tshabo
i just spent a week in rural african village called tshabo
no one has any fucking drinking water
an estimated 85% of people have hiv/aids
no one has any fucking shoes
they do not have toilets
their houses are crawling in cockroaches
what the fuck, what the fuck
i did a photo project where i took portraits of people for free
of people who don't have pictures of themselves and mailed out over fifty pictures today
to the high school of the village
by the last day that i was in the village people heard about what i was doing
and walked a mile from the next village to get their photo taken
when i heard a lady with a baby tied to her back say that i couldn't breathe for thirty seconds and i thought about how many pictures exist of me
probably thousands
and these people don't have any, to my knowledge
everyone drinks incredibly cheap african beer all day, and starts early because no one has a job
there are so many problems
the kids play in the dirt literally with pieces of animal shit
they do not have toys to play with
and there is nowhere to get a job
because they are in the middle of nowhere
there are schools but the kids don't go to them because the teachers speak in english
and they can't speak english
and because the schools don't have any fucking resources and none of the kids even have a fucking notebook
there are no vegetables because they are easily contaminated
only starch because it fills you up and it is cheap
it is gorgeous and there are a lot of things to look at, scenery is nice
but that is hardly consolation
i don't know, i don't know
when i think about my problems
i usually start to feel sorry for myself to some degree, directly or subconsciously
and then i think, well, my problems are not the kind of problems that are going to kill me
and take away my friends and my family
my problems are fucking bullshit
and that just makes everyone i love end up feeling worse for how they are feeling
and that is not good either
i don't know
i just feel a little more sad for other people instead of myself
because it's true, my whole life looks like a picture of a sunny day
and jessica sent me an email telling me that the united states is cutting back contraceptive funding for africa by insanely high percentages
how can people forget that africa, asia, and latin america are a part of the world that they fucking live in?
i'm definitely not perfect but seriously
these are PEOPLE
PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE
what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck
no one has any fucking drinking water
an estimated 85% of people have hiv/aids
no one has any fucking shoes
they do not have toilets
their houses are crawling in cockroaches
what the fuck, what the fuck
i did a photo project where i took portraits of people for free
of people who don't have pictures of themselves and mailed out over fifty pictures today
to the high school of the village
by the last day that i was in the village people heard about what i was doing
and walked a mile from the next village to get their photo taken
when i heard a lady with a baby tied to her back say that i couldn't breathe for thirty seconds and i thought about how many pictures exist of me
probably thousands
and these people don't have any, to my knowledge
everyone drinks incredibly cheap african beer all day, and starts early because no one has a job
there are so many problems
the kids play in the dirt literally with pieces of animal shit
they do not have toys to play with
and there is nowhere to get a job
because they are in the middle of nowhere
there are schools but the kids don't go to them because the teachers speak in english
and they can't speak english
and because the schools don't have any fucking resources and none of the kids even have a fucking notebook
there are no vegetables because they are easily contaminated
only starch because it fills you up and it is cheap
it is gorgeous and there are a lot of things to look at, scenery is nice
but that is hardly consolation
i don't know, i don't know
when i think about my problems
i usually start to feel sorry for myself to some degree, directly or subconsciously
and then i think, well, my problems are not the kind of problems that are going to kill me
and take away my friends and my family
my problems are fucking bullshit
and that just makes everyone i love end up feeling worse for how they are feeling
and that is not good either
i don't know
i just feel a little more sad for other people instead of myself
because it's true, my whole life looks like a picture of a sunny day
and jessica sent me an email telling me that the united states is cutting back contraceptive funding for africa by insanely high percentages
how can people forget that africa, asia, and latin america are a part of the world that they fucking live in?
i'm definitely not perfect but seriously
these are PEOPLE
PEOPLE, PEOPLE, PEOPLE
what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck