Photo workshops in Pakistan
The Pakistan workshops took place in Mithrio Bhatti, a small village of around 250 houses in the Thar desert, one of the harshest places in the world to live. Means of survival is from rain-fed agriculture, carpet weaving and livestock. Two of these three sources of survival are dependent on rains, which frequently fail.
As a result of this, many families can barely survive and take out small loans from moneylenders, which they are forced to pay back through the continuous labour of their children in carpet weaving. Most of the Eye to Eye children have direct experience of carpet weaving.
The workshops were run by a local photographer Usman Ghani and local partner Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP) and supported by the Pakistan office for Save the Children.
At first children showed signs of fear about dropping the cameras and damaging them. However, they were encouraged to relax and not to feel anxious but to relax and work freely with the cameras. They managed to take a whole range of pictures about their lives – their work at the loom, their free time, their family, home, school and anything that was important to them. Children were keen to express their preferences and their experiences, and had a simple honesty about both their photographs and their comments.
After the first day the children all decided to come earlier, at 7 am, because this was a better time to take photos - heavy sandstorms later in the day were making the taking of photos very difficult. The children decided then to come in even earlier so they could take more pictures before the sandstorms began, and so that the cameras could be protected from the sand.
A representative from Save the Children recalls: “Children were overjoyed to photograph Baghats (local Hindu religious singers who sing religious songs called ‘bajans’) and to capture their spirit on the lens.”
Exhibition
After the workshops and the time spent taking photographs, the children and facilitators put on a photo exhibition, held in a local hall in the nearest town, Mithi, where photographs taken by the children were displayed on screens.
One facilitator recalls, “Adults from the community enthusiastically acknowledged the work of the children and appreciated that the children had captured their culture, problems and issues in a very impressive way.”
Local organizations and community groups attended the event and appreciated the efforts of the children. Some talked of the potential of using the photos to further the needs of the community, such as securing water, and ensuring children do not work but instead receive a proper education. It was also a very important moment for the young photographers.
This project is funded by the European Union