Writer Dick Wittenberg and I will go back to the poor African village of Dickson, more than ten years after our first visit – thanks to a grant from the Dutch Postcode Lottery Fund For Journalists, and to the magazines One World and De Correspondent. In 2004, the publication of our text and photographs in leading Dutch newspaper “NRC Handelsblad’s monthly M garnered a record number (for that newspaper) of over 600 letters to the editor. The cover story under the headline “The Face of Poverty ‘ had touched its readers deeply. A spontaneous fundraiser among those readers raised nearly € 80,000.
This money was used over a period of five years to support the village; in the form of corn, fertilizer and water pumps. On April 23 (2015), I will go back to Dickson – just before the expiration of the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals. Halving poverty and hunger by the end of 2015 is by far the most important of those. But again, after a bad harvest, hunger is threatening Malawi. What about Dickson? I will portray its villagers again, surrounded by their possessions. Let’s see if and how much this village has changed.
