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Guinea Bissau(22 images)
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  • Halima holds her first, newborn baby inside her mud hut in Guinea Bissau, West Africa. Women do not name their babies for ten days because the infant mortality rates are so high in this country. Guinea Bissau is ranked as the fifth poorest country in the world. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Khady Balde wakes up and tries to get warmed by the sun on a cold early January morning. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Alio holds a scrap of mirror inside a mud hut in the remote village of DEmbel Jumpora, Guinea Bissau, West Africa. The village has no running water, electricity or even the basic medial facilities and having this mirror was a luxury. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Boys play soccer underneath an enormous Bontang tree. Though the Fulani are a Muslim tribe, they also believe that this tree has a spirit. This mixture of animist beliefs and Islamic law creates a society which has a great respect for the land around them, the supernatural world and the laws of God. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Dansar, Musa and Briama Balde play in the touffe, a place where bricks for the huts were originally made which had filled up with water. The end of the rainy season is the richest time of year when time to escape the daily chores is more readily available. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Alio Balde scrubs his body in front of the touffe, a place where bricks for the huts were originally made which had filled up with water. The end of the rainy season is the richest time of year when time to escape the daily chores is more readily available in the remote village of Dembel Jumpoa in the West African country of Guinea Bissau. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Alio Balde mimics his older brother and makes a fake cigarette out of grass and paper. Increasingly, the boys are moving to the capital of Bissau and abandoning the duties of the village life. Guinea Bissau is ranked as one of the poorest nations in the world and has just come out of a civil war but still village life has remained mostly untouched from most modern influences By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Children chant the Koran written on wooden tablets in Arabic, even though most of them do not understand what they are reading and instead have learned it through memorization. Among the things that sets the Fulani apart from most other ethnic tribes in Guinea Bissau is that they are Muslim. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Transplanting rice is a grueling task in the small village of Dembel Jumpora in Guinea Bissau, West Africa. Girls begin at the age of 7 to work the fields with hand hoes because there are no tractors or machinery in this remote village. They spend long days with their backs bent ploughing and often find leeches clinging to their feet while working in the harsh sun. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Abi Taco sits on her mothers back as she prepares to go the field to transplant rice. Children, sometimes babies are circumcized in this society. In a culture where the opportunities for women to be so honored, celebrated and recognized are few, circumcision becomes disproportionately significant, in spite of the pain it brings. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Halima holds her first, newborn baby inside her mud hut in Guinea Bissau, West Africa. Women do not name their babies for ten days because the infant mortality rates are so high in this country. Guinea Bissau is ranked as the fifth poorest country in the world. By photographer Ami Vitale
    GuineaBissa...jpg
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  • Five year-old Awa Balde clings to her mother moments after she was circumcised. The age at which girls are subjected to this ranges from when they are very small babies to young adulthood. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Fama holds the dull knife used to perform the circumcision and this time she had alcohol to clean the wound. Normally it is unaffordable and girls pass through the age-old rite without it. Those who do not cry are considered more respectable prospects for a future husband who will sometimes pay a dowry to claim them before they are teenagers. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Fama uses alcohol to clean Awa the morning after she had been circumcised. Though the knife was dull to perform a circumcision, alcohol was used to prevent any infections. Normally it is unaffordable and girls pass through the age-old rite without it. Those who do not cry are considered more respectable prospects for a future husband who will sometimes pay a dowry to claim them before they are teenagers. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Awa Balde, who had been circumcised, cries after she has been hit by an elder sister. The two months after the girls are circumcised are considered a time for discipline and learning the rules of becoming a woman. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • In a culture where the opportunities for women to be so honored, celebrated and recognized are few, circumcision becomes disproportionately significant, in spite of the pain it brings. By photographer Ami Vitale
    GuineaBissa...jpg
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  • Khady rests in the shade as her brother takes the doneky to the market in the village of Dembel Jumpora, Guinea Bissau, West Africa. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Women come back from working at sunset. Transplanting rice is a grueling task in the small village of Dembel Jumpora in Guinea Bissau, West Africa. Girls begin at the age of 7 to work the fields with hand hoes because there are no tractors or machinery in this remote village. They spend long days with their backs bent ploughing and often find leeches clinging to their feet while working in the harsh sun. By photographer Ami Vitale
    GuineaBissa...jpg
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  • In a culture where the opportunities for women to be so honored, celebrated and recognized are few, circumcision becomes disproportionately significant, in spite of the pain it brings. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Dembel Jumpora is nestled in the eastern part of the country. The climate is hot and humid but by the end of the dry season, there is little water to be found above ground. The children take advantage of the rains and spend a great amount of time swimming in the touffe. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Adema Balde washes near her family's rice fields in the village of Dembel Jumpora located in the West African country of Guinea Bissua. She died as a teenager later that year after trying to escape an arranged marriage. By photographer Ami Vitale
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  • Dembel Jumpora-Dinner-Children eat the staple diet of rice from a communal bowl. During the end of the dry season, there is little to eat and many villagers will have only one meal of rice each day. By photographer Ami Vitale
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