Communications officer at UNOCHA, Guiomar Pau Sole and her partner of 14 years, photojournalist Albert Gonzalez Farran, have been living in South Sudan for almost two years. Metropolitan writer Sam Mednick caught up with them in the South Sudanese capital of Juba to talk candidly about living and working in a conflict area.
Albert: I love photography, photojournalism and the stories they tell. I used to work at a local newspaper in Lleida, but there was a point where I felt the need to explore something beyond my own context. I like using photography to let people in Europe know what is happening far away from them—for example my mom in Barcelona knows what’s happening because I’m here.
Guiomar: I followed Albert to Darfur—that’s where I first started. It was at a time when the crisis in Spain was quite bad and my job wasn’t secure. I thought that I’d like to be with Albert and get some international experience and so I went to Darfur in 2010. I liked it. I found it interesting and challenging and today I’m here, in Juba.
Albert: The hardest part about being here is gaining access to places and locations due to logistical issues, security and the need to get approval from the authorities. Taking photos in the streets or sensitive locations is challenging and it’s risky dealing with the army or national security. The stories are there but accessing them is tricky. There are many places now in South Sudan that the humanitarian world cannot reach and people are suffering as a result.
Guiomar: Working here with Albert makes life much easier than being alone. Due to all of the restrictions (curfew, not being able to go wherever you want, etc.) having someone you love with you makes your life much better. It also gives you more balance as I have more of a personal life that’s separate from my professional life.
Albert: It’s hard being here because you can’t have a standard life. We can’t raise kids or plan for the future because tomorrow everything can be blown up and we’ll be evacuated. We live in the present. People normally plan or think about next year as in we’ll do this or that, but we just plan one or two months ahead as in where should we go on holiday next.
Guiomar: It helps that we both work in the same field because we know how to support each other. We’re familiar with the other’s reality. He goes into the field more than I do but I know the reality that he’s facing every day so I can relate to that.
Albert: People back home are always so surprised when we talk about what’s going on here. They can’t believe that things like this are happening in the world: killing, raping, people dying from starvation. It’s hard to understand how come in the 21st century these people still have nothing to eat. In a world with so much excess, where we have too much of everything in places like Barcelona and Europe, how come in other places they don’t have enough? How come children are in such bad shape and starving? It’s sad that these issues still exist.
Albert: One of the hardest stories I covered was of a baby who fought for her life but ultimately didn’t make it due to a technical failure with a generator. The child could have easily survived in a normal hospital in Barcelona. It was really difficult to continue working after she died but I forced myself to go on because you can’t stop and you can’t allow your emotions to block you. The mother was crying and I kept taking photographs. I had very strong feelings at that moment. I was embarrassed that I was taking pictures and kept wondering if I was doing the right thing—but I think I was. Being born in South Sudan is a matter of fate. We were lucky that we were born in a nice country with good resources.
Albert: I keep my emotions in check because it’s meaningful work. You can create an impact and get feedback with the photographs. That picture I took of the baby was distributed and published in El Mundo and in Australia, allowing donors or other people to see what’s happening and invest money in these types of issues—to make generators that don’t fail, for example.
Albert & Guiomar: We don’t plan. We don’t think we’ll be doing this forever but right now our lives are linked with our professional opportunities. If we had an offer in Barcelona we’d go back tomorrow but it depends on what comes up.
For a closer look at Albert’s photography, visit his website.