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Ami Vitale è una fotogiornalista indipendente americana. Le sue immagini hanno fatto il giro della stampa internazionale – Time, Newsweek, GEO, National Geographic, New York Times, The Guardian - raccontandoci molte storie dalle zone di crisi del mondo: la guerra nei Balcani, il Kashmir, la seconda Intifada, i più remoti villaggi africani. Per i suoi reportage, empatici, toccanti e incisivi, ha ricevuto numerosi riconoscimenti tra cui quello del World Press Photo, della National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), il premio Inge Morath della Magnum.

AMI VITALE PHOTOGRAPHER
GUINEA BISSAU
Dembel Jumpora is nestled in the eastern part of Guinea Bissau, the climate is hot and humid and by the end of the dry season, there is little water. Children take advantage of the rains and swim in the touffe when they are full

From left to right,m Dansar, Musa, and Briama Balde play in the touffe, a place where bricks for the huts were orginally made, now filled with water. The end of the rainy season is the richest time of year, and villagers have more opportunities to escape their daily chores.

Boys play soccer underneath an enormous bontang tree. Though the Fulani are a Muslim tribe, they also believe that this tree has a spirir. This mixture of animist beliefs and Islamic law creates a society which has a great respect of the land around them, the supernatural world, and the laws of God



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 — but what they have, they will share equally among the family and guests.

In a culture where the opportunities for women to be honored, celebrated, and recognized are few, circumcision becomes disproportionately significant — in spite of the pain it brings

Five year-old Awa Balde clings to her mother moments after she has been circumcised. The age at which girls are subjected to this ranges from infanthood to young adulthood

Though the knife was dull to perform a circumcision on Awa, alcohol was used to prevent infection

Fama Jamaka uses alcohol to clean Awa the morning after she had been circumcised.

Dembel Jumpora-Baby Feet - Halima Balde holds her first child just days after he was born. The naming ceremony does not take place until a week to ten days after a child is born because of the high rate of child mortality in Duinea Bissau.

Khady Balde wakes up and tries to get warmed by the sun on a cold morning in early January. The only way to escape the chilling winter months is to sleep closely, side by side with the entire family.
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