Advancing at daybreak, French police rapidly encircled and evacuated "the Jungle", this informal area near Calais where illegal migrants roam before going to England. They hide in ferries and wait for the perfect opportunity, one which would allow them to finally reach the country they travelled so many kilometers to enter. They come from far places : Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and many other countries and regions. They believe the United Kingdom can give them the life they have always dreamed of. The tightened security and controls in Calais have made it much more difficult to traverse into England. Some pay up to 1200 pounds to...

We live at the entrance of South America, the poor but oil rich country that has been the battleground of a 40 years long civil war. Many people want to get out of the country. Just to find a decent life in America that we see everyday on TV shows. We are a Colombian, 2 Brazilians, 3 Salvadorians, and 3 Guatemalans, waiting for a small motor boat on the Guatemalan shore that is supposed to take us to Mexico, the country just next to the paradise we dream of. The trip takes 12 hours on a small motorboat in the complete darkness. If the boat sinks, there is no way to survive. This is only a part of the long journey for illegal migrants from Colombia to the U.S. The way to paradise is...

Nepal is one of the few countries that still haven’t reached the leprosy elimination target of 1 case per 10,000 population conducted by WHO. The number of leprosy patients is still growing since basic health system is not established in the country, where most of the people live under the poverty line. Now Nepal is facing a new era in its history since the victory of the Maoist party at the elections. Many leprosy patients voted for the Maoists since many of them are poor and hope for a better life with the Maoist party in power. However, the political transition does not seem to be going well and it is assumed that poverty will remain as it used to be. The leprosy issue will always be...

28th of August 2009, fresh fighting has erupted between Myanmar forces and an armed ethnic group in the remote northeast, forcing tens of thousands to flee across the border into China. China called on Myanmar to maintain stability in the border region. The military junta looks to Beijing as one of its few diplomatic backers and a crucial source of investment. "Cloistered away in a diminishing swath of the Golden Triangle, this rebel army has fought the Burmese military government for 46 years. But now, as their territory shrinks and their funding dries up, the soldiers of the Shan State Army have their backs against Thailand and nowhere left to turn. When they celebrate their...

Though leprosy is an old disease that is now 100% curable by medicines and that merely affects people nowadays, there are over 600 leprosy villages in southern provinces of China, housing over 40,000 ex-leprosy patients. In the villages, some people are partly disabled, but they are not leprosy patients anymore. They have been cured of the disease. When multi-drug therapy became available in China in the 80’s, leprosy patients were cured. However, these people are still in those villages, usually isolated in remote areas because of the long-lasting discrimination against the ex-leprosy patients. In many villages, people do not have access to clean water and electricity, and live in very...

Many young people (mostly women) are suffering from self-mutilation in Japan. Most of the time, those people have experienced violence or sexual abuse in their childhood. These traumatic experiences cause depression and other mental illness that trigger self-mutilation. Still self-mutilation remains a taboo in Japanese society.

This is the story of people who are working at the very bottom of the drug business. It includes coca farmers in the jungle, drug dealers and addicts on the streets, prisoners who are serving time for offenses related to drugs, and a drug mule who is about to smuggle heroin in his stomach to the United States simply for money to live. These people are always exposed and vulnerable. They risk their lives for a small amount of money. But many of them were born in poor neighborhoods, and have had no education or opportunities to get better paid jobs. For them, there is no other way. They are disposable. If something happens to these people, they are simply abandoned.

I met one sicario, or hit man, who has been working for a notorious right wing paramilitary group. He’s been killing people to make a living for 4 years. After getting to know him, I came to believe that poverty, in the context of a war, is what drives him to kill. In Colombia still 70% of the population lives under the poverty line, and many of the poor are involved in the 40 years old civil war. Some become guerrilla fighters while others become right wing paramilitaries. Many people take up arms to earn money for their families. By documenting the ordinary life of a hit man, I hope to be able to reveal a glimpse of what lies behind the violence in Colombia.