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The airport was a complete mess. I threw away my baggage, just took the
films and my cameras and was then able to board the plane as people were
fighting to get onto the aircraft.
I had already lost a lot my things coming out of the Wollo region.
It was very difficult getting into the Wollo region; we got the last helicopter
into region with the “Bundesgrenzschutzpolizei” (German Federal
Border Guard Police) who were flying relief flights. When we got there,
they said that we would have to make our own way back as they weren’t
returning to Wollo region.
We stayed in a refugee camp, Camp Ruga, full of starving people. The
hyenas would come through the camp at night and would take a bite out
of someone’s shoulder or leg. They also dragged a lot of sick children
away. I had a tent in this place and I had a bed on the side of the tent.
The hyenas would snuffle around and if they had taken a bite at the tent,
they would have taken half my backside with it.
When I wanted to return from the area the German Embassy sent a VW bus
to pick us up. We still had a two-day march to get to our pick up point.
We had an armed escort. Then the bus broke down. People, some starving,
were walking along the street and literally started to tear the clothes
off our bodies, they stole our baggage. All I could do was to hold onto
my films and my cameras and I was lucky as a truck driver stopped. He
thought I was doing humanitarian work so he took me to Addis Ababa. Unfortunately
when I got to Addis, all hell broke loose.
In the mid-eighties I was in Benin. It was a Marxist country and you
weren’t really allowed to move around in the country as they had
somebody watching you. I heard that out in the Lake Nokwe area the military
doesn’t go because of malaria and because the Tofino are pretty
wild people – so I thought it would be ideal to do a story there.
I had to register when I went to Coutenou and the watchman they gave me
ran off when we entered the area.
more
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The
Tofino, the „water people“, live on Lake Nokwe in Benin. During
the rainy season, that starts in August, the water level rises and floods
inundate the villages near the lake...
... then the people must use boats to move. They build their houses on
stakes and poles. |
