More photos from incoming students . . .

My name is Carolina Ocampo-Maya, an incoming MPA-DP from Colombia.  I have been a sustainable development practitioner during the last five years, and every day my work is more focused on sustainable agriculture and rural development.  I am passionate about rural areas and I want to share with you photos that I believe illustrate the beauty of the countryside.

Each cup of coffee has a story behind.  Here two typical Colombian coffee workers, rural people who need pertinent policies to attend their needs.  These are the people who inspire me every day.

Children from a rural community in Cartagena, Colombia.  Since they don’t have little toy cars (forget about remote control carts), they have attached LIVE crabs to strings!!!

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Yuchen PENG, incoming MPA student – This photo was taken last year when I was at NYC.

Photos from incoming students continue to roll in.  Enjoy.

Name: Nameera Nuzhat

Admission in: MPA

Pictures taken in: Bangladesh

The Bengali New Year known as “Pohela Boishakh” is celebrated very big in Bangladesh by people of all religions and caste in union. As opposed to the western New Year where celebrations begin at midnight, the Bengali ritual is to rejoice at the break of dawn with traditional dance, music and food. This is at six thirty in the morning when performers and audience gathered for some entertainment, “Pohela Boishakh” style.

Little ones are super excited and dressed up in Sarees to perform in shows celebrating the arrival of spring. “Bashonti” (yellow and Orange) is the color of “Boshonto” (spring) and everyone around the country dress in yellow attire on the first day of the month of “Falgun” to welcome spring and youth.

Weavers of Roopganj (literally means the village of beauty), beside the Shitalakkhya river are the only people apt at making this special kind of fabric called Dhakai Jamdani. A saree (six metres of fabric) of such intricacy takes about 3 months to make and draws about  US $ 350 at a fine store/ boutique. Sadly the poor weavers have to be satisfied with $ 80 at most for a piece that is sold for so much higher.

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Name:  Tanita María Preston Bertie.

Program:  MPA

My hand – Taken by my other hand in Lahore, Pakistan, on December 27th. As women inside the house got prepared to attend the wedding – main purpose of the trip –  the streets were adorned with marching women remembering Benazir Bhutto.  This picture always makes me remember too.

Sunrise in the Atlantic ocean on a regatta to San Blas, Panama. I have no words

I just like this picture. Nature framing nature, I took this one scuba diving in the Cayman Islands … by the way…love Scuba Diving!

The new student photo series continues again today.  If you have sent photos, thank you and we will work on posting.  If  you have yet to send photos see this entry for details.

Name – David Eisler:  Degree Program – MIA (International Security Policy)

“Alexander’s Castle” – Qalat, Afghanistan

During one of many helicopter flights in southern Afghanistan I managed to get a fantastic view of a castle built by Alexander the Great.  Overlooking the city of Qalat in Zabul province (where I was deployed for a year), this castle has been used by every army to ever come through Afghanistan, including the British, Russians, the Taliban, as well as Afghan National Army and some US forces.  I never got tired of looking at it.

“Kabul” – Kabul, Afghanistan

This is a photo of the Tajbeg Palace on the outskirts of Kabul.  I was there for a conference in February, and we had the opportunity to actually walk up to the palace and look inside.  It was built in the 1920s and housed the royal family of Afghanistan, though over the years it has seen multiple attacks and fires.  It was the only day of my deployment that I felt like a tourist, looking at the country’s history rather than the current conflict.

“KAF Sunrise” – Kandahar, Afghanistan

Taken during the early hours before a helicopter flight from Kandahar Airfield.  I loved the colors.

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Hi, my name is Rebecca Saxton-Fox and I’m in the MPA program. Attached are a few photos I’ve taken over the past two years at my job working on board a Flying Eye Hospital – a fully-equipped ophthalmic teaching hospital inside a DC-10 airplane. We train ophthalmologists and other healthcare workers, while performing free eye surgery for patients in the countries we work in.

The first photo was taken in Zanzibar, Tanzania. I love the colors, the attitudes, and the contrast between the local girls and the seemingly unaware European children playing in the sand in front of them.

The second photo was taken at a school in Libore, Niger, temporarily converted into a vision screening clinic. These women are waiting to get their vision checked by our doctors. Those that needed surgery were taken to the capital, Niamey, for follow up.

This photo was taken while driving just outside of Deir Ezzor, in Eastern Syria. This part of Syria, close to the Iraq border, is all desert, and there are frequent sand storms. It is quite shocking when you come across the lush Euphrates river that cuts right through the desert and the city.

The new student photo series continues!  If you have sent photos, thank you and we will work on posting.  If  you have yet to send photos see this entry for details.

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Name: Annalisa Liberman

Degree Program: MPA

Photo Location: Casas Viejas and surroundings, Santa Rosa, Guatemala

Photo Descriptions:

All of these photos were taken in or near the town I’ve called home for the past two years (2009-2011) as Peace Corps volunteer in a rural coastal town in southwestern Guatemala. Unlike what you find in Cindy Hollenberg’s Guatemalan photos, I live in a mostly ladino community with less Mayan influence. I feel the contrast speaks to the vast cultural diversity of this small developing country.

The shot labeled “Feria” was taken at a neighboring town fair. The carousel worker is resting during the mid morning lul while the locals sleep off their “gomas” or hangovers from the previous evening’s baile.

One morning I woke up to this “Hogtied Croc” on the family carport. My host father, Fernando, occasionally works nights packing shrimp for export. The previous eve this croc had made its way to the shrimp farm in search of an easy dinner where Nando wrestled, hogtied and trucked it home with him. He later sold it for Q2,000 ($250) to Auto Safari Chapin.

The last shot is of a Guatemalan playing soccer on the beach at sunset. Everyone knows the importance of fútbol worldwide. No further explanation necessary.

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Dylan Meagher – Incoming MIA

I took this in southern Laos in 2007.  I stumbled on this woman pounding rice during a short guided tour through the country side.  I thought I could help out, but after a minute I realized I was doing anything but helping.

I took this in Vientiane, Laos in 2007.  An interesting view of Vientiane, and I just love the symmetry of the photo.

I took this picture at The Museum for Peace in Green Island, Taiwan in 2010.  The Museum is a former prison where thousands of political prisoners were held over decades.  Many of them never made it out of the prison, though the exact number is unclear.  I found this series of paintings particularly powerful for how they contrast anime, or manga, animation with horrific subjects.