaria. EDS NOTE: Names withheld for reasons of confidentiality.


DEATH OF POPE JOHN PAUL II — Nuns form a line to take communion during funeral services for Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Friday April 8, 2005.


"Mozambique: a decade of peace between poverty and dream" July 2005

Maputo. Matola district. Lidia is 18 years old. She is Hiv positive, receiving treatment thanks to the DREAM program. She has a 11 months daughter and is again pregnant. Her dream is to find a job for her husband and have enough money to support her children. Actually in Mozambique on a population of about twenty millions people, there are one and a half million people infected with AIDS with a contagious rate that in some areas hovers around 30 per cent, 600,000 orphans, and only 12,000 patients receiving antiretroviral treatment; of those about 5000 are being treated thanks to the DREAM project of the Sant'Egidio Community.


1st David Guttenfelder, Associated Press
2nd Smiley Pool, The Dallas Morning News
3rd Massimo Mastrorillo, freelance

26 December 2005

Tsunami Remembered






Sculptures are displayed on Patong beach during a ceremony to mark the one year anniversary of the tsunami in Phuket southern of Thailand. I had reserved to go to Phuket from 17-29 Dec 2004, this would have been my 5th consecutive visit I cancelled my reservation on the 12th of December. My hotel room was ground floor 40 meters from the sea! At 8 AM I would have been probably asleep :) Was that my fate?

(AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)