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Smriti Daniel Reza Deghati has not been content to stay hidden behind his camera - a consultant to the United Nations humanitarian programme in Afghanistan, he was awarded the Chevalier de l' Ordre du Mérite (2005) by French President Jacques Chirac and is the founder and president of the NGO Aina. Today he is in Colombo again on a mission. A vital and energetic 53, Reza has an inexhaustible faith in humanity and in an individual's ability to make a difference for the better. “There is a saying in Persian,” he remarks, “all the darkness of the world cannot overcome the light of a single candle.” Reza has spent nearly 40 years in the globe’s hotspots – going from disaster to war zone – always taking pictures that have captured the hearts and minds of his audience. This is his way of declaring war on war. Born in 1952 in Tabriz, in north-eastern Iran, Reza got his first camera when he was 14 years old. He laughingly admits that the images he took consoled him for his inability to paint. He was 22 when his “subversive” photographs, which threw light on the more unsavoury aspects of the Shah’s regime, had him thrown into prison. “I was put in prison for three years. I was tortured for five months—they were trying to find out if I belonged to a conspiracy.” A metal bucket was put over his head so that all he could hear were his own agonized screams amplified. Reza did not break. Remembering that terrible time he says quietly, “torture is the worst thing that one human can do to another.” It was three years before he was released from prison. Surprisingly, far from being weakened, his resolve to expose social injustice was stronger. His life as a professional photojournalist started in 1978 when he covered the Iranian revolution for the Agence France-Press (AFP) and the Newsweek magazine. He then became a Middle East correspondent for Time from 1983 to 1988. Since then his pictures have appeared in newspapers and magazines all over the world, including Vanity Fair and the New York Times Magazine. Reza is amongst the select few to have photo assignments published in the world renowned National Geographic Magazine, (he has made the cover 14 times since he began working for the magazine in 1993). He has also contributed to a number of books, is a regular correspondent for BBC Persian and Radio France Internationale Persian. Having been deep in war zones all over the world – such as Afghanistan, Beirut, Philippines, Tunisia, Kenya, South Africa, Iraq, Lebanon and Kosovo – Reza says that he has come face to face with the beast that resides in every human being. And yet his life seems dedicated to helping those around him. “How can I not see the beauty in man…in life?” he asks, “I believe in it.” He explains that humanity’s civilization is still young and that it is our almost primitive attitudes and actions that result in so much cruelty. Reza who has a loving family in Paris, is home only for three months of the year. How can he bear to be away from his wife and children? He answers the question with a little story: “Just say you were to see a child hurt and crying loudly on the street, those around would instantly respond by going to see what was wrong…it is the same for me, whether it is happening on my doorstep or in a country thousands of miles away I feel compelled to go and help in any way that I can…if I didn’t, I would not be ashamed,” he says, struggling for words, “it would just be there on my conscience.” Sometimes helping in any way he can has demanded some innovation. For instance, during the massacres in Rwanda and Burundi numerous families lost track of their children, with almost 10,000 children separated from their parents. “When 2 million people start running,” he says, “who can keep eight children together?” Together with UNICEF and Red Cross, Reza organised a “photo exhibition” in all five refugee camps. A tent was put up and 10,000 pictures were displayed and people encouraged to try and spot their children. This was much harder than it sounds as many of the refugees had never seen a picture before. Nevertheless, 3,500 boys and girls went home. Reza can still remember the joy on the faces of the reunited families. “Little by little, I found out that the real victims of war are the children. They are so innocent that they don’t understand why this is happening to them—why they are losing their homes and their families, why they don’t have anything to eat.” Reza’s next destination is Kashmir, where he will be meeting victims of the recent earthquake. While his aim is to take photographs that will stir the hearts and minds of the international community, Reza is there simply because he needs to be…simply because he believes he can make a difference.. Reza’s
mission to help children He explains media and communication play a key role in helping people feel empowered and liberated. Aina has not only trained numerous individuals, it also aims to provide them with top of the range equipment and training, thereby putting them on an even standing with western professionals. Case in point is the production “No More Tears, Sister”- the first documentary to be made by Afghan women which was nominated for an Emmy award. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
The
man who sits before me has the reputation of being one of the finest
photojournalists in the world. To say he's travelled the globe in
the four decades of his professional career, wouldn't really be
telling you the whole story. After all, he was the first and only
photographer to ride into Kabul beside Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion
of Panshjir, when the city was retaken from the Taliban; he's been
in refugee camps in Rwanda and Burundi, taken cover in trenches
with Afghan fighters and travelled by boat to Yemen with the late
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. 
