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BELGIUM: Photo exhibition about Turkana nomadic pastoralists
A project documenting the effect of climate change on the nomadic shepherd of Turkana, by photojournalist Roger Job.
Musee de la photographie, Charleroi
September 25, 2010 - January 16, 2011
The Project
Since December 2008 photojournalist Roger Job has led a project documenting the effect of climate change on the nomadic shepherd of Turkana. He has just returned for his sixth visit. When he is in the field he relies on the logistical support of the Vétérinaires Sans Frontières team.
The Exhibition
Job’s work is shown at the Charleroi Museum of Photography in September this year. Vétérinaires Sans Frontières are also participating in the event and visitors to the Museum can find out about our projects.
Roger Job’s Journey Report
During his previous visit the photographer helped with the “de-stocking” campaigns (the slaughter of weakened animals), operations necessitated by repeated droughts. At the end of January the rain finally arrived but it such an enormous quantity that it caused flooding and land slides. Many animals were swept away and killed. Two heads of camp, with whom Job had previously met, confirmed that they had lost 75% of their livestock.
During his sixth visit, Job went to the Samburu territory where a large number of Turkana had migrated, some for a very long time. He found a group of Turkana installed on a plateau that had been abandoned by the Samburu shepherds. They were in possession of thousands of cows. Roger_Job.jpg
Even in his most recent journeys to Turkana, Job had not believed in the existence of such livestock. However, during the departure of troops for the grazing zone he was taken by surprise. “These cows were walking alongside the shepherds and the warriors. It was humanity on the march. Under the dust that covered my skin I had goosebumps. I had tears of emotion witnessing the almost indestructible strength of life. Their way of life shares the same foundation as our own, the very foundation of all humanity.”
