Al Jazeera Stories English (2024)

09/07/2022

Vera Sazhina, Shaman

Vera Sazhina is a Siberian shaman from the Russian republic of Tuva; her goal is to heal, relieve and protect people. Vera carries a heavy burden: protecting people at the expense of herself.

"Like all shamans, I have to meet the spirits, communicate with those who are benevolent and repel those who want evil. It consumes a lot of energy and takes years of my life, but I must at all costs perpetuate this thousands-of-years-old knowledge that I inherited; it protects the people, connecting them to the sacred land."

Vera's drum is probably the most precious tool she has. When she strikes it, its beat gradually brings her to a state of trance opening the doors to the "other world" - that of the spirits that she must let in.

No part of her clothing is the result of chance or aesthetics - each accessory is a symbolic protection allowing her to enter the "other world" and - above all - to return from it.

Story & Photography: Jean-Francois Fort

05/07/2022

Khat delivery

Usman is a jeep driver who has been delivering daily loads of khat - a flowering plant from which the drug Cathinone is derived - between Maua (the Kenyan capital of khat) and Nairobi for the past 25 years. It takes him just over three hours to reach the international airport of Nairobi. Once at the airport, the khat will be loaded into a plane, specially chartered to transport the Kenyan crop to Somalia. This business is the result of an intense collaboration between local farmers and traders from the Somali diaspora; the khat is an essential economic resource for the Maua region. Between five and 10 million people chew khat every day - mostly in the horn of Africa. One of the primary production zones of those stems, which has a similar effect to amphetamines, is situated at the east of Mount Kenya. Even though it's considered a drug by the World Health Organisation, Khat, also known as “Miraa”, is part of the local traditions, and an important source of income for the Meru region.

Story & Photography: Lambert Coleman

02/07/2022

‘Born Under X’ - Mounia

As she does every Friday, Mounia goes out onto her balcony to live broadcast the the weekly rally on the Rue Didouche Mourad in downtown Algiers.

I met Mounia at a special school that gives a second chance to those excluded from the traditional school system.

Her story fascinated me. Mounia was ‘born under X’, meaning her mother’s identity is unknown and is not written on her birth certificate. Her status means she was excluded from many aspects of society - including school. She was adopted at the age of three in difficult circumstances. Since the end of her teenage years, she has been fighting for the rights of children like her - “born under X” - in Algeria.

Her courage and perseverance brought a change to the law after she handed a letter to the future President of the country in 1999. Prevented at the time from taking her baccalaureate because of her status, she decided to take this exam many years after. At just over 40, Mounia has defeated her destiny.

Story & Photography: Sabri Benalycherif

29/06/2022

Tamia Punin

It is November 2, the Day of the Dead, and Tamia has come with her family to share a meal with the dead at the Punin cemetery, as is the Quichua custom. Tamia is 10 years old and the village is in the Ecuadorian Andes.

The family lives in a mountain hamlet, where they grow potatoes, beans and corn and raise sheep, guinea pigs and poultry. They are not rich but their income allows them to live modestly.

Tamia divides her time between school and farm work. For this Christian feast of the dead, the indigenous Quichuas come down from the mountains to gather in the cemeteries. They mix their own ancestral rites with Christian rites.

Tamia with sunburnt cheeks, like all the Quichuas of the region, has prepared the traditional "colada morada", a drink made from corn and fruit, red as blood. She has also roasted guinea pigs with her parents, boiled beans and potatoes. All this will now be shared with their dead in the cemetery of Punin.

Story & Photography: Jean-Francois Fort

26/06/2022

Fatimata

"I'd rather dress like this than wear clothes made of wax." Fatimata is the eldest daughter of a family of four children and lives in the village of Sonh located two hours from Ouahigouya.

I spotted her as soon as I arrived in the village - and then I saw her running away as I started to set up the shooting studio. I had to talk a long time with the village chief to get his agreement for me to take Fatimata's portrait at her home. Her father accompanied me to the central courtyard of their home.

She was standing with her hand on the edge of the wooden door in the darkness of the entrance to her hut. I could only see her eyes shining. My studio lights were slow to move and I took the opportunity to talk with her mother. “Do you want her to change and put on clothes like the other girls?” she asked me. I replied: "Not necessarily, I just want Fatima to feel good." A discreet smile appeared on her face and Fatimata remained as she was.

Story & Photography: Jacques Pion

23/06/2022

Daniel the Digital Nomad

Daniel, 28, is French-British and calls himself a ‘digital nomad’. Digital nomads are people who use telecommunications technologies to earn a living while living in nomadic lifestyle.

They might be e-commerce consultants, computer programmers, graphic designers or work in the field of online advertising. They are part of a community that is growing around the globe.

After a career in the retail industry in France and then London, Daniel decided to train as a programmer, and quit his job to become self-employed. For the past year, he has been working for a Canadian company. He spends most of his year travelling.

I met him in Taghazout, a small fishing village in the south of Morocco where he had been living for two months. He manages his time between his job, surfing and the beach.

Now, he is looking for his next destination: "Maybe Georgia for a few months a year," he says.

Story & Photography: Seif Kousmate

21/06/2022

SEEDLINGS

In the countryside of north-western Cambodia, farmers combine their efforts to plow the fields, sow and replant rice over five-month cycles. The rice is first sown in a field. Twenty to 25 days later, the sprouts are transplanted into tufts of three to five strands in the rice field. Each tuft must have enough space to develop well. Transplanting is mostly done by women. The work is laborious - it requires between 30 to 40 people per day to create one hectare of rice.

Seila, in the foreground of this picture, is a mother of five children. She works seven days a week but keeps a very optimistic spirit. Despite her poverty and daily fatigue she still jokes with the other women. "I prefer to laugh and make people laugh, it makes my job less difficult," she explains.

Today, Seila is especially happy. All the members of her family (23 people) who live in other villages, have come to help her with the seedlings.

Story & Photography: Valerie Leonard

13/06/2022

Nassim and his grandmother

Nassim and his grandmother were among the crowds which had gathered on March 8, 2019 on the streets of Algiers for one of the first demonstrations of the Hirak, coinciding with International Women’s Day.

With a flag draped over his back, Nassim kept a protective arm around his grandmother throughout the march, displaying a touching tenderness between them. In this image, there is tenderness - but there is also determination.

It was the first time that Nassim's grandmother went out to demonstrate for a better Algeria.

A few hours later at the end of the day, I met them again on the steps going up to the top of the city. Nassim was carrying his grandmother in his arms. She was exhausted but happy and proud.

Story & Photography: Sabri Benalycherif

09/06/2022

MARIA

Maria, 12, is a little girl from the Maya tribe in Guatemala. Today she sells roosters and turkeys at the Chichicastenango market. This market takes place every Thursday and Sunday and is the largest and oldest market in Central America.

Maria lives with her parents in a small mountain village around 2,400m above sea level. Every Sunday, Maria goes down the mountain on foot with her father to reach the city and sell the vegetables that her family grows and the turkeys that they raise.

There is no road between Maria's village and the city. She has to get up very early and walk for three hours on rocky paths. In rural areas and in the Highlands, where the Mayans constitute almost 80 percent of the population, women are still hugely affected by poverty.

Maria told me that she would like to study to become a secretary. Her dream is to have a salary to help her family but few Mayan women access university studies.

Story & Photography: Valerie Leonard

06/05/2022

Alexis

Alexis, 25, displays his “I love u Mama” tattoo in Guisenyi, Rwanda. Alexis lost his mother during the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi and was abandoned in an orphanage by his father, who fled to the Congo.

He stayed there until 2012 when the Rwandan government decided to close all of the country’s orphanages. Alexis now volunteers for an organisation that takes care of children in the Lake Kivu region of Guisenyi, Rwanda.

He is one of a new generation of Rwandans building a country devoid of notions of Hutu and Tutsi heritage and which is focused on peace-building programmes. It has created a prolific cultural scene and innovative entrepreneurial projects.

Young Rwandans hold their country’s future in their hands since 60 percent of Rwanda’s population is under 25 years old.

Story & Photography: Seif Kousmate

03/05/2022

Lamiae

“My name is Lamiae Skalli. I am a Moroccan jewellery maker and I the founder of Elhora jewels.

“I have always been attracted to art and the creative fields. After an early career in business and Innovation, I started learning about jewellery making while travelling in Turkey, and I continued my learning journey back in Morocco. I dedicated several months to learning about the techniques of metal smiting with local masters and decided to start a brand that will combine my values and creative vision, with the art of jewellery making.

“My path to becoming a jewellery maker was not a typical one. In a society such as ours, we are not encouraged to take this kind of path: People usually don’t understand how someone who went to a prestigious school would want to become an artisan.

“Being able to break free from those beliefs and listen to my inner voice took a lot of effort and work. But I was able to do it, and I am proud of myself. I want my brand to reflect this and I want every piece to carry as much strength, courage and freedom as possible for the woman wearing it. Do what you love, listen to yourself, and be free.”

Story & Photography: Seif Kousmate

30/04/2022

The Flautist

David is from San Juan Yolotepec. He is one of the traditional flautists who play during the carnival. These days, he lives with his family in Huajuapan de Leon, about 50km (31 miles) away.

On this carnival day, David woke his three children at two o'clock in the morning to go to San Juan Yolotepec at dawn to accompany the dance of the Chilolos with the sound of his flute.

Although he no longer lives in San Juan Yolotepec, David still feels obligations towards his community. He learned the traditional melodies he plays from the elders of his community. Now he must assume his role as a flutist to enable the Chilolos to dance from house to house from dawn to dusk.

This community responsibility is, first of all, an honour for him, he says.

Story & Photography: Patxi Beltzaiz

27/04/2022

Henriette Savadogo

"In the village all religions live in perfect harmony for the good of all." Henriette Savadogo is part of the small Christian community which lives in the village of Sonh located in the bush some two hours’ drive from the town of Ouahigouya. For many years she has been the president of the women's committee which welcomes women of all religions.

Henriette speaks about many issues that punctuate daily life, sometimes with great exuberance and passion. Children are a recurring subject, especially malnutrition, cases of which are developing with more frequency each year.

Wisely seated on her blue chair, Henriette brandishes pictograms in front of an assembly to educate young mothers about the right way to prepare the enriched porridge associated with "monkey bread", a Baobab fruit rich in vitamin C and calcium. "May Allah protect your children," she says.

Story and photography: Jacques Pion

24/04/2022

Tailored

“Abdou! This is what people call me. I have lived in France for 35 years. I am Franco Senegalese from the medina district in Dakar. I am a fashion designer.

“Today I work here in Marseille in a shopping mall. I am a creator. This is what excites me in this business, but here in France, I had to adapt and my company has put itself at the service of big brands like Hugo Boss, Sandro or Fursac.

“We re-adjust suits to measure. Since the coronavirus health crisis, hospitals have called on us. Here in France, everything is lacking, and we make gowns for hospitals and masks for our customers. The French State had not planned its stock and it is us the small couturiers like us who assure the production.

“What does "Abdou" mean in Arabic? It is the French translation of Abdoulaye which means ‘servant’.”

Story & Photography: Fabien Dupoux

11/04/2022

Henriette Savadogo

"In the village all religions live in perfect harmony for the good of all." Henriette Savadogo is part of the small Christian community which lives in the village of Sonh located in the bush some two hours’ drive from the town of Ouahigouya. For many years she has been the president of the women's committee which welcomes women of all religions.

Henriette speaks about many issues that punctuate daily life, sometimes with great exuberance and passion. Children are a recurring subject, especially malnutrition, cases of which are developing with more frequency each year.

Wisely seated on her blue chair, Henriette brandishes pictograms in front of an assembly to educate young mothers about the right way to prepare the enriched porridge associated with "monkey bread", a Baobab fruit rich in vitamin C and calcium. "May Allah protect your children," she says.

Story & Photography: Jacques Pion -

03/04/2022

Alexis

Alexis, 25, displays his “I love u Mama” tattoo in Gisenyi, Rwanda. Alexis lost his mother during the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi and was abandoned in an orphanage by his father, who fled to the Congo.

He stayed there until 2012 when the Rwandan government decided to close all of the country’s orphanages. Alexis now volunteers for an organisation that takes care of children in the Lake Kivu region of Gisenyi, Rwanda.

He is one of a new generation of Rwandans building a country devoid of notions of Hutu and Tutsi heritage and which is focused on peace-building programmes. It has created a prolific cultural scene and innovative entrepreneurial projects.

Young Rwandans hold their country’s future in their hands since 60 percent of Rwanda’s population is under 25 years old.

Seif Kousmate - .kousmate

29/03/2022

Guamote

Indigenous Quechua people trade livestock in the Ecuadorian market town of Guamote after a morning rainfall.
Every Thursday, Guamote, a modest town in the Ecuadorian Andes, sees its streets filled with people coming down from the surrounding mountains, many of whom have arrived the day before and spent the night outside.
The Chimborazo region counts the highest density of mestizo and Amerindian people in the country, mostly of Quechuas origin, whose ancestors were the Incas.
These farmers came to sell their pigs that they hold on a leash, as well as cows, horses, goats, sheep, donkeys, poultry, guinea pigs, vegetables, cereals and other items necessary for daily life.
As in every market in the world, people negotiate firmly, but this day is also an opportunity for reunion and shared conversation. Many pigs will be roasted and eaten today!

Jean-Francois Fort

06/02/2022

MIRNA

Mirna Medina has been searching for her missing son since he disappeared on July 14, 2014. Today, she knows it is his remains she is looking for.

She is the leader and founder of an activist group named Rastreadoras del Fuerte which searches for missing people and is based in Sinaloa, Mexico. This evening, after an afternoon of researching missing people, Mirna takes a moment to reflect in the sea water at Topolobampo beach.

Mirna, who was a preschool teacher before she founded the group, remembers the response of the prosecutor's office when she came to file a complaint following the disappearance of her son Roberto Corrales Medina: "We are investigators; we don’t have time to be looking for a body."

It was this indifference from the authorities and the police that spurred Mirna to leave her job and to devote her time instead to finding her son - or his remains - even going so far as to dig with a shovel at a local mass grave in the hopes of unearthing something that might lead her to his body.

There are thousands of missing people in Mexico and Mirna is one of the most prominent figures in the civil struggle to find the bodies of the missing.

Story & Photography: Mahe Elipe

23/01/2022

‏404 Harar

‏A woman walks past a car on a street in Harar. When I walk along the main street of old Harar I am often struck by an image such as this. It is as if the camera rises by itself to my eye, I find a semblance of focus, I press the shutter and it's over - the magic is now broken and the woman continues on her way... It may have lasted all of two seconds.

‏A few hours later, when I am looking at this image in my hotel room, I realise the car is a Peugeot 404, a remnant of the French presence in Africa and the car of my childhood. This car - it may be 45 years old - has long since disappeared from Europe but remains here.

‏I don't know anything about the passer-by, but she is the one who with her silhouette alongside that of the car, gives meaning to the picture - like the "Flying lady, spirit of ecstasy" adorning the hood of a Rolls Royce.

‏Story & Photography: Jean Francois Fort

17/01/2022

El Hadi

I met El Hadi's family while he was imprisoned with other Hirak activists. His story moved me. It represents the "hogra" of a country that has betrayed him three times.

For him, the first betrayal was not getting a job after studying oil engineering despite a promise of a job. So he had to move to the UK, where he worked for 10 years.

The second betrayal was the loss of his entire savings in the Khalifa bank scandal in the early 2000s. When the Hirak movement invaded the streets of the country at the beginning of 2019, he participated to demand a fairer and freer Algeria.

At the end of June he was arrested and imprisoned for six months. This was the third betrayal of a country he continues to cherish.

Story & Photography By Sabri Benalycherif

12/01/2022

HENNA

Sita and Anita are Bopa gypsies who live in a tent on the edge of a village in Rajasthan. The two women are widows and best friends. Their husbands died years ago and they decided to live together because, in India, a widow has little chance of remarrying.

Neither woman went to school and since they cannot read or write, they have little chance of finding good employment. Instead, they have found a way to make a living by painting henna tattoos.

Henna paste is a natural substance obtained from the leaves of the henna plant and is traditionally used for temporary tattoos that last for around two weeks. Hindus have long used henna to decorate the hands of brides during wedding ceremonies.

Henna tattoos are also popular with foreign tourists who are frequent customers.

Story & Photography by Valerie Leonard

24/08/2021

Qashqai Wedding

Nahid is getting ready to attend her cousin's wedding. There will be more than 200 guests. She told me that she couldn't wait to go to this wedding because she had been bored over the last couple of months. Iran is a country of many people with countless tribes. Although weddings in the cities increasingly resemble those celebrated in the West, in some areas of Iran, people still get married according to their own centuries-old traditions. The Qashqai clan is one of the oldest and largest tribes of Iran. Most Qashqai live in Fars Province, and many of them speak Turkic languages. The Qashqai nomads take the wedding seriously. Sometimes it lasts 4 to 5 days. Separate dances are held for men and women. Dressed in beautiful costumes, Qashqai women dance to their traditional music and celebrate the wedding. I was honored to be invited.

Story & Photography: Valerie Leonard

17/08/2021

Mbororo

In the Batha region of Chad, the nomadic M'Bororo people travel the country with their animals in communities. Each year the transhumance route is marked by meteorological conditions and the country’s sometimes-dangerous security conditions in the Lake Chad region. Achta Adoum, 40, is part of this community, and she and her family regularly settle on land that allows animals to feed and drink. But since the great drought of the 1970s, water has become increasingly scarce. Achta tells me "that animals provide less than a litre of milk a day whereas before we could sell 3 times more milk. Not to mention the roadblocks that prevent access to some of the more fertile areas, it is also necessary to travel more kilometers to find a place to stop”.

Story & Photography: Christophe Da Silva

15/08/2021

Wadi Rum Hot Spot

The present village of Rum was initially the gathering place for Bedouins who came to fetch spring water. It was the only long-lasting spring in a several hundred-kilometre area. Today the region has changed greatly: rock, sand, but also concrete cohabit. Pastoral activities and nomadic trade gave way to international tourism some thirty years ago. Bedouins have settled down, 4x4s are now replacing camels. Some, like Nasser (left) and Brahim continue to pass down what remains of the nomadic spirit, the heavy silence of the desert and their link with the anthracite, ivory and carmine-coloured stone cathedrals. Lined up on the rock, the Bedouin’s’ mobile phones can access a network in this exact spot (and only here, I checked!). They are waiting for a call from the host cooperative to take tourists looking for a desert experience on the back of a camel.

Story & Photography: Camille Delbos

08/08/2021

Jasmine

Jasmine, 25, is passionate about her environmental engineering degree. When the war started in Syria, Jasmine was a university student in Aleppo. She was forced to give up her studies in 2013 but immediately decided to find a solution by studying in Turkey. Four years ago, she was accepted at Istanbul University. The main difficulty was speaking Turkish and finding decent accommodation. "I do not feel very comfortable when people learn I'm from Syria because I often have to cope with bad-taste jokes about Syrians. I do not consider myself a refugee: I study here, I work here and I have a house". She feels that language is the most important thing; "The Turks respect you more if you speak Turkish." Challenge met as Jasmine takes all her courses in Turkish at the university.

Story & Photography: Marie Tihon

28/07/2021

Aero Habitat

I have always been fascinated and daunted by the massive, brutalist building that hangs over the city of Algiers. It was on a cloudy autumn day that I finally dared to enter and explore the bowels of the famous Aero Habitat. To get on the lift, I give 20 dinars to a friendly Malian boy who runs the elevator. I stop at random on the 17th floor and wander through the building. A few minutes later, I meet Anis. He tells me that he lives on the 17th floor. As he does every day, he was going down to the 10th floor to the grocery store, one of the only shops still open on this floor. Occasionally, he goes up to the 23rd floor with his friends to enjoy one of the most beautiful views of Algiers. He considers many of his neighbors and the sub-Saharan refugees who maintain the building as his own family. All these diverse cast of characters live in the Aero Habitat, a city within a city, a place with a thousand anecdotes behind its walls. I am sure that this spur-of-the-moment visit will be the first of many.

Story & Photography: Sabri Benalycherif

11/07/2021

A Laborious Living

Yasser has spent 27 years working in a quarry deep in the Jordanian desert, hauling slabs of stone for tiny sums of money. His family knows almost nothing about his work, other than that he barely makes enough to make ends meet. The slabs could easily be lifted mechanically onto the trucks that take them the 220km from the quarry to the Jordanian capital of Amman, but quarry owners prefer for them to be loaded by hand. This type of stone is very valuable and a favourite of wealthy renovators looking to add fashionable facades to their homes, and workers like Yasser can make sure that it is not cracked or damaged. According to civil society organisations labour violations are very common in Yasser’s industry. But at 46 years of age he has little alternative. He believes he is too old to learn a new trade.

Story & Photography: Ezzeldeen Al-Natour

06/07/2021

Brick boy

‘I don’t know how to tell the time. I will return home when it gets dark. Our work starts at midnight. This place is not bad. At least we have our own temporary hut. We lost our home in the river years ago. We had nowhere to go. When the brickfield is under water during the monsoon, we go to the village and take free work at people’s houses in return for food and shelter. All my family members go to different places. We miss each other very much. This work is hard, my mother can’t breathe at night, but this is the only work that keeps us altogether. Usually I dry 1000 bricks every day or carry bricks. Now it’s the lunch break, I am collecting coal for cooking. I get 80 taka ($1) daily, which is saved, along with my brothers & sisters. We are saving to build our own home’ - Shimu (10).

Story & Photography: Fabeha Monir

Al Jazeera Stories English