Borders Update

My note to John Easterby:

"...If you recall, I had struggled with narrowing my subjects down for the borders project. The last time we met, I talked to you about starting the de-mining in Southern Mozambique project. It's been slow going and I haven't actually taken a photograph yet--sort of a hazard of being at the mercy of HALO Trust. However, I am finally scheduled to go out with a team, and the last week of this month, I will go near the center of the country to go out with a group called Apopo who uses rats to locate mines.

Now again to rack you memory, you might remember how one of my initial ideas was about going to a border town about an hour and a half away called Ressano Garcia that reminded me a bit of a small town Mexican border crossing. I had been looking for an actual story there rather than simply going to the town and doing a general profile. I never really stopped that effort and found something. There is a group of Brazilian nuns there running a children's home to help kids that are typically trafficked or abandoned at the border.

I'm really excited about this one and am scheduled to meet the nuns next Tuesday to see if they'd be receptive to me photographing there. I will keep you informed.

I guess I still haven't entirely solved my initial problem of having too many ideas. I still plan on doing some that I mentioned before in the future for myself particularly the border of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and the former mountain retreat town of Namaacha that borders Swaziland where a pilgrimage to the Virgin Mary happens every May. For now, I'm staying focused on the demining and the Brazilian nuns of Ressano Garcia. I know I'm sort of throwing a lot of darts at one target, but to some degree they haven't completely solidified yet. But with than in mind, I'm still working very hard on my coastal erosion project which I plan on making my final project..."