Photographing the Forgotten

"Imagine a tsunami striking every few months. That's what happened here for six years."

–Simon Robinso, Introduction to "Democratic Republic of the Congo: Forgotten War."

A man calmly raises the amputated stump of his leg for a doctor to examine … a cluster of makeshift tents provide shelter for refugees … a group of children walk along rolling green hills past the simple wooden crosses of a cemetery.

The images are part of a photography exhibit entitled "Democratic Republic of the Congo: Forgotten War." Five photographers from the VII Photo Agency visited Medicins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospitals and sites throughout the DRC, and photographed the plight of the Congolese.

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Daily life at the Bon Marche Hospital. MSF runs the 330-bed hospital free of charge to those in need from Bunia and the Ituri region. The government-run hospital in town lacks proper facilities and charges people for healthcare. More than 3.8 million people have died in the Congo conflict since 1998. The majority die due to disease and hunger.

The Second Congo War took place from 1998 to 2004, and involved nine African nations and 20 armed groups. Often called the "Great War of Africa," the war caused the death of 3.8 million people, and was the deadliest conflict since World War II. Most casualties were victims of starvation and disease, and although the war has been officially over for several years, there are continued pockets of fighting and millions of people have been displaced from their homes. A thousand people still die each day.

Robinso puts it bluntly, "war turned disease into a slow-burning weapon of mass destruction." The war destroyed the DRC's public healthcare system, leaving its citizens virtually defenseless against cholera, Ebola, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and a host of other illnesses. The DRC currently has an infant mortality rate of 129 deaths per 1,000 births and has only seven doctors per 100,000 people.

But pictures speak far more eloquently than statistics. A single tear rolls down a young man's cheek as he undergoes surgery. An emaciated mother comforts her two starving children. A severely malnourished three-week-old infant is barely larger than the hand of the doctor that holds her. These are just a few of the images captured at the MSF-run L'Hopital de Bon Marche in the town of Bunia, located in northern DRC. In another photo, a lone woman stands amidst a sea of mosquito nets and IV bags, illustrating the monumental scale of the healthcare and humanitarian challenges found in the DRC.

An AIDS patient at a hospital in the eastern town of Bukavu, Congo, being cared for by MSF doctors. June 2005.

In addition to illness, deprivation, and displacement, many Congolese women are also forced to deal with the physical and psychological trauma caused by sexual violence. Rape was used as a weapon of war throughout the conflict, and the problem persists to the present day. Since June 2003, MSF has treated more than 3,500 rape survivors, and repeated assaults have caused many people to flee their homes. One photo captured a 70-year-old woman who was gang-raped while working in her fields. Helen O'Neill, a registered nurse and Deputy Director of Operations for the DRC, says that what struck her was how "the grim reality of life has become so commonplace in many areas of the DRC, a kind of normalization of the unacceptable."

Internally Displaced People (IDP) at the Tche camp in the eastern part of Ituri province. The people from the Hema tribe fled their homes after attacks in January 2005.

In the DRC, as in much of Africa, HIV and AIDS represent a major health crisis, affecting millions. The exhibit included many portraits of AIDS patients, such as a victim's gnarled hands and stick-like arms, and other moving images that depict the human toll this disease has taken on the nation.

At a compound in the capital of Kinshasa, photographer Joachim Ladefoged documented the lives of a group of sex workers, who are prime targets for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. One photo shows a haggard-looking woman beneath a poster of a couple kissing among pink roses, mute testimony to the discrepancy between the realities of survival and the idealized notions of romance.

The hands of a dying AIDS patient at a hospital in the eastern town of Bukavu, Congo. June 2005.

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Over and over, the photographers spoke of the pride, honor, and incredible resilience of the people they encountered. Amid all the portraits of suffering and deprivation, a few images of tenderness and hope stand out: a young woman comforts her sick husband; a crowd of laughing children chase after a UN truck; and a new mother gives birth to her baby in a MSF hospital.

Photographer James Nachtwey writes that "the tragedy of the Congo is a study in … misery on a monumental scale. That world powers have ignored it is unacceptable." The images seen in the "Democratic Republic of the Congo: Forgotten War" exhibit are harrowing, moving, and eloquent. Each photo represents a moment in time, a life in peril, and a plea for the world to finally take action.

VII Photo Agency was founded by a group of photojournalists in 2001. "Designed from the outset to be a … hub for some of the world's finest photojournalism, VII has been responsible for creating and relaying to the world many of the images that define the turbulent opening years of the 21st century." The five photographers whose images were used in the "Demographic Republic of the Congo: Forgotten War" exhibit are: Ron Haviv, James Natchtwey, Gary Knight, Joachim Ladefoged, and Antonin Kratochvil. *   *   *   *   * "The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Forgotten War" photography exhibit was also exhibited in Atlanta, Georgia from September 16–October 8, 2006, and in Stone Ridge, New York from January 25–February 23, 2007. The photos have been published in Forgotten War: Democratic Republic of the Congo by de.MO. *   *   *   *   * For more articles about MSF and the healthcare professionals who work with them, see Working With MSF, Across Careers and Continents, I Got to Decide, What is a Hospital?, and "Keep Up the Fight, Nigerians!"

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