Photojournalism Project Aims to 'Open Window' to Afghanistan

WORLD -- August 31, 2011 at 10:05 AM EDT

Photojournalism Project Aims to 'Open Window' to Afghanistan

Photos by Afghan journalist Farooq Jan Mangal

Most of the stories coming out of Afghanistan have to do with war and suffering, but one photojournalism project is designed to shift the focus and to show the world what people's day-to-day lives are like.

The Denmark-based non-profit organization, International Media Support, helps train Afghan journalists how to report in conflict zones and in basic safety skills. But it also is teaching the journalists to tell the story of their daily lives through photography in a two-year "empowering photos" project.

"We can never get as close as the people to their homes and so on. They can open the window to us to," said Susanna Inkinen, Afghanistan program manager with IMS. Despite the problems of security and poverty that plague the country, "through these journalists, you can see that Afghanistan is still alive."

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