photography: narrative: surviving polio

Over 200 polio survivors and their families live in a two-story building in downtown Freetown. I got to know Hassan and many of the other residents when running pop-up drawing workshops on the streets nearby. Most of them had fled their rural homes during Sierra Leone's civil war, and ended up sleeping on Freetown's crowded streets. In a country with over half its youth jobless, finding work when you are disabled is a huge challenge. Grateful for the roof over their heads, they are keenly aware of the future's uncertainty. They have already had to fight city councilors in order to stay living in this cramped space. They asked me to photograph their home and share these images. They hope to raise money to buy land outside of the city and farm. [2013]