A Long Walk

Maban County, South Sudan, June - July 2012.

How do you represent a journey in an image?



Thirty thousand men, women and children from Sudan's Blue Nile State sought an end to nine months of terror and trauma when they crossed the border into neighbouring South Sudan this past June. They joined a population of 70,000 refugees who preceded them in fleeing Khartoum's deadly military campaign to crush the northern remnant of the Southern liberation movement.

Many of the new arrivals had never left the vicinity of their villages before shelling, bombardment, and gun-toting soldiers drove them away starting last September. They fled from the bush to the mountains and back again for months, often stuck behind enemy lines, before they were finally able to reach the border, a journey made perilous by the dearth of water and food as well as the risk of ambush and attack.

The incredible array of worn-down, ill-fitting and jerry-rigged shoes form a silent testimony to the arduous nature of their journey, as well as the persistence and ingenuity of the individuals who survived it.