George Hsia Photography
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Life in communities among the amazon is idyllic and simple. The river provides fish, they grow their own rice and they pick fruit from the abundant trees around them. Most of what they have is shared and living in community is core to their well being. There’s no running water or electricity but they have learned how to thrive without it. Children here are active, whether its going to school, playing games or doing chores, they simply don’t live the distractions of video games and the internet as compared to children that live in the cities. There is no sense of entitlement and everyone pitches to do chores even if it is cutting grass at 5 am in the morning or preparing rice at 6 am. It is because of their shared community that they are so open to strangers. They trust much too easily and though they live simple lives they still want a future for their children that they themselves were never able to attain.
It is with this understanding that predators come to these villages. The come with big smiles and match their host’s friendly gestures. Once they have built trust they make an offer for their daughter to work for a wealthy family in Lima where their children will in return receive pay and education. This is the type of offer that a father longs for and is not able to refuse. Wanting so much the future of their children they send their daughters away with a stranger they have met only days before. Weeks later by the time the family realizes that something is wrong they are too far from the city to do anything and have no one to turn to for help.
Though they promised housework in Lima the harsh reality is that the daughters are trafficked into brothels in mining town sometimes just as remote as the village they came from. Sometimes the daughters are able to return, but that is often an exception rather than the rule. For those fortunate enough to return they often come back with the trauma of abuse that won’t easily be forgotten.
[...] that, and has some awesome humanitarian photography from around the world. I especially like his collection from Lisboa, Peru, from my favorite travel continent. He once loaned me a very large, very heavy [...]
These are fabulous pictures. It’s like being there. You obviously have a great way of being amongst the kids as they go about daily life, seemingly unconscious of the camera’s presence.
I spent many months with the kids and eventually they got used to me. For every hundred photos, there might be one good one.
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