So Close, But So Far

These images are from a detention camp in Pabrade, Lithuania (Wikipedia). Many of the people of people in the photographs are Kurds from Iraq, but why are they here? Like the women in my post two weeks ago, many of these Kurds were being persecuted by Saddam Hussein and his campaign of fear. They chose to flee the country in search of protection from the new terror that had been unleashed in their homeland of Iraq. Unfortunately, none of these Kurds authorized to be in the country of Lithuania and so their journey was halted and the freedom they thought they were getting was snatched right from under their feet (Salgado 109). The bottom picture shows an entire family that is being held in this camp with nowhere to go. They cannot go back for fear of being killed, and because of the laws against them, they also cannot go forward. These Kurds were so close, but yet so far.

Photograph by Sebastiao Salgado

Works Cited

1. Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture Foundation. New York. 2000. 109.

2. ---. Pamphlet. “The Refugees' Drama in Former Yugoslavia”.Migrations: Humanity in Transition. New York, Aperture. 2000. 109. Pdf.

3. "Lithuania". Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 2/24/2010. 2/24/2010.