My Journey from Afghanistan to Australia

I am a photographer from Afghanistan. I am Hazara, worked with the allies in Kabul and had my photo essay about The Dancing Boys in Afghanistan published in The Washington Post. The consequence of those three things is that I have had to flee my home in Afghanistan. I was threatened with death and my family are also not safe and are in exile in Pakistan. As I am a photojournalist I decided that as I had to flee I would document the journey – mine and the other people who have found themselves in the same situation. We traveled down through Thailand, Malaysia and then to Indonesia where we hoped to get on a boat to Australia. Unfortunately, the boat I was on started to sink – but I had taken a handycam on the boat and even though I lost all my cameras when I ended up in the water, my camera cards survived. The link below is to the story that Australian journalist Mark Davis did on my journey. I gave him access to my stills and the moving footage. I want the world to know what happens sometimes when you tell the truth as I did with my Dancing Boys story and when you work for the allies. I am not alone in this situation, many Afghans who have helped the Americans, the British and the Australians and the Dutch etc… have their lives and their families lives threatened. I wanted to tell this story for history and because I am a photojournalist and a documenter. I hope that you will watch it.
[5:41:11 AM] Tim Page: I have also put a link to the Global Mail who did an online story about my journey.

http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/watch/id/601577/n/Batoor-s-Journey
http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/how-much-would-you-risk-to-start-a-new-life-in-australia/412/

by Barat Ali Batoor at 2012-10-21 12:44:45 UTC | Bookmark | | Report spam→