On the Ground with the IWMF

Jane Hahn is an amazingly talented freelance photographer who has been based in West Africa for eleven years. 

Looking through her portfolio is a journey – her portraits of the region are truly piercing, often both intimate and haunting. After learning that like me, she got a late start in journalism (we both started at 29 after pursuing other careers), I wanted to better understand what drove Jane to throw herself into this under-reported region so consciously and what has kept her there for the past decade…. 

Why did you choose to pursue a career in photojournalism in West Africa? 

I was drawn to West Africa because of its culture, diversity and resilience. Through early travels my eyes were opened to the incomplete narrative that was dominant in the West at the time. I wanted to learn more about the complexities of such a vast and misunderstood continent and its relation to the global community. 

Focusing on West Africa has not only helped me learn about the many individual countries that make up the region, but also their relation to each other culturally, religiously, economically, and politically, which helps when piecing together a larger narrative. The challenge of telling stories in a region largely ignored by the international media continues to be a difficult, but rewarding, path. 

This is not my first time to get fake-kidnapped as I already did hostile environment training last year. It's still a shock, being reminded that this is one of the perils of the job. What do you really do in this kind of situation? On both scenarios that I've been in, I always try to remove the blindfold. I wanted to see, commit things in memory as I distract myself from the cramps. I remind myself that this is just drill and wait for someone to shout the safe word "Obama!".

César Sánchez is one of the only young faces among dozens of producers selling their produce in the farmer’s market in Santa Tecla, on the outskirts of El Salvador’s capital city. 

I’m reporting a story on the participation — or lack of participation — of youth in agriculture in El Salvador, so the young man catches my eye. 

Standing over a spread of fresh fruits and vegetables, the 26-year-old explains that back in his community, located over 50 km west of San Salvador, there is also “little interest” among youth in producing food. 

Most people his age flock from the countryside in search of jobs, he says, leaving few to carry the agricultural torch. 

It’s a familiar story for many agricultural areas in the north and south alike, and one I’ve already heard from other rural communities in El Salvador. I ask the young producer what it would take to convince his peers to bet on farming. 

“We have to make known the importance of agriculture for people and for the country and also support and incentivize youth with tools and knowledge,” he says over the hum of the vendors hawking their wares and customers filling their shopping bags.  

Sánchez, who produces in a cooperative with about 30 other producers organized in the Izalco Cooperative Association of Agricultural Production in the department of Sonsonate, believes that more creative thinking and development in rural areas could disrupt the trend in his generation.

“In agriculture, there’s a big lag. There’s little innovation,” he says. “In knowledge, there’s also a lag. There’s no progress in new forms of producing.”

“We are also falling into monocultures — only producing [sugar] cane or coffee or cacao — and few are interested in diversifying their farms,” he adds. "Producing only one thing creates dependency.“

He’s not the first person to tell me that a shift to organic agriculture is key to the future of agriculture in a country set to be hard hit by global warming.

At an organic agriculture training center in Suchitoto, 50 km north east of the capital city, Augustin Durán, a 49-year-older farmer who fought with the rebel army during the country’s 12-year civil war, preaches that organic production is the only solution in the face of climate change. 

“What we are trying to do is reclaim ancestral culture, knowledge and practices,” he says. 

But the process isn’t easy, and Durán says El Salvador shouldn’t be overly optimistic nor pessimistic about the future of agriculture. 

“In this country it is difficult to create laws that support agriculture and incentivize youth,” he says.

Many producers, young and old, tell me that the government could do much more to support farmers, such as offering subsidies, ensuring land access, and improving access to markets. 

But back at the Santa Tecla market, Sánchez also makes clear that youth who do choose to produce food for El Salvador aren’t going to wait for solutions to be handed to them. Instead, some like him are thinking about how to guarantee the future of agriculture, even in small ways.  

“We are trying to save as many seeds as we can and safeguard them for the new generations,” he says. “We have to value the resources we have.”

The IWMF fellowship was top-notch at every single turn, starting with the tremendous HEFAT training. In addition to learning self-defense skills and basic First Aid, I also came away with some great, non-technical pointers for protecting myself as a female reporter. For example, I now know to make hotel reservations using my first initial and last name, so as to hide my gender. And to ask for two room keys, even when I’m alone, so people think another person is staying with me. I pray I never have to use some of the other skills I learned – like what to do if I am kidnapped or in an active shooter situation – but it’s also comforting to know that I have some preparation if that ever comes to pass.

I went on the reporting trip to El Salvador with the fabulous photographer Alicia Vera. We planned to work on two stories – about how climate change is decimating specialty coffee production, and the impact of a historic, year-old mining ban on gold and other minerals. Then we arrived in El Salvador and President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy separating migrant families at the border erupted into the news cycle. Our editors in the U.S. wanted stories from El Salvador about this topic, and so Alicia and I switched gears (as was also the case for many of the other fellows on this reporting trip). We continued reporting on the coffee story – and hope to publish a piece on that soon – but ditched the idea about mining and instead focused on the immigration crisis.

We spent two days at a migrant center in the capital city of San Salvador. I interviewed one of El Salvador’s top officials about the country’s response to Trump’s family separation policy, as well as spoke with many Salvadorans who had been deported. I used this material for several stories for National Public Radio. At the same time, Alicia and I struggled with asking (which can sometimes feel like harassing) people for interviews in their most vulnerable moments – a feeling compounded by the herd of other reporters doing the exact same thing. With that in mind, our goal was to identify people we could follow up with later in more intimate settings.

Sometimes reporting can lead to unexpected places, and that was the case for us. We ended up pursuing an unusual story about the ties between the gangs in El Salvador and the evangelical church, and how the church offers the only escape route for many young people looking to avoid or get out of gang life. This topic has so many interesting layers – the symbiotic embrace between the gangs and the Evangelical Church is fascinating and one that I find myself still thinking about weeks after the trip. One thing is clear: young people growing up in gang-controlled neighborhoods have very few life paths to pursue, and the church offers perhaps the safest route.

Before I end this post, I want to give a huge shout-out to IWMF, which in addition to the HEFAT training, assembled the dream team of people who enabled us to do these stories and didn’t get a byline. Just consider: there were six reporters on the El Salvador trip, and another six people behind the scenes helping us figure out who to interview, where to go, and ensuring our safety. (That doesn’t even include the drivers.) Not only that, they kept us in constant laughter despite the very heavy subject matters we were reporting on. Shoot. I forgot one more thing. That’s that the other women on the trip are some of the most supportive, engaging and talented reporters I’ve met. I have no doubt we will continue to support each other and collaborate in the years to come.  

Meet the Fellow: Heather Gies Heather Gies, soft-spoken and graceful, certainly knows how to throw a punch.  She is definitely sweet and insightful, but what resonated with me during our hostile environment training in Mexico was that Heather simply kicks ass. We’ve all watched in awe as she punched and kicked her way through the self-defense class. 

I’ve heard stories about Heather reporting on the ground while bullets reverberate during the electoral crisis in Honduras last year. When I asked her what made her pursue Journalism, she told me that the spark happened while she was doing her master’s thesis about the campesino leaders in Honduras in 2013:

“As part of my research, I interviewed several campesino leaders involved in a very intense land conflict who were facing an extremely grave human rights situation… I felt inspired to do journalism to be able to tell those kinds of stories that I was passionate about and that I think urgently need to be told.”

The fellowship was full of equally strong and intelligent journalists but we’ve all come to admire Heather’s focus and hard work. She’s always up before everyone else, off to interviews and meetings. Her deep understanding and concern for the stories she’s reporting on simply doesn’t match her modesty and for that, I respect her deeply. 

“I like to think that I'm writing about issues that do matter in the world and maybe I'm informing somebody in some way for them be able to use that information to try to make a change in the world.”

Amigas del camino…

 La fotografía suele ser un camino, a veces, bastante solitario. Viajas mucho, los amigos de casa ya no saben cuando estás o no estás y tu vida lentamente se va formando en el camino. Los amigos están repartidos por todo el mundo y viajar se vuelve una manera hermosa de reencuentros y despedidas. Pocas veces se dan las instancias donde un equipo funcione a la perfección. Así que cuando se juntan 4 mujeres fotógrafas, 2 mujeres organizadoras, 1 jefe de seguridad y 3 fixers que funcionan como un reloj Suizo es motivo de celebrar!  Compartir la misma pasión, las ganas de aprender, de crecer, de ser un aporte y de contar historias desde el corazón es lo que nos une a estas 4 mujeres de diferentes partes del mundo. Fue realmente inspirador ver como cada una trabajaba sin parar, pasando noches en vela y dándolo todo por sacar adelante una historia y luego llegar cada noche después de un largo día de trabajo y que todas estuvieran ahí para escucharte, para motivarte, para darte un consejo. Llegue al equipo con 1 amiga y me fui con un montón de amigos hermosos que llevaré siempre en mi corazón! Gracias a todos por su apoyo incondicional, por su fuerza, por su pasión, por sus ganas de contar historias y por haber sido el mejor apoyo! Fue un verdadero placer y un orgullo haber compartido y aprendido de cada una de estas 3 mujeres y badass women photographers! Gracias IWMF por el amor, el apoyo, el trabajo incondicional y por la increíble oportunidad que nos entregan para seguir contando historias desde los ojos de las mujeres!

During our HEFAT training course, when we weren’t trying to stay warm in the cold mountain air (come on Mexico, its June!) we were given the tools to help keep us safe, make good decisions under duress and to hopefully save lives, esp our own!

The training was not only informative but it was empowering to be learn how to stay safe in scenarios from minor self defense issues to being under fire. We were given the knowledge (and a few gadgets) to turn difficult situations to our favor which will hopefully keep us alive during real life situations. 

Upon meeting Sarah, the first things that strike you are her wide smile and relaxed and humorous demeanor. But its her intricate knowledge of Latin and Central America that is truly impressive due to her background working in the human rights sector for many years. Both of us began our careers in journalism in our late 20s, beginning in areas that still influence our processes today, which led me to wonder about her transition from policy to reporting…

During our HEFAT training course, when we weren’t trying to stay warm in the cold mountain air (come on Mexico, its June!) we were given the tools to help keep us safe, make good decisions under duress and to hopefully save lives, esp our own!

The training was not only informative but it was empowering to be learn how to stay safe in scenarios from minor self defense issues to being under fire. We were given the knowledge (and a few gadgets) to turn difficult situations to our favor which will hopefully keep us alive during real life situations.