Vulture Stalk A Child Essay

Famine Crisis- Who is the Vulture?

The African Continent has often times been depicted by the media as a place of catastrophic events. Many have seen hunger, violence and diseases. For instance, wide-spread death has once again ravaged Africa with the recent outbreak of Ebola (The New Zealand Herald). Unfortunately, many imagine a backward society with very little civilization, a continent that needs restoration quickly, but also much needed help. Kevin Carter’s photo shows the Africa many think of with, an image depicting the “Vulture Stalking a Child,” a horror that faced Africa and in particular Sudan, the horror of famine. The image provides a vivid picture of a young emaciated girl with her head down and a vulture waiting by for that perfect opportunity. The image was and

Through the Image of “Vulture Stalking a Child,” viewers learn of a new kind of vulture- the politician.

In their book, “Enough, Why the World’s Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty,” authors Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman mention that Sudan, as a country, would have been able to produce much produce from planting, but because of two decades of fighting, the farming land has been diminished into battle grounds (116). In the year of 2003, the agricultural aspect of the country was completely destroyed by the burning of agricultural produce, such as seeds, animals were killed, and farming equipment, destroyed, says the authors “The master plan in Khartoum was that there would be no recovery- at least not until the rebellion was squashed.” (115). Obviously this was a government that was willing to attack where it hurt. It supported the Janjaweed’s raid- “composed mainly of Arab nomads and cattle herders”- against the African Farmers (115). With the farmers in the refugee camps, there was no one to continue the cycle of planting and even so, they would not have been able to do so because the Janjaweed