Pictures from Award-winning Renfrewshire photographer captures on film how people of
An internationally-recognised photographer from Renfrewshire has returned from a trip to the poorest country in the world where he spent almost a week capturing portraits of the people that live there.
Graeme Hewitson, the British Institute of Professional Photography’s photographer of the year award winner, was commissioned to take photos for Tearfund which is helping the people of Burundi rebuild peace and overcome poverty after years of conflict and civil war.
The East African nation is the poorest country in the world by nominal GDP per capita.
Graeme’s time there saw him meet with communities, previously divided and torn apart, that have been supported by Tearfund’s church partners to resolve local and domestic conflicts and work together to tackle malnutrition, introduce sanitation and good hygiene practices, start their own businesses and provide support for those who have experienced sexual and gender-based violence. Tearfund is a Christian charity which works in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries to tackle poverty and injustice.
Graeme’s photos will help highlight the work of Tearfund and bring the stories of the people of Burundi to life and will be showcased in an exhibition at a later date.
Graeme – who runs Monument Photos with his sons Aaron, a photo editor, and Josh, a videographer – told the Express it was an incredible experience.
He said: “I’d never been to Africa before and it was everything I hoped it would be – an incredible experience travelling around lots of remote villages and meeting with individuals who had some really incredible stories to tell.
“I’ve been a photographer for 25 years but that was by far the most unique photo shoot I’ve ever done.”
One of the people whose stories Graeme caught on camera was Janviere, who had to flee her home country during fighting, living with her family in a refugee camp in Uganda.
When she returned to Burundi in 2021, she feared she would not be able to survive in the community she was once a part of. She said: “I felt like I was going to be in conflict with others around me. It made me feel isolated and I was living in fear.
“I felt people would see me differently. Because of that, I started hating them. What they said about people returning home filled me with anger.”
However, community volunteers called peace champions put in place through Tearfund’s project supported her.
“The peace champion told me to come and attend training to help me know how to live alongside other people,” Janviere said. “She taught me
how to recognise my behaviour in conflict situations and how to be more patient with others.
“I am now able to go into communities and interact with others.
“I know how to manage myself and, after the training, there is peace and harmony in my life. In my home, there is peace.
“In our community, there is peace.
“We used to hate each other and want to kill each other but now we are at peace.
“We used to feel humiliated but now we have respect for our neighbours.” Jen Clark from Tearfund Scotland said: “We were thankful to have Graeme join us to see Tearfund’s projects first hand.
“People in Burundi have powerful stories to tell. Stories of overcoming incredible hardship, hunger, violence and loss.
“We wanted to honour the people we met by sharing their stories with compassion and dignity and Graeme captured their experiences beautifully.
“He is a very skilled photographer with lots of passion for what he does and he puts people at ease wherever he goes – even despite cultural differences.”