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All photographs and text appearing in the Alissa Everett Photography site are the exclusive intellectual property of Alissa Everett and are protected under United States and international copyright laws. The intellectual property MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED except by normal viewing process of the browser. The intellectual property may not be copied to another computer, transmitted, published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected, or altered in any way, including without limitation any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Alissa Everett and payment of a fee or arrangement thereof. No images are within Public Domain. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration is a violation of copyright. Alissa Everett Photography vigorously protects copyright interests. To secure reproduction rights to any images by email send to info@alissaeverett.com.
Category Archives: africa
Dakar
Shortly after graduating from UCLA, I moved to Senegal, West Africa, to spend 27 months serving in the country as a Peace Corps Volunteer. It was my first time in Africa and in a Muslim country, and at first, I was terrified. Our group of 68 volunteers became a community, in that bygone era of no cell phones, internet and email, and Senegal became our home. We assimilated quickly into the local culture, living with Senegalese families, eating local food, traveling on public transportation and speaking the local languages. We learned the joys of Africa – the music, dance, laughter and community – and the hardships as well – poverty, infant and maternal mortality, devastation by curable illnesses, and even our own vulnerability in a world with no harsh climate and no infrastructure.
I returned to the US a different person, older, much wiser, more confident and with a part of me now tied to a distant village in Africa, a way of life and a family who had taken me in as their own and loved me. I finally returned to Senegal last month after 12 years to visit my family and was welcomed with open arms. They had moved to a larger town, my brothers and sisters had grown up and had families of their own, and though the time had passed, I felt like I had never left. Here are some scenes of my latest trip.
Also posted in Images, Senegal, Uncategorized
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Words from the DRC
Goma, DRC
Voix de la Paix took the project one step further, screening Pray the Devil Back to Hell to women leaders and holding a two-day workshop in Kinshasa, Goma and Bukavu. Abigail Disney, Leymah Gbowee and Alissa Everett traveled to the DRC to show PRAY to diverse women leaders such as nationally elected government officials, heads of women’s associations, church leaders, policewomen, soldiers and activists. It was the first time women leaders across all sectors of society had come together to discuss the state of their country, region and individual lives.
The women discussed the strengths and weaknesses of their current womens’ movements and created strategies for future growth. They also confronted prejudices within their own communities, as one slender, soft-spoken women in Kinshasa roared, “You women in civil society: you are doing violence to yourselves. You do not work together. You only look after your own interests. It is not until you stop the war of women on women that you will have any chance of ending the war at all. We must end this conflict and begin to work together!!”
Also posted in Congo, drc, goma, Uncategorized
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International Women’s Day Parade
International Women’s Day in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a big deal. The eastern part of the country virtually shuts down, NGOs prepare, and Congolese women mobilize to celebrate their official day. Huge parades are planned and women from all around descend on the town.
In Goma, the main roads were blocked off by 7:30am, yellow-bibbed traffic police whistling and giving directions, women in their brand new Congolese panges made their way to meeting points for the march. The women identify themselves in groups, workplaces, associations, political parties, etc. and each group purchases matching fabric so that their members can have a tailor make a unique, but matching African outfit.
I arrived just a day prior to the event and was invited to march with HEAL Africa. One of the mamas handed me a weighty stack of bright yellow, orange and gold fabric and pointed me the direction of Healing Arts, HEAL Africa’s sewing project for women at the hospital for treatment, to have my outfit made. The head seamstress, Anne Marie, smiled as she took my measurements and promised she would have an outfit for me by the morning…
And in the morning, there it was, a tailor made top which fit perfectly and a large piece of cloth to wrap into a skirt locals call a pagne. African clothes are beautiful and regal with bright joyous colors and swaths of fabric. Stunning on dark African skin (for who haven’t tried them), they are mediocre at best on us pale white Westerners. This year’s vibrant yellow, orange and gold left me looking a bit jaundice, but the women loved it, so off I went and joined the parade.
Also posted in Congo, drc, goma, Images, Uncategorized
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Return to Goma II
A thundering crack shakes me out of my bed. The black sky flashes with light, a rumble and another crack, so loud, my heart races. A cool breeze rushes in, the metal door frames and single paned glass designed for hotter climes. I curl up in my mosquito net, under my single blanket wishing for warmer clothes listening to the rain pounding down and waves splash on the shores of Lake Kivu.
I’m trying to sleep, but jet lag has the best of me and I watch the storm through the night.
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day and I am invited to march with the women of HEAL Africa. After will be my first screening of Pray the Devil Back to Hell to the female HEAL staff. I’m honored and inspired to be showing it on their day of celebration.
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
The rain is coming down. The sky dark and grey. Surrounded by volcanic remains in a town full of horror, I am enveloped and even comforted by the gloomy weather.
Goma is a town of fluctuating population, people come and go when fighting in the surrounding areas fills the IDP (internally displaced persons) camps with those fleeing roving gangs of machete-bearing militia.
The town lies beneath Mt. Nyamuragira, an active volcano that destroyed much of the town in 2002. Mt. Nyamuragira‘s lava flowed freely from its cone cutting the town in two, most people fleeing with only their lives, families separated and all belongings lost.
And yet the Congolese of Goma continue. They move back into the second story of a building where the first is now lava flow or build a new hut on top of the old. They carry on with their lives, in laughter and prayer, finding joy in their very existence. Their strength and perseverance inspires me.
Also posted in Congo, drc, goma, Images
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