On April 1st I leave to go back to Africa for a short two week trip. The main purpose of the trip is to photograph the work of the African Prisons Project – an amazing small non-profit run by Alexander MacLean, who I met in Dallas last fall. I will be traveling to Uganda with Alexander to photograph his work in high security prisons there. I hope to also see many of my friends in Kenya while I am there. Among them are Benard Ochieng from the Mathare slums and James from the Kibera slums. Benard recently lost his daughter in a tragic accident that injured her spine. I’m so sad for him. Benard is an amazing guy. He and his wife adopted a dozen orphans after the post election riots in 2007-2008, he started a crafts co-op to help people in Mathare make money, he started a school and a youth group to give teenagers in the slum something positive to do. This is my favorite picture of Benard…
James was the first person I met for ENEMIES. He has a leg that is paralyzed from polio. He repairs shoes and crutches. He is an outspoken advocate for the rights of handicapped people.