Audio Slide Show

Our assignment was to find a audio slide show or multimedia project we were impressed by. I chose Death All Around by Finbarr O'Reilly, of Reuters.

It can be found here http://www.reuterspix.com/congo/

I know you might think this piece is just typical for a photojournalist. After all, don't most of us want to travel and change the world? I chose this audio slide show because it tells of a war that is largely ignored by the international community. Finbarr O'Reilly, the Reuters photographer who narrates the slide show, said that the Congo's war has claimed more than 5 million lives, making it the "deadliest since World War II." O'Reilley mentions the economic factors and the vulnerable wildlife as well as the ethnicity-driven violence that one might expect in light of Hotel Rwanda and the genocide in Sudan. He illustrates each point with photographs and uses ambient noise to match the photos. I do wish we heard voices beyond that of the reporter.

The other reason I chose this piece is personal. I lived in the Congo (which used to be known as Zaire) until I was five. My family was evacuated twice. Goma- the sight of many of the images seen here- was not far from my home in Kazuza. Two things struck me especially when viewing this slide show. First, the scene where the casket of the girl who died with cholera is being buried. My dad had a sawmill in Zaire. He said his most common request was for small caskets. Second, the fact that O'Reilly was able to obtain so many images of the military. My dad returned to the country in the fall of 2007. He was arrested for taking pictures. Because he knew people who knew local government officials he was released after a few days. However, he had to sign an agreement to only take photos while inside buildings and to exclude any military from his pictures. O'Reilly had valuable, volatile access.