Snapshot: Central African Republic

April 4, 2008

This article is part of the Spring 2008 issue of the MSF Alert newsletter.

Photojournalist Spencer Platt traveled to Central African Republic in December 2007 to photograph MSF’s activities there. He accompanied an MSF team assessing medical needs in Massabiou, a village close to the Chadian border that had been violently raided earlier that year. At least 20 people were killed during the attack, and the remaining villagers fled. When Platt and the MSF team arrived, the inhabitants were just starting to return. The woman in this photo was one of those first returnees.

“For me, it’s always difficult in these situations to capture a photo that can be seen as poignant,” says Platt. “You’re looking for an image that’s going to draw a reader thousands of miles away, into a completely different environment, and draw them into this story; kind of galvanize, maybe, their interest in Africa and Central African Republic, which they probably know very little about.”

 

Related:

• Through the Lens: Central African Republic
• Central African Republic: Bringing Medical Care to War-Affected Populations

Tags: Central African Republic, Armed Conflict, Chad