A few weeks ago I sent out a request for photos on the theme of resilience. It is a word I’ve heard from hopeful abolitionists, determined safe house workers, and some trafficking survivors themselves. Resilience is an absolute necessity for survival. The following photos express this word in its various forms, and these photographers have done a beautiful job capturing its essence.
~Resilience in Phnom Penh, Submitted by Justin Gibson
~Daily Resilience, Submitted by Justin Gibson
~Resilience by nature, Submitted by Andrew Finlay
~Resilience in opportunity, Submitted by Sarah Wilson
~Resilience in the morning, Submitted by Michelle Brock
~Silent resilience, Submitted by Andrew McKenzie
- Did any of these photos resonate with you? Why?
- What do you think makes someone resilient?
- Do some cultures value resilience more than others?
- What would make someone less resilient?
- Why do you think resilience is specifically important for victims of trafficking?
Leave a comment below to be entered into a draw to win a signed copy of Invisible Chains: Canada’s Underground World of Human Trafficking by Benjamin Perrin! I will draw the name on Saturday Aug. 13th and let the winner know via email. Your comments can be about the pictures themselves, about resilience, your thoughts on trafficking etc. I will enter your name twice if you get some good discussion going!
A big thanks to our photographers: Justin Gibson (more of his work here), Andrew Finlay, Sarah Wilson, and Andrew McKenzie (more of his work here) for sending in your work! If any of our other readers are interested in sending in a submission for the next photo essay, let me know. To see our first photo essay, check out this one on Vulnerability.
What an outstanding photoessay, Michelle! These are some amazing photographers. I love the first few shots in the rain… and the spiderweb… The Phnom Pehn one will travel with me for a while. Thank you for this!
I absolutely LOVE the first one…..most people (me including) would run to shelter the second the sky opened up, the moment I felt that first drop land on my arm or nose. But these kids push past and find joy and something good within the downpour. Awesome shot!
The second picture is the one that really sums up the word resilience, for me.
One of the definitions of resilience is:
“an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change”
Looking at the boy pushing that too big bike through those too big puddles shows me how he has learned to adjust to misfortune.
When I think of resilient people I often think of tough guys who have made it through a lot, but what a beautiful job Justin has done in showing that resilience can (and often, must) be present at a young age.
Great photo essay Michelle! Thanks for all you and Jay are doing to raise awareness, in so many forms.
These photos describe the idea of resiliency so well. The first photo of the children playing football in the rain really hit me, as they continue despite the challenges that the surrounding world throws at them. Really beautiful capturing of that.
I was talking to a close friend, a survivor of trafficking, recently and the conversation was based on the theme of resilience. She was telling me how her counselor pointed out how far she has come, and how her resilience is one of the main reasons that she has been able to overcome in such a dramatic way.
The first picture really sticks out to me because it is a perfect example of how people are about to find joy in the midst of seemingly hopeless circumstances. The joy of these precious children shines far brighter than the outward gloom and suffering of the circumstances.
That, to me, is the most amazing thing about resilience.
The picture that resonates with me is the last one. The ‘X’ over the mouth tells a tale of its own. To me it says ‘you have a mouth and you can’t use it! open it and face the wrath of my fabricated power!’ some how it makes me angry because for some people, that’s the way it is.
Great comments everyone, isn’t resilience inspiring? I love that these photos have grabbed your imagination!
I love the first one the most. It reminds me a lot of my trip to Thailand last year, and just how resilient the kids there were.
I was staying at an orphanage, with kids who’d been beaten, starved, and unloved in their prior homes. Yet with a little love from Suradet and Yupa (the husband and wife team running the orphanage) these kids let their resilience shine through.
Though they’d been unloved, they showed love to each other through their words and actions on a daily basis. They showed that same love to me when I was there for three weeks, always making sure I was doing well.
These were kids who’d been through it all, yet they constantly found the strength to keep on going until it got better. There’s this constant hope in them. To me, that’s resilience.
Resilience – It changes even the most bleakest situations. Two people can look on the same situation and one will wither while the other flourishes. Two people can come through the same situation and one will be so scarred that they can not function while the other rises above the hurt and adapts. It is not your circumstances that make you it is who you become because of your circumstances.
The first picture resonates me the most because when I was young and after a very hot day working when it rained my siblings and I would jump in the rain, we used to say it was the poor man’s swimming pool. My children used to really dislike the rain until one day I ran out during the rain after a hot day and jumped and splashed them! It really is what you do and how you view your circumstances.
When it comes to those who have been sold how they view their circumstances will be what helps in the process of recovery. It is what happened to them, it is not them. But for the grace of God go I.
The first picture speaks to me the most …It gives me hope that through the hardest times in life.. in we look deep within ourselves we can find joy. And that joy will help us to have the strength to keep fighting. My friend is going through a hard time and I sent him the first picture with a word of encouragement underneath!!
The pictures are beautiful I think they are the perfect view for the theme. I think that these really show that we sometimes continue to do things in are life even when their are challenges in the world. I have had a few classes in university where we have discussed what some people believe is human trafficking and what is it truly. I always hope that there will some day be some better in the world but that we can learn from other cultures in what others believe is the best thing to do. I can’t wait to read the book, and hopefully it will become a great way for more students to learn and to understand.
Wow….a very powerful photo essay.Resilience is powerful and necessary. Resilience is not denial…and resilience is my prayer for all those enslaved, until they can be truly set free and fly free;y through life above what once bound them. I love the photo of the children freely playing…not caring, free abandon and the boy pushing his bike through the puddles. The spider web to me, is a photo of the traps there could be…and it looks beautiful with the dew in the sunlight. But, Hallelujah, nothing noone is caught in the trap.
The textiles plant is probably the hardest one to look at knowing the reality of so many and how they are bound in the textile/clothing factories. I remembering watching a show about the making of gorgeous saris with intricate beadwork and how young girls are enslaved in the factories. So whenever I see absolutely gorgeous saris on women I have incredibly mixed feelings…awe at the intricate work..and grief over the circumstances with many who make them. Silent resilience is powerful…and speaks of so many women caught in slavery and not able to speak,
Thank you for sharing.