A World of Prayer

Tibet

 

Cambodia

On Prayer
… All I know is that prayer constructs a velvet bridge
And walking it we are aloft, as on a springboard,
Above landscapes the color of ripe gold
Transformed by a magic stopping of the sun.
- Czeslaw Milosz, Polish Author

Sri Lanka

 

Kabul, Afghanistan

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when,
whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.
- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

United States

 

Peshawar, Pakistan

 

Rome, Italy

One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.
- G. E. Lessing, German writer and philosopher

Amritsar, India

 

Tibet

 

United States

Listening is the beginning of prayer.
- Mother Teresa

Yugoslavia

 

India

Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere,
there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage,
and you will understand that prayer is an education.
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Kashmir

 

China

 

Afghanistan

…there is a God, there always has been. I see him here, in the eyes of the people in this [hospital] corridor of desperation.
This is the real house of God, this is where those who have lost God will find Him…
there is a God, there has to be, and now I will pray,
I will pray that He will forgive that I have neglected Him all of these years,
forgive that I have betrayed, lied, and sinned with impunity
only to turn to Him now in my hour of need. I pray that He is as merciful,
benevolent, and gracious as His book says He is.
- Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

Kuchi Nomads Pray in Afghanistan

 

Japan

To be present is to be prayerful.
- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Burma

 

Bamiyan, Afghanistan

 

Brazil

Prayer is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings.
- Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople

India

Thousands of Muslims in Orange County, California,
came together to pray in Angels Stadium to observe Eid al-Adha, a major Islamic
holiday celebrating the culmination of the annual pilgrimage, Hajj,
which brings together millions of Muslims to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
- 10/27/2012

Going Home

Home is where one starts from. 
- T.S. Eliot

Rajasthan, India

The ache for home lives in all of us…
- Maya Angelou

Omo Valley, Ethiopia

My home is my retreat and resting place …
I try to keep this corner as a haven against the tempest outside,
as I do another corner in my soul.
- Michel de Montaigne

Cave Homes in Bamiyan, Afghanistan

Tibet

He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Bamiyan Province, Afghanistan 

The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown.
It may be frail — its roof may shake — the wind may blow through it — the storm may enter — the rain may enter —
but the King of England cannot enter! — all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.
-William Pitt the Elder

India

All language is a longing for home.
- Jalaluddin Rumi, 13th-Century Persian poet

Russia

 Mali

Uganda

Peru

Mauritania

Home is any four walls that enclose the right person.
-Helen Rowland

 Tibet

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.
- Benjamin Franklin

Kashmir

Tihamah Plain, Yemen

A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
- George Edward Moore

Refugees returning to destroyed homes, Herat, Afghanistan

Russia

There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues,
the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained. 
- Winston Churchill

 Tanzania

Philippines

 Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.
- John Howard Payne

Afghanistan

Morocco

 My home is not a place; it is people.
- Lois McMaster Bujold

Bosnia

Brazil

Russia

Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound.
- Herman Melville

Omo Valley, Ethiopia

It takes a lot of living to make a house a home
It doesn’t make any  difference how rich you get to be
How much your chairs and tables cost, how great your luxury;
It isn’t home to you though it be the palace of a king,
Until somehow your soul is wrapped round everything.
- Paraphrase of Edgar Guest poem, Home

Upcoming Exhibitions
Plazzo Ducale, Genova, Italy – Opens October 17, 2012
http://www.stevemccurrygenova.it/
Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, California, United States – November 15, 2012
 Kunstmuseum-Wolfsburg, Germany – January 19, 2013
Kunsthalle Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland – June 1, 2013

To Save a Child

It was a privilege to go to the Omo Valley in Ethiopia with my friend, John Rowe, to photograph
the work he is doing with Lale Labuko in their work to end the practice of mingi and to house
and shelter the mingi children who have already been rescued.

I met John in Burma a few years ago. He is a photographer and
successful businessman who has founded companies which develop software
for digital media and the entertainment industry.
He has also devoted a tremendous amount of time, energy, and
financial assistance to the work of Omo Child.

 John Rowe and friends 

Lale was born into the Kara Tribe in the Omo River Valley.
He was one of the first of his tribe to receive a formal education.
That opportunity led him to realize the critical importance of ending the tribal ritual of Mingi.
Outlawing and stopping this devastating practice of Mingi is his life’s mission.

 Lale Labuko, founder of OMO Child

Mingi is the ritualistic killing of infants and children who are mingi
because they are considered impure or cursed.
A child can be mingi for many reasons, but once they are mingi they are
left alone in the desert without food and water or drowned in a river.

Once safely in the care of the loving and nurturing care of nannies at the Omo Child shelter,
they are fed, clothed, sheltered and educated.

The hope is that the rescued children will be future leaders in their communities and
will help raise awareness to help advocate the ending of the tribal practice of mingi.

The Omo River Valley is located in Southwest Ethiopia, Africa. It has been called “the last frontier” in Africa. 
There are nine main tribes that occupy the Omo River Valley, with a population of approximately 225,000 tribal peoples.
The majority of the people living in the Omo River Valley live without clean drinking water and without medical care.

Please join me to help John and Lale rescue and care for these children.
http://www.omochild.org

Lale and his wife Gido

Steve McCurry in the Omo Valley