The Temple of Doom - 40 million people live with the HIV virus around the globe and the malady has been known for more than 2 decades. AIDS should no longer be a seen as a scary plague, but still too many hide their struggle to survive, fearing stigma and rejection. Some HIV infected Thais end up in the Buddhist temple Wat Prah Bat Nam Phu, where you find no doctor, no morphine, and no equipment that could ease the pain. Instead, you warily glance at the raw agony of patients and admire the compassionate yet despairing work of the few volunteers. Still, many of the patients are strong, welcoming, and keen to share some of their remaining time. The AIDS foundation at the temple operates thanks to everyday tourists who donate cash or rice bags and end their tour in the "Life Museum," where actual bodies of HIV victims are displayed. Often, the ashes sent to a victim's relatives are returned to the temple: the unwanted remains of a shameful sibling or child.
Generations Rangzen - On March 17th, 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled from his palace in Lhasa, Tibet, for Dharamsala, India, escorted by Chushi Gangdruk, Tibetan guerilla fighters, after a failed uprising against Chinese occupation. Entire monasteries had taken up arms to defend themselves and robed monks ambushed Chinese soldiers as early as 1953. Now 50 years after his escape from Lhasa, the Dalai Lama said in early March that the Chinese Communist Party has transformed Tibet into a "hell on earth" where the "religion, culture, language and identity, which successive generations of Tibetans have considered more precious than their lives, are nearing extinction." Attempts at negotiation between the Dalai Lama and Chinese government have consistently stalled, while more than a million Tibetans have died, monasteries have been destroyed, and 140,000 Tibetans forced into exile. Frustration grows throughout the diaspora, particularly among youth, and with it builds the spirit of resistance. In this work in progress, Agnes Dherbeys follows Tibetan exiles in Nepal, both young and old, from cafes to their homes to protests against Chinese occupation of Tibet. She captures the spirit of Rangzen, or independence for Tibet, sought by a people whose heritage has been methodically dismantled for the past 50 years.
Bihar Aftermath - In late August last year the Kosi River in the state of Bihar, India, overflowed its banks after severe monsoon rains caused a dam to burst in neighboring Nepal, triggering what officials are calling the worst floods in 50 years. The World Health Organization reports that an estimated 70,000 people in Nepal and more than three million in India have been affected. In the state of Bihar alone, an estimated 300,000 homes have been destroyed, 250,000 acres of farmland devastated, and more than 2.5 million people displaced. According to officials in Bihar, more than 560,000 people have been evacuated so far and an estimated 200,000 moved to government relief camps, many of which are also being submerged by water. Villagers are eating uncooked rice and flour mixed with polluted water in order to survive. The lack of food and potable drinking water are immediate concerns for flood-stranded victims, in addition to the outbreak of life-threatening, water-borne diseases.
Fashion Week in Delhi - In recent years, India has exploded as an economic powerhouse, giving rise to a new middle class, gleaming cities, and a sense of modernity. In mid-October last year, New Delhi became the center for Indian fashion and design. While the newly wealthy will wear Chanel or Armani when traveling outside India, local fashions are preferred at home. Giulio Di Sturco visits the world of new Indian fashion for a new India.
Kiwanja Killings - Between Nov. 4 and Nov. 5, 2008, an estimated 150 people were massacred, the worst violence in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two years. Although the United Nations' peacekeepers considered Kiwanja a priority protection zone, they did not have enough peacekeepers or the capacity to stop the killings. Survivors could only run to the UN base half a mile away and cluster outside the fence for protection.
Laurent Nkunda - There are two sides to Gen. Laurent Nkunda. On one he is the defender and savior of the Tutsi people, with a dazzling smile, disarming scholarly glasses befitting a teacher, religious acumen as a preacher and ordained minister, and often in the company of either his pet goat Betty, or a cane crowned with a golden eagle head. The other, darker image is painted by adversaries and human rights groups alike: leading two renegade Tutsi battalions against the newly formed Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the name of Tutsi vengeance, Nkunda spearheads a conflict that has now uprooted 2 million people. Nkunda and his forces stand accused of varied human rights violations, from murder, rape, and pillaging of civilian towns to the massacre of at least 150 people at Kiwanja. And while he denies the charge of recruiting child soldiers to his 7,000-strong army, there is no denial that for many who fall on Nkunda’s path of ethnic pride, it has become a road to a living hell.
Pigeon House Road - Travellers are a minority group in Ireland, living a nomadic life with traditions that diverge from mainstream society. They travel in caravans and park in official and unofficial sites, trash piling up by their trailer. They marry young, have many children, and they experience discriminiation due to their nomadic lifestyle. In December 2005, Don McNeill Healy began photographing the Maughan family, living on the side of Pigeon House Road in an industrial area of Dublin, Ireland. Rosie Maughan is divorced and alcoholic, raised 13 children, still has two daughters at home, and helps raise her many grandchildren who regularly visit.
No Friends but the Mountains - From age five, Helin watched every night as the police came to her home in Diyarbakir, Turkey, to torture her parents and siblings and smash up their home. "I was too small to do anything about what was happening then, but decided when I was old enough, that I would," she says. "I finally joined the PKK when I was 13." Though the figures aren’t exact, as many as 10,000 PKK soldiers, or Kurdistan Workers Party, are reportedly massing in mountain camps in Iraq just across the border from Turkey. One third of the Kurdish combatants today are women. Each has a story about the family they left behind, but believes that the sacrifices they have made are worthwhile.
Gleason’s Gym - Opened in 1937, Gleason’s Gym remains the oldest active boxing gym in the U.S. Its name has become one of the most well-known brands in American boxing. Gleason’s has been a training headquarters for such boxing legends as Jake LaMotta, Muhammad Ali and Roberto Durán. All together, there have been 117 world champions who have trained at the gym. Currently three active title holders workout at Gleason’s, as well as dozens of Golden Gloves champions and numerous contenders.
