Dominic Chavez is a Boston-based freelance photojournalist, who formerly worked at The Boston Globe, specializing in global health issues. In the last year, the Ministerial Leadership Initiative has supported Chavez and writer John Donnelly's travel to the five countries that work with MLI: Nepal, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Mali, and Ethiopia. In this third of five segments, one from each country, Donnelly interviewed Chavez about his work and about the images below. What follows are his perspectives on his assignment in Mali, which focused in part on the Ministry of Health’s efforts, with MLI assistance, to expand a community-based health insurance plan called mutuelles:

"Mali was a trip like no other country in the sense there was such a push for the mutuelles, providing health insurance for people who really need it. It was interesting to see people in the Health Ministry all talk about the same trip they took to Rwanda to see what Rwanda had done in expanding health insurance to almost the whole population. They felt really encouraged they could do the same thing in taking a proactive role in offering better health care services for their own country. We had witnessed some of this in Rwanda ourselves a few years earlier, where kids were being vaccinated, and we were pretty impressed then."

                                   

"The old guy in the photo -- he was great. I loved the old man. His demeanor, his energy, his smile. He was a father of 15 children, and he was proud of being able to get his family health insurance. It was nice to go to his house and see him so proud."

 

   

"Dr. Samake is a man with one eye on the clock. He was pretty impressive in the sense he was juggling a lot. He talked about real concerns and wanting to take new directions with health care. His energy is very strong, so I was hoping to photograph him with that same feeling, in trying to really see him for who he was. I hope the picture captures that strength."

 

   

"This picture to me is kind of a playful scene of kids on a school retreat. They are visiting the National Museum in Bamako. It was just nice to have some scene of these kids learning about art and their country."

 

   

"This was one of the hardest pictures I made because prior to this he was in his office with horrible green fluorescent lights. Out of desperation, I made this portrait of him. I’m usually the observer when I take pictures and I don’t do anything to set it up, but in this case I was the director in making this picture in the hallway. I was panicking over the environment to find a good shot."

 

   

"The women by the river says to me quite a bit about the role for African women in the sense that they are responsible to raise the kids and also responsible to make money for the family. I went down to the Niger River in Bamako just in hope of trying to find some mothers with their children. There was this whole scene of mothers washing clothes for a living. They would carry all these clothes down there, let them dry in the sun. After a while, I became friends with this family, they were waiting for the clothes to dry. This is a moment where a mother was nurturing a child in between work. It was just nice to be part of it and see their role in how they are very much so important to everything. If anything, this project has opened my eyes to the role of the women in Africa. Without the mother, the family dynamic doesn’t work anymore. To me, this picture captures those two worlds that she balances, taking care of family but still bringing home money."

 

Other Photo Blogs:

Nepal

Sierra Leone

Senegal

Ethiopia