Capturing the Scene in Ethiopia

Professional photographer, Ben Langdon, recently visited some of Send a Cow's Ethiopian projects:

Preparing to go to Ethiopia with Send a Cow reiterated to me the role that photography can play in shaping peoples opinions and therefore the responsibility involved when taking those photographs. I’m pretty sure, based on family and friends, that most people associate Ethiopia with famine and drought. It's true that there has been lots of famine and drought there; there were problems when I went in October. However, that isn't what I saw: there are so many other things going on, things that don’t often make the headlines…

I saw a glut of organic vegetables, smiling faces and children on their way to school. But what really struck me yet again, (and this was my 15th trip to Africa), was the potential of yet another African country and its people to survive and succeed. Ethiopia is very beautiful with fertile soils and Kotoba, the highlands to the west of the capital Addis Ababa, was some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. I was going there to capture a project in its infancy where many of the farmers seemed to have really grasped what they had learnt from Send a Cow and were running with it. There was plenty of evidence that with the right crops and techniques farmers could properly feed their families; some were already producing surplus which they were looking to sell. There were onions, beetroot, cabbages, sweet potatoes, carrots: a real variety of crops. Their next challenge is to pass this knowledge on to neighbours and then collectively come up with a way of transporting their surplus to market in order to start making some money.

Down south of Kotoba, in Zwei, it was quite different. The climate there is much drier and all the farms we visited were telling me how they had suffered during times of drought. One family told me how 8 years ago they were living in a house made from grass and surviving off government food hand-outs. Now they had saved up enough to buy a new house and their children were going to school. The husband told me “My first children didn't walk until they were two or three years old and sometimes we weren't sure if they would survive. Now my one year old is healthy and walking. I am not afraid of drought any more because of what I have learnt.”

The secret is to diversify activities from growing just maize, which doesn’t offer a balanced diet and means that if the crop failed nothing was left. Farmers had also learnt things like how to use the cow dung as compost and how to dig a well for water. This has lead to a bigger range of fruit and vegetables for personal consumption and the growth of chilli seedlings to sell to the larger farms.

Sadly, it's not all good news. It takes a lot of time to reach everyone who needs help. On our final visit of the trip we met a farmer who hadn't started working with Send a Cow yet. Looking down the lens I finally saw those photos you might traditionally associate with Ethiopia. The father was stick thin with a pot belly from malnutrition. There was nothing to show me in his garden. His maize crops had failed and his family were beginning to starve and yet they were literally ten minutes down the road from some of the families I have just told you about. A harsh reminder of what can happen when you live so close to the breadline; each day is a challenge. With no money and no means of making money, it is very difficult to change your situation. The eldest son was working as a labourer on a nearby farm for 1 Birr a day. That’s enough to buy a loaf of bread. When you are hungry you have no energy to plough the land and you often get sick.

This is where you and I come in because, through Send a Cow, you can help start a change. I know because I have seen it. By teaching people to help themselves they can lift themselves out of poverty and go on to help others. This is what I saw happening. But we mustn’t take that success for granted because it will only happen if Send a Cow can afford it. Every organisation has their limits. Occasionally, I have felt lost visiting situations like this and then having to leave. It's difficult. Very difficult. Please help us reach people like this man and his family by giving a donation to Send a Cow now.

 - If you would like to see some of the stunning photographs Ben has taken during his time in Ethiopia and elsewhere, please visit http://www.benlangdon.co.uk/documentary.php