Project “Today, before your eyes”April - July 2022
8 000 km
Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa
15 communities
+300 people intervewed
The goal of my
artistic project “today, before your eyes” is to narrow the gap between western
people and the crisis rampaging through eastern Africa through art as an
awareness tool.
I traveled roughly 8000km from Mombasa, Kenya to Johannesburg, South Africa through Tanzania, Malawi and especially Mozambique where I stayed for two months. This three-month trip was carried out in collaboration with local stakeholders and 5 NGOs. I interviewed around 300 people in more than 15 communities stricken regularly by the effects of climate disruption which happen to compound already existing crises.
I traveled roughly 8000km from Mombasa, Kenya to Johannesburg, South Africa through Tanzania, Malawi and especially Mozambique where I stayed for two months. This three-month trip was carried out in collaboration with local stakeholders and 5 NGOs. I interviewed around 300 people in more than 15 communities stricken regularly by the effects of climate disruption which happen to compound already existing crises.
Meeting in Salima with Green Girls Platform - Malawi
The first communities I met through this project were located in Salima, the region of Malawi most affected by climate disruption. I accompanied NGO Green Girls Platform whose aim is to help empower women through organizing, independence, information of their rights and raising awareness of STD risks (among other things). These women tend to crops, harvest corn and take care of their children and home. Many men leave the country to work in South African mines and earn a small living there. Women are more vulnerable to climate disruption than men. Flash floods and cyclones rampage the region every year and cause important losses to crops which results in seasonal famine and even death. These climate events cause enormous revenue losses for the families which sometimes have to marry their young girls against their wills to have one less mouth to feed. The chances are high then that the girl gets pregnant and gets taken off school by her husband to take care of the family. Malnutrition also causes various health related issues because of deficient immune defenses : tuberculosis, paralysis, cancers. It also contributes to other diseases such as Malaria.
NGO Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi (WESM) In Mulanje - Malawi
I accompanied NGO WESM for three days in southern Malawi where deforestation causes erosion of mountains and raises flood risk. Peter, a member of WESM, filmed my trip to Mulanje. You can discover the local stakes through this short clip :
François Sommer Foundation and Nitidae NGO, National Reserve of Gilé, Mozambique
For a week, I accompanied these NGOs which operate in the huge Gilé reserve in central Mozambique. I was given the chance to meet women reigniting an ancestral practice : mushroom picking. This venture provides them with revenue while also preserving the local forest biodiversity which is an integral part of mushroom growing. The foundation also funds beekeeping ventures : dozens of beehives have been set up in the park and a honey production site has just been inaugurated. The foundation also helps fight poachers.
The communities I met have to contend with extreme climate events such as intense droughts destroying crop yield. Kids therefore drop out of school and are sent by their parents to fetch water in one of the rare functioning wells. They leave at 4 AM to come back by 5 PM. The economic impact of these climate upheavals sometimes forces families to abandon or force their children into unwanted marriages.
Pain Without Borders, Beira & Gaza - Mozambique
This NGO fights pains of all types, be it mental or physical. They provide home-bound palliative care to rural areas. HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, paralysis, hypertension, malnourishment, and so on : the poorest communities sometimes can’t afford to go to a hospital and diseases, even if they are detected, are not always treated. The health situation is alarming and made worse by economic crises and covid.
