photophilanthropy: hasan

Recently I discovered "PhotoPhilanthropy" - an organization created to promote, support and connect photographers to charitable organizations around the world.

The PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Awards provide a platform for student, amateur and professional photographers to publish Photo Essays designed to educate and engage people in a wide variety of social campaigns.

I entered my "Dream Series" from Uganda. But, man oh man, was I ever humbled when I started looking through the enormous amount of amazing work being done by an impressive number of talented, compassionate photographers, all of whom are using their cameras to try and make the world a better place.

Here is but one example of the many entries:

Khaled Hasan is a student at Pathshala South Asian Institute of Photography in Bangladesh. He previously attained a bachelors and a masters degree in accounting. He has done feature photography at Bangladeshi Daily News. Here is his description of the project he submitted:

“The story I focus on is about the hard work community of Jaflong, in northeastern Bangladesh. The Piyain River is the main feature and shows the natural beauty of Jaflong which flows from India through Bangladesh. During the monsoon, the river currents wash down precious rocks and pebbles from India into the Jaflong area. At dawn every day, more than a hundred little boats with laborers enter the Piyain River, buckets and spades in hand. This is one trade which has a geological limit; the stones that tumble down the riverbed from India are decreasing in volume and the laborers are already taking the risk of invading the no-man’s land along the Indo-Bangla border which is a contradictory political issue between Bangladesh and India.

More than 5,000 men, women and child stone-laborers are engaged there. Uncontrolled stone extraction and crushing at Jaflong has been posing a serious threat to public health, and to the environment and agriculture in the area. There is no legal protection and no human rights in this industry. Many children there have been suffering from hearing problems due to the high-pitched sounds of the stone-crushing machines.

During my work in 2006 as many as 250 machines were engaged in crushing stone at Jaflong. Abul Hossain, a local, told me they cannot produce crops on their lands as dust of crushed stones destroy all their efforts.

The Bangladeshi government has failed to take any initiative to prevent the stone-crushing industry at Jaflong and the resulting high rate of erosion which is threatening to destroy the adjacent Khasia (indigenous people) villages within the next 5 years. I saw their hard work and I saw their happy moments. So, I want to visualize the facts of this suffering society and their personal feeling through my way in a little space.”