2nd place
silver star award
Diego Menjíbar Reynes
spain
title
Dzaleka, a place apart
Dzaleka is the only refugee camp in Malawi. It was established in 1994 in response to the wave of people fleeing the Rwandan genocide and armed conflicts in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The World Food Programme has warned that it is running out of food and refugees complain that they have no food, clean water or security, basic necessities of life. To make matters worse, 8,000 refugees living independently throughout the country are planned to be relocated back to the Dzaleka camp in April 2023.
In Chichewa, the country's official language, Dzaleka means "I will not do it again". The camp, prepared to accommodate between 10 and 12,000 people, today houses more than 56,000 refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, who one day fled their homes in search of a peace they could not find in their own countries. And in Dzaleka they still haven't found it.
I am the founder and director of From Inside, an independent participatory photography project created in 2017. Since then, I have developed the project in 3 refugee camps in Europe (Serbia and Greecia) to give voice to migrants who were stucked in the camps with no career opportunities. Also, I travelled to Equatorial Guinea to work with the LGBTIQ+ collective and with the students of a deaf school, and in Mallorca with a group of women of different cultures, religions and backgrounds.
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entry description
These photographs are the result of a brutal coincidence: accidentally being in the right place at the right time. On November 22, 2022, police began firing tear gas and confronting refugees when they looted some items from a warehouse after discovering that their names were missing from a distribution list of construction materials. Security forces fired tear gas for more than 10 hours around the camp. In that moment, there was no other photojournalist besides me, and these are the only photographs of that day.Dzaleka is the only refugee camp in Malawi. It was established in 1994 in response to the wave of people fleeing the Rwandan genocide and armed conflicts in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The World Food Programme has warned that it is running out of food and refugees complain that they have no food, clean water or security, basic necessities of life. To make matters worse, 8,000 refugees living independently throughout the country are planned to be relocated back to the Dzaleka camp in April 2023.
In Chichewa, the country's official language, Dzaleka means "I will not do it again". The camp, prepared to accommodate between 10 and 12,000 people, today houses more than 56,000 refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, who one day fled their homes in search of a peace they could not find in their own countries. And in Dzaleka they still haven't found it.
about the photographer
I am a 28 years old freelance journalist and photographer from Spain, interested on social issues, migrations and vulnerable collectives. I am constantly trying to find the beauty of the little things. I have been traveling around South America, Africa and Europe for the last six years, making stories and publishing in newspapers of my country. I professionally combine text, photography and video, but photography have become my favorite format to express myself.I am the founder and director of From Inside, an independent participatory photography project created in 2017. Since then, I have developed the project in 3 refugee camps in Europe (Serbia and Greecia) to give voice to migrants who were stucked in the camps with no career opportunities. Also, I travelled to Equatorial Guinea to work with the LGBTIQ+ collective and with the students of a deaf school, and in Mallorca with a group of women of different cultures, religions and backgrounds.
back to gallery