Our Home + Earthquake, Managua, Nicaragua, December 23, 1972

The green light to go forward came in today, and so plans are being made for the first trip to my birthplace since the week this photograph was made almost 45 years ago. The fact that we have this photograph is a miracle, for my Father was walking around buying photographs of the earthquake before we flew to Lebanon to reconstruct our lives. I hope to be able to find the exact spot of this photograph, and to make a portrait of the site of our now long-gone home.

According to Wikipedia:

The 1972 Nicaragua earthquake occurred at 12:29:44 a.m. local time (06:29:44 UTC) on December 23 near Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. It had a moment magnitude of 6.3 and a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive). The epicenter was 28 kilometers northeast of the city centre and a depth of about 10 kilometers. The earthquake caused widespread casualties among Managua's residents: 4,000–11,000 were killed, 20,000 were injured and over 300,000 were left homeless.

(Photographer unknown, 12/1972)

Young Girl + Mansarover Park, Humana India, Delhi, India, 2016

Yesterday afternoon we were beyond lucky to find the same faces from last year's visit to this incredible project. Thanks to the peerless work of Jayanta at Humana India, we were able to find this specific girl and her friends. With only a day's notice our work in this slum was arranged flawlessly, and we were able to photograph the three oldest girls before the clouds moved in.

It took me a minute to recognize her, but when I did the smile on her face was priceless. She had changed so much from last year, yet her expressions had remained the same. We were blessed with the wall of the homeless shelter, and with the help of those around us. This is in fact one of the countless slums in Delhi, and has been around for almost two decades.

Jayanta and his team are doing the hard work here, the work that goes unnoticed by the society at large. They are going into the streets at night, collecting the people forgotten by the communities, and bringing them to these shelters.. allowing these good people to collect themselves, to regain their composure and to once again go back into the world with perhaps a new skill set.

This young girl is a hero to me, more so than any cricket player or any politician. She goes about her chores day to day, and yet as enough love for the strangers in front of her to allow this portrait, and to share her smile with a world almost as foreign to her. Millions will tune in to the cricket tournament this week, yet only a few brave souls are doing the necessary work in these communities. My hope is that our societies will one day regain their composure and realize the work that is necessary in order to make sure such a girl never has to endure such difficulties in live.

Jayanta and his team realize this, and have my respect always.

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Note: This image was made with a Sony RX100M3.