Four To Follow #11

Sharing stories from across the African continent by the talented members of the African Photojournalism Database (APJD).

This month, we discover the work of Mohamed Altoum, a Sudanese photographer who went on a self-discovery journey to learn about his father’s cultural heritage; Nneka Iwunna Ezemezue who unveils the plight and resilience of Nigeria’s widows performing mourning rites; Tshepiso Mabula documenting poor South Africans’ battle for decent living standards in the Bloemfontein townships; and Asmaa Gamal, who explores young Egyptian women’s views on divorce and marriage.

‘Hoshmmar’ by Mohamed Altoum

Sudanese photographer Mohamed Altoum traveled in the footsteps of his late father throughout Kenya, Sudan and Egypt to explore his heritage, the Nubian culture. Thanks to the people he met along the way, Mohamed not only discovered the Nubian identity but also his father’s important message and legacy. ‘Hoshmmar’ is a beautiful story about exploring one’s roots and the road it takes us to get there.

Old family photos and my father’s handwriting. Theses images induced feelings of both happiness and melancholia at once.

After my father passed away, I was going through his old family photos and handwritten letters. I discovered his drawings, poems, and calligraphy, all of which revolved around Nubian culture, indigenous to present-day Sudan and believed to be one of the earliest cradles of civilisation.

A bride is preparing for her wedding in a Nubian house.

My father was always trying to bring our family in touch with our Nubian
identity. I grew up in the capital city of Khartoum, far from a Nubian community, so my relationship with the Nubian culture was mostly through his memories. After his death, I felt the need to get closer to my roots and better understand what he had tried to pass down. I wanted his legacy to live on, so I started a journey which took me throughout Sudan, including my father’s hometown Hoshmmar in North Sudan and then Aswan in Egypt, and then to Kenya.

People watching a match of Nuba Wrestling. My Father used to play a game with us when I was a child that I later understood as a form of Nuba Wrestling. Wrestling brings people together from different backgrounds and from different tribes. It is based on respect and admiration for the opponent. The wrestling opponents sing and dance as they show off with their grace and agility and the audience joins in, cheering them on.

As I searched out the Nubian culture through my father’s memories, I was searching for my father and came to understand him better along the way. When I tried to tie the threads between these locations, I found elements that reminded me of details back home.

My connection with my father is a spiritual one, and it lives on after his death. I remember him in everything. I was searching for my father through Nubian culture and seeking Nubian culture through his memories, I wanted to discover more. The practices started attracting me. I wanted to understand what he was trying to pass on to us.

I spent many hours talking to people in their homes and enjoying with Nubian food. I went to weddings and celebrations. I learned about new songs and dances from these places that have connotations about beauty, belonging, and social connectivity. I remembered how my father used to play some songs by Nubian artists on the radio, and how he used to try to explain to me what it all meant. I learned about the different dialects and about how Nubian culture influenced all aspects of life.

The Nubian club in Khartoum celebrates Nubian Day every year, and reflects the culture with traditional dress, food, tales and music.

Music is central to Nuba and Nubian culture. There are drum beats and songs and each one for a different occasion. For me, Nubian-Nuba culture has an element that could relate to Sudanese society in general. This drew me to further explore the traditions and lifestyles of Sudanese culture that are originally inspired by the Nubian-Nuba traditions.

My uncle with his friend in Hoshmmar. (Hoshmmar means the Big Yard in Nubian language.) I felt a connection to the family. I could talk to different generations about our society and different daily life issues.

I was excited to come back to Khartoum and to discover more about the Nubian influences that I had not noticed before my journey. I felt the connection with the people and experienced a part of living history through their stories. I also felt connected to my father, and finally understood why he insisted on teaching us about our Nubian culture and heritage.

One of the members of the Nubian community in Kibera, Kenya, has passed away.

Fatima is a Nubian woman I met in Kibera, Kenya. She told me about her connection with Sudan, and that she only hears about it but has never been there.

I still have a lot to discover and I want to go beyond my community and reflect more and more. Still the journey continues.

Mohamed Altoum is a visual artist from Sudan. He has been working as an independent photographer and filmmaker for the past years. He co-founded the first photographic collective in Sudan, the ‘Sudanese Photographers Group’ to promote and develop photography in Sudan. Through his journey, he tries to reveal his perception of the world through visual content and narrative. His works have been featured in Al-Jazeera, CNN Africa, BBC Africa, The HuffPost and numerous exhibitions and festivals in Africa and Europe. He studied documentary and photojournalism photography in Hochsule Hannover University of applied sciences and arts in Germany.

Follow Mohamed’s work and connect with him on his website, Instagram and Blink’s account.

‘Left Behind’ by Nneka Iwunna Ezemezue

“Left Behind” examines the traumatic experience of widows, mostly from the southeastern part of Nigeria, who were forced to observe inhumane mourning rituals. These ancient rites vary across communities; for instance, a widow could be forced to sit naked on a floor for weeks without having a bath, drink the filthy water used to wash the corpse, shave her hair completely, and so on. The reasons given for these treatments are to prove the widow’s innocence, respect the dead or protect the living from the dead.

“After my husband’s death, my hair was shaved and I had to wear one white cloth for a whole year to mourn him.”

These practices emanate from the subjugation of women, which is deeply rooted in the patriarchal culture and tradition of Nigerian society where women are regarded as objects of rights, rather than subjects of rights. Owing to these unfavourable customary practices, most widows are maltreated, chased away by their in-laws and denied access or ownership to land and other properties that is rightfully theirs. Through Christianity, many communities have abolished inhumane mourning rites, but others are obstinate because they claim it is tradition.

Henrietta, Ebonyi, Nigeria. “I refused to shave my hair and wear my mourning cloth because
it cannot bring back my husband.”

This story was motivated by my personal experience when my mother had to perform some mandatory mourning rites after my father’s death. Other widows have had to do the same. All these made me question why a widow is made to perform certain mourning rites to respect her dead husband or to prove her innocence in his death, but the men are not required to perform such rites.

Chinyere, 45, Ebonyi, Nigeria. “My late husband was the only son of his parents. I was accused of his death even though he died of tuberculosis. To prove my innocence, I was kept in a dark room without having a bath, forbidden to neither eat from a plate nor drink from a cup and forced to sit unclad on dried pleated palm fronds with just a piece of cloth to barely cover myself. All these lasted for six weeks, after which they shaved my hair.”

The aim for this series is to raise awareness on the traumatic experience and maltreatment of widows and contribute towards reforming social injustice against them.

Olivia, Lagos, Nigeria. “My husband died shortly after I gave birth to my last son. My hair was
shaved and I wore one white cloth for a year to mourn him. His family does not care about us
anymore and I struggle to feed the children.”

Odinaka, 24, Ebonyi, Nigeria. “My husband died when I was 21 years old. He was poisoned. I was not subjected to any mourning ritual because my Christian community obstructed it. Together with my children, I left my husband’s house and property a year after his death because his family was maltreating me and I did not want to die too.”

Despite the ordeal they went through, these women still stood strong and moved on with life. Most of them do not remarry because they do not want to go through the same ordeal again.

Theresa, 70, Ebonyi, Nigeria. “I was the first wife of my late husband. When he died, we (the wives) were told to shave our heads and put it in the village shrine together with other sacrificial items for the mourning rituals in order to appease my husband’s spirit. The second wife agreed, but I refused because I am a Christian and it is against God’s law. I shaved my head and threw the hair into a pit. My action infuriated the villagers and I was chased out from the house. I went to live in my parent’s house. This ancient practice is evil, but they have refused to stop it.”

Theresa with her husband, Ebonyi, Nigeria. “This is the only photo I have left to remind me of my husband. The second wife burnt other photos.”

This project was supported by Magnum Foundation Fund.

Nneka Iwunna Ezemezue is a Nigerian-based visual storyteller. She explores themes relating to gender, tradition, religion, and other societal issues. Her work has been exhibited at various national and international exhibitions and featured in Dienacht magazine, Journ Africa online magazine, British Journal of Photography and The Guardian. She is a Magnum Foundation Fund 2017 grantee. In 2018, she was nominated for World Press Photo’s Joop Swart Masterclass and shortlisted for the Contemporary African Photography prize.

Follow Nneka’s work and connect with her on her website, Instagram and Blink’s account.

‘The fatuous condition of democracy’ by Tshepiso Mabula

In this striking photo essay, Tshepiso takes us to the very heart of South Africa’s unequal society, the townships, and show us how the socio-economic legacy of Apartheid and the colonial era impact the life of thousands of South Africans, whose dreams of a new nation have been turned into broken hopes. By amplifying the voices of the people living in these precarious conditions, Tshepiso’s project is a powerful account of a country where having basic services is still a luxury to many.

Motlalentoa and his sister are residents of the Free State township of Botshabelo. They say that they have been residents here since the 1980’s and they have not witnessed any real change when it comes to service delivery.

Once known as the second biggest township in the country, this place of refuge is one of the many Bloemfontein townships struggling to attain sustainable service delivery and development. This photo essay is a documented account of life on the outskirts and the periphery of one of South Africa’s biggest cities. Townships like Bergman, Taba Nchu and Botshabelo in Mangaung are rife with lack of service delivery, poverty and never-ending excuses from government leaders.

Edward Thibisi is seen in his living room in Taba Nchu, which is a township in the Free State. He says many ward councillors failed to deliver on their promise to bring clean sanitation to the community so he has lost hope in them.

Many residents of Taba Nchu in the Free State are forced to use buckets or pit toilets because of the lack of clean sanitation in their community.

Residents in these townships are still waiting for the government to eradicate bucket toilets.

Nkgono Matlaka Nakane is seen inside the small RDP she rents in Bergman, Bloemfontein. The frail old woman states that she has lost hope in ever finding a better life and that she is just waiting to die and rest peacefully.

Townships are a place for unfulfilled goals and buried dreams and it is in these very townships, 24 years ago, that a new democratic government was elected by the people. The prospect of democracy brought the hope of a new dawn in many people’s lives. People who were treated like slaves in their places of birth looked with beaming joy as the African National congress (ANC) promised to be the sunrise to a nation still reeling from its violent history during apartheid.

Nkgono Selina Mosima is a resident of Taba Nchu in the Free State and she says it is difficult for her to pay people to dig up pit toilets in her yard because she is a pensioner and thus the lack of sanitation affects her negatively.

The kitchen of Nkgono Matlakala Nakane’s RDP house in Bergman Bloemfontein. Most of the RDP houses that were built by the government have construction defaults and are without running water or proper sanitation.

Smanga and his son stand outside their house in Botshabelo, Bloemfontein. Smanga is seen as a community leader in Botshabelo because of his numerous efforts to get clean running water and sanitation services from the provincial government.

This project aims to shed a light on the many forgotten communities in places like Bloemfontein and how organisations like the SACBC Justice and Peace Commission fights for these people’s rights.

A row of broken down bucket and pit toilets are seen in Botshabelo in the Free State province of South Africa.

Last year, with the assistance of SACBC Justice and Peace Commission, the communities complained to the SA Human Rights Commission and asked them to investigate bucket toilets in these forgotten communities. The communities are still waiting for an answer.

Tshepiso Mabula is a freelance 24-year-old documentary photographer and writer born in the Lephalale district of Limpopo, South Africa. Her interest in photography sparked during a visit to a family member in 2012, she found award-winning South African photographer Santu Mafokeng’s Bloemhof photobook. Mabula explores the small things through photography: exposing the humanity in oppositional, chaotic or even boring environments. Tshepiso is a storyteller who believes that her calling is to produce work that promotes equity and social unity and seeks to correct the injustices that exist in our everyday culture.

Follow Tshepiso’s work and connect with her on her website, Instagram and Blink’s account.

‘Woman After 30’ by Asmaa Gamal

Photographer Asmaa Gamal investigates the unheard views of young Egyptian women towards marriage and divorce, which are often breaking apart from the older generation. Through personal testimonies of women at the crossroads of their life, this ongoing project reflects the complexities of societal changes in contemporary Egyptian society and highlights the need for a safe space to discuss and question societal norms.

Shimaa, 31, who has four children, said that she suffers from depression and financial difficulties, in a response to a question about why, in her opinion, the percentage of divorce is increasing.

Divorce rates were high in 2017 in Egypt, according to the CAPMAS. For that, I will highlight different stories about women who face financial problems in marriage, especially after the inflation of the dollar. This project is about different opinions of marriage between different generations.

Basma, 30 years old, lives in Cairo. She didn’t marry until now, although she met a lot of men in
traditional ways that relate to Muslim religion. She said, “I can’t live with someone who I never fell in love with him because it will lead me to divorce.”

In this project, I used double exposure which mixes two photos together, one of them shows the portrait of a woman and another one reflects their memories such as their parents’ marriage photo.

Nahed, 31 years old, lives in el-kanater. She didn’t marry until now, because she believes that there is a difference between generations, but on the other hand she needs to live with a real family in the
future.

I asked them about why, in their opinion, the percentage of divorce is increasing.

Alaa, 34 years old, who has two children, said that “it’s not easy to have children because it a difficult responsibility. Youth wants to marry, but when they discover the reality of marriage, they want to run away.”

The majority of 90s generation received the meaning of social equality through television and political chants, but for me as an Egyptian girl, I think that social equality starts from our homes that lack this concept and confine to watch it on television only.

Nermen, 34 years old, who has two children. She said, ”nowadays women can take care of children better than men so they can divorce if they want to”.

I think, there is a big relation between me and the stories of these women because I face the same financial problems and I wish I will have family in the future, on the other hand I am afraid that I can’t provide my children affordable life which they deserve. Finally, in two years, I will also become 30.

Inside Nahed’s house where she saved her parents’ marriage photos.

Asmaa Gamal was trained as a journalist in Egypt and worked in many press agencies as a freelancer until she chose radio and television as her major. She started to focus on photography during the revolution as photos took the highest importance on social media. Since then, she works as a photojournalist or one-woman crew for Daily News Egypt. She has two photobooks: ‘A Journey to Thailand’ and ‘The Seven Seeds’ which documents Egypt’s celebration of newborn babies.

You can follow Asmaa’s work and connect with her on her Instagram and Blink’s account.

The African Photojournalism Database is a collaboration of the World Press Photo Foundation and Everyday Africa. The database identifies professional African photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers reporting on cultural, economic, environmental, political and social issues on the continent, as well as sports, nature, and stories of everyday life. The database aims to better connect African photographers with the global media industry and offer a more diverse representation of the African continent.

To see membership criteria and register, please go to apjd.org. To request the full database, please email apjd@worldpressphoto.org.

The Four To Follow series is also posted on Re-Picture, the Everyday Projects Medium account. Visit their website for more articles and news about the Everyday Projects.

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