Exhibit documents the scope of polio eradication efforts worldwide
Jean-Marc Giboux
Image credit: Monika Lozinska
The exhibit “Chasing Polio,” on display at the Chicago Center for Photojournalism in Chicago, USA, through 29 May, captures an extraordinary 18-year journey. Photographer Jean-Marc Giboux traveled to 17 countries to document the effects of polio and the wide-ranging fight to eradicate it. He spoke with Rotary International, a sponsor of the exhibit, about his favorite photos, his most challenging ordeals, and how a Rotary member helped him at a crucial moment.
Q: How did you become interested in photographing polio eradication efforts?
A: In 1997, I was looking for a good story about our entry into the 21st century. I saw a story in the Chicago Tribune about Rotary and polio eradication, so I called Rotary and said, “I’d like to do a story. How can we do this?” We talked for a long time, and ultimately The Rotary Foundation gave me a grant to document this work. The next year, the photos were published in Life magazine, and a week later the World Health Organization asked me if I wanted to go to Sierra Leone for them. I had no idea I was getting into this for 18 years. It just happened.
Q: Are there particular countries where it’s easier or harder to photograph people?
A: I’ve been going to India for 25 years, so I’m very comfortable in India. I can find my way around, and Indian people are pretty good about being photographed. I went there probably 10 times. Afghanistan and Pakistan were more difficult. In Afghanistan, you need a translator, and it can be difficult from a security standpoint.
Q: Is it hard to photograph polio eradication work in general?
A: The experience of photographing polio vaccination was usually very positive. You arrive in places where there is poverty, there is war, and you’re coming in with a group of people who are simply there to help. I got a pretty good reception everywhere.
Q: What are your favorite photos in the exhibition?
A: There’s one picture from Sierra Leone of a group of kids sitting together in a home for disabled children. I love that picture. You know, they are just school kids.
Insulated ice boxes set out to dry at a health center. One main challenge in any immunization campaign is maintaining a cold chain, which means keeping vaccines at the right temperature from when they’re produced until they’re used. Delhi, India, 2004.
Courtesy of Jean-Marc Giboux
There’s another picture, of this guy walking with a cooler [in Afghanistan]. I would spend my day following the immunization workers going door to door. That was in 2002, when I was able to do this without a police escort. After that it became dangerous.
Q: Were there times when your alliance with Rotary helped you get the photos you wanted?
A: On my very first morning in Kano, in northern Nigeria, I went out to take pictures. I didn’t take a single picture before I got arrested for having a camera. Two big guys just got me. Then I saw a policeman in uniform. I ran to him and asked, “Are these people legit?” and he said, “Yes, they are immigration [police]” or something. So I went with them in their car.
They took my passport, and for two days I was not able to get out of the hotel. But a Rotarian, the local president of the Rotary club in Kano, kind of negotiated for me. He never told me what he did, but he got my passport back.
Q: Did you anticipate challenges like that when you began taking polio pictures?
A: I had no idea what I was getting into. The first place I went was Ethiopia, and I wanted to go into the south to see some tribal areas. It was the rainy season, and we got stuck in the mud in the middle of the night. I was able to photograph the vaccinations, but it took me around three days to get back. That was the reality. In the same way I made my way there, the polio vaccine had to get there. It was quite interesting to see the difficulty. Putting two drops of vaccine in the mouth of a kid is not that difficult. Making it happen is the difficult part.
Learn more about Rotary’s polio eradication efforts.
Visit :-
https://www.rotary.org/en/photographer-reflects-18-years-chasing-polio
