Andrea Scaringella Photography

Postcards From the Delta

Andrea — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:57:34 +0000

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Niger Delta Bob Marley Remembrance Day 11/05/2011

Andrea — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:11:00 +0000

[singlepic=642,225,225,left] Here in Akassa, a small village south of Niger Delta facing the Guinea Gulf, young people organize an annual celebration of the anniversary of the death of Bob Marley. The 11 May 2011 marked the 20th anniversary of the death of the legendary singer and I had the chance of witnessing the commemoration first-hand. Akassa, like other waterfront communities facing the south Atlantic ocean was an important hub for the slave trade in the 16th and 17th century and later in the 18th century became the headquarters of the trading empire of the Royal Niger company (founded by British explorer G.T.Goldies) exporting palm oil. Walking through the village you still can see the ruins of buildings once used as slave houses or tracks needed to transport palm oil to the coast to be shipped. This territory has been exploited ever since and still continues today with the discovery of oil and its production. There are stories and legend surrounding Bob Marley here, and someone even believed Bob Marley was born here, but regardless Akassa youth, joined by people from nearby communities, took Bob Marley as a symbol of resistance and struggle for survival in a land that had been long abandoned and under exploitation and threat from the greedy oil companies active in the Gulf. And it is here from the gulf waters that the celebration begins. All on board, the ship is loaded with drinks and an impressive sound system. A symbolic coffin is laid on the roof of the boat where people take turns to sit, d smoke "herbs" and mourn the legend. There is music and dance and laughter as the boat jetties off to neighbour communities. There are kids screaming and waving at us from the banks as we reach our destination on land. Youth compete over who will carry the coffin on the procession that will lead us through the village and to the shrine where it will be laid. The party that now begins will carry on till until late the next day…

UK NGO Commission-Nigeria 2011

Andrea — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:20:24 +0000

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Niger Delta/Nigeria, Calabar. street children sleeping under a truck

Colombian Tomb Raiders 08/2010

Andrea — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:37:15 +0000

[singlepic=574,225,225,left] San Agustin is a town and municipality in the southern Colombian department of Huila. The town is located 227 km from the capital of the Department of Neiva. The area is well known for its Pre-Colombian archeological sites, which generate a significant revenue to the economy due to the high volume of tourists, both Colombian and foreign. These sites form a UNESCO World Heritage site. San Agustin still has an unknown number of undiscovered areas where ancient pre-Colombian tombs lie a few feet under. The tombs usually contains treasures and artifacts from terracotta pottery to 22k gold deity figurines necklaces and rings anthropomorphic figures and various other objects. A few cunning locals know how to detect tombs scattered all over San Agustin area, which stretches from Official Archeological sites to private lands, owned by local farmers/dwellers. There is a flourishing market of illicit diggings-ancient tombs looted and their contents smuggled outside the country for predominantly American and European archeological collectors. Foreign buyers get in touch with the "guajeros" ( the so called Tomb Riders ) who provide them a series of pictures or show them directly artifacts they dug out already. These are made available to choose and usually buy.Altho often they are offered objects that are completely fake. The images presented here expose the process whereby guajeros dig out pre-Colombian artefact from the discovered tombs. Sometimes Guajeros dig secretly on private lands/archeological sites, sometimes they ask permission from land owners who allow the digging for a fair share of the objects sold. In 2002 ICOM ( the International Council Museums) drew up a so-called red list of Objects/ Cultural Heritage categories, thought to be under severe threat from looting and theft. Although authorities have been workingwith increasing effect to raise awarness of the importance of cultural heritage, the lack of funding to protect sites and enforce existing laws, results in illegal trading of artifacts and large scale looting , which is still carried out on a daily basis.

The Emerald Tour

Andrea — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:39:43 +0000

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Travelling from Bogota' to the Emerald Mine

Niger Delta Cycling Tour

Andrea — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:51:31 +0000

[singlepic=494,225,225,left] It is the first sport event of this kind in an area well renown to be not as one of the safest in Nigeria or ,in general, in the world. It has been thought not as a competition for this first edition but as a semi-professional ride through four states of the Niger Delta to raise money for cardio-vascular/heart diseases. The ride has been organised by an Italian expat living and working in Nigeria since more then 20 years (he is now a Nigerian citizen), along with two Nigerian Cycling Associations. The ride amazingly gathered more then 150 cyclists of any ages and sex from all over the Nigeria. The medical staff, the trainers staff, the security staff summed up a total of around 250 person contingent. The ride went pretty smooth beside being done during a hot election time and beside never starting on time, ( here people don't follow the GMT but the NMT-"nigerian maybe time"). The tour followed exotic routes, chaotic towns, peculiar local sight scenes such as burning oil spills burned cars abandoned on the side of the roads, political advertisement billboards roads under constructions... The ride in the end gave a sense of unity, a sense of security in a region, known as very dangerous where few years ago you risked to be kidnapped, some hope of generating new jobs and new athletic meanings. It gained citizens and politician consensus and raised several millions Nairas ( the local currency) to help heart diseases.

G20 Meltdown 2nd April 2009 London

Andrea — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:45:05 +0000

[singlepic=487,225,225,left] 2nd of April 2009,In the Middle of the Financial Recession crisis which hit the richest countries in the world, London held the G20 Summit. Plans of global economy recovery were discussed by leaders, financial ministers and central bankers of 20 countries. London welcomed the world leaders the 1st of April 2009 , the Queen invited her guests to a reception in Buckingam Palace and Mr.Gordon Brown hosted a dinner at Downing Street. Against this background, on 1st of April, the streets of City of London were taken by an alliance of aticapitalist protester called G20 Meltdown that organized a carnival-like peaceful demonstration called " Four Horsefolk of the Apocalipse " which converged in front of the Bank of England with other protesters groups,demanding changes in the Economic System demanding a clear admission of ministers' mistakes about their finance management, demanding actions on poverty, climate changes and Jobs. Thousands of officers from six forces were deployed during the 2 days of the G20 Summit to tackle any security problem. Although the majority of the protests and protesters were peaceful, the threat of violence and criminal damage were used by police as a reason to detain, or kettle. Sporadic clashes occured in various part of the City. A bystander Ian Tomlison, caught in the middle of of a clash, died shortly after being pushed to the ground by a police officer. For several hours on 1 April thousands of demonstrators had been trapped in a cordon outside the Bank of England and troublemakers were identified on handheld cameras carried by police teams. Police forces after the Ian Tomlison tragedy were put under scrutiny for the violent tactics used during the G20 protest

Vita Balera

Andrea — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:17:35 +0000

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Sahara Film Festival

Andrea — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:31:36 +0000

[singlepic=409,225,225,left]The Sirocco blows constantly, lifting sand and dust in the vast arid land surrounding the Dajla refugee Camp. The Sahrawi people fled from their land, Western Sahara, thirty-three years ago. In 1976, Spain withdrew from the territories of its former colony of Western Sahara, which up to then had been considered a Spanish province, allowing the military invasion - known as the “Green March" - of the Sahrawi territory by the Moroccan kingdom. For years the Sahrawi people had demanded their independence, supported by the international community through various resolutions of the United Nations (UN) and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. On 27 February 1976, as the last Spanish soldier departed from the territories, the Sahrawi people proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. War broke out between the Polisario Front, representatives of the Sahrawi people, and the kingdom of Morrocco. A ceasefire was reached in 1991 through the creation of a peace plan for Western Sahara mediated by the UN and the Organization of African Unity. That plan envisioned a referendum for self-determination in which the Sahrawi people could freely decide their destiny. Since then, the obstacles continually imposed by the Moroccan administration have delayed the process, bringing it to the stalemate in which the Sahrawis presently find themselves. Thousands of Sahrawi men and women, who had left their land before the invasion and subsequent Moroccan repression, crossed the border between Western Sahara and Algeria. Those who survived this desert crossing settled in the Algerian region of Hamada de Tindouf, “the desert of the desert.” When the Sahrawi refugees arrived they set up their jaimas (tents) and set about organizing their camps with international support. The scarcity of water, electricity, and food exacerbate the climatic conditions they have to endure. For more than three decades Saharawis have lived exiled in a no man's land. There are approximately 200,000 people, mostly women, children and young people, living in precarious and extremely harsh conditions in the most inhospitable region of the desert, surviving with dignity and hoping that the long-anticipated referendum will at last take place. More than 50,000 of them inhabit Dajla Refugee camp, a strip of dry land stretching for miles and surrounded by emptiness. These difficult years in Dajla Refugee Camp have seen the construction of schools and hospitals, thanks also to the help of several humanitarian organizations.April 2008 markedt the 5th annual International Sahara Film Festival celebration. Fisahara is a solidarity initiative that aims to support the Sahrawi cause and bring it to the attention of the international community, while also bringing a breath of the outside world to the Saharawis living in such extreme isolation. A huge screen under a black starry sky, such a marvel... People from all over the camp gathered in the main square, if it can be called that, to sit or lie on dusty rugs spread on the ground and wait for the movies to begin. View the gallery

Niger Delta Chronicles

Andrea — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:12:00 +0000

[singlepic=372,225,225,left]Chronicle from the Niger Delta aims to provide an in-depth account of what is happening in Nigeria’s volatile oil-extracting region. Plagued by corruption, environmental disasters and ethnic conflict, more recently it has witnessed waves of kidnappings and attacks on oil installations carried out by armed rebel groups and gangs of robbers. All this against a background of widespread illiteracy, the absence of a middle class and, for the majority of people, incomes of less than a dollar per day.On 29th May 2007 Nigeria witnessed the official end of Olusegum Obasanjo’s eight-year presidency and the inauguration of Alhaji U M Yar’Adua as its new leader, with Deltan Goodluck Jonathan as his Vice. This was watched with doubtful eyes by international community observers and journalists who had declared the recent democratic electoral process a farce. Yar’Adua’s speech went on to list the seven point agenda from his election campaign: rebuilding physical infrastructure and human capital, accelerating economic reforms, strengthening the capacity of law enforcement agencies and especially police, reducing inflation, maintaining a stable exchange rate, rebuilding basic infrastructure, overcoming the energy challenge. He also pledged that his administration would give urgent attention to the crisis in the Niger Delta. Although Nigeria is one of the most populous countries in Africa, a major oil producer and rich in resources, its mismanagement, the succession of wars and leaders, inter-ethnic conflict, the corruption and greed of its governors have slowed down the process of development. After more then one year on from Nigeria Presidential Election few steps have been taken toward establishing systems of healthcare and education, developing energy distribution, telecommunications, roads and basic infrastructure, or tackling poverty and unemployment. Once again the Niger Delta, the sensitive region that produces 80% of the Nigeria’s revenue, is the nation’s Achille’s Heel. If the situation with militias and rebels worsens, the nation will be brought to its knees. And this against a backdrop where the majority of the people are already struggling to survive. View the gallery