Childcare in Agbogbloshie

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Canon 5D, 23 mm, ISO 800, 1/60 sec @ f/5.0

Over the Christmas period, myself and Chrissy visited Ghana in our capacity of Trustees of Partner West Africa. We once again wanted to visit a lady named Amina who provides a safe haven to children during the day whilst their mothers work at the local market.

We admire her efforts greatly and try to assist with little bits here and there for her when we visit with Inusah from VWA Volunteer West Africa, by taking her items like rice, nappies, biscuits and general food items to help with looking after the children.

For me it was fascinating to see some of the same children who were there last year, and how, if at all they had changed. Compared to another group of children we met at the nursery we sponsor, there was very little change – no doubt due in part to the lack of stimulation and the limited facilities that Amina can offer. Nevertheless, kids everywhere love a load of balloons and we soon had some (but not all) smiling kids showing off their balloons to one another.


Amina’s house is long and narrow, and quite dark with a strong source of natural light coming from a narrow entrance along with a few shafts of light coming in through holes in the corrugated roof. I shot using ISO 800 with a low power flash. Focal lengths ranged between 17 mm and 29 mm. All images were tinted in Lightroom using a Warm Tone profile downloaded from the wonderful Lenswork.

Volunteering in Africa

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Canon 5D, 27 mm, ISO 200, 1/13 sec @ f/4.0

I wrote a couple of posts over at Partner West Africa about a place in Accra, the capital of Ghana called Agbogbloshie. Known locally as Sodom and Gommorah, the place really has to be visited to be believed.

A strong contender for one of the most polluted places on Earth, the 4 acre slum is home to around 40,000 people. The prospect of earning a living attracts people and despite the obvious hardships, the place is a thriving and bustling suburb with a steady stream of new arrivals.

For women, most of the jobs are at the nearby market where they earn money by working as porters, carrying purchases on top of their heads in a large bowl. This is a double-edged sword however – they need to work to earn a wage but they also need to look after their children.

A local lady named Amina offers a facility in her home when the mothers can drop their child off in the morning and collect them after work. They pay Amina a basic fee and Amina provides a safe haven.

A local NGO, VWA Volunteer West Africa has sought to provide assistance to Amina in the form of food and nappies for the children she looks after. Some of the funds raised by Partner West Africa fund these efforts.

As a Trustee of Partner West Africa I was lucky enough to visit Amina in December 2014 with Chrissy, another Trustee, pictured above with one of the little children who make use of Amina’s facility.

Sarsia

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Canon 5D, 17 mm, ISO 100, 180 sec @ f/22

Had a wander over to East Float again this afternoon to try out the big stopper filter. I also used a Lee 3ND soft grad filter to help balance the sky against the boat’s hull. Final conversion to black and white done in Silver Efex Pro 2.

Tranmere Oil Terminal

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Canon 5D, 28 mm, ISO 100, 120 sec @ f/22

At long last I’ve got myself a Lee Big Stopper filter, so I popped down to the river near the Tranmere Oil Terminal to try it out. The tide was at it’s lowest so I was able to get well down the jetty. Unfortunately as the water was so far out it wouldn’t feature prominently! Still as I was taking some pictures the tide started to rise and the water moved in. This was the best of the bunch – not brilliant but OK for a first attempt, and it’s smoothed the water out quite nicely. Converted to black and white using Silver Efex Pro 2.

Rising River

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Canon 5D, 17 mm, ISO 50, 6 sec @ f/22

I’m fortunate enough to live in a location that has lots of interesting old industrial features, one of which is the jetty and abandoned pier at Rock Ferry, on the River Mersey. The is sited next to the Tranmere Oil Terminal and there’s invariably something of interest going on, be it a tanker moored up or the tide coming or going. For a while I’ve been meaning to try some long exposures and finally got a chance to make a visit that coincided with the tide coming in.

The effect wasn’t quite as I intended but I think I might have to splash out on a Big Stopper from Lee Filters for that… Still it was a welcome early finish and a break from the office!