Download - African Market
African MarketPhotographer Jonas Elmqvist
Bujumburra, Burundi
The Swedish Photographer Jonas Elmqvist is born in 1970
in Stockholm. He has no formal education in photography
but have studied geography and communications at Lund
University. In all his carrer he has been working with images
both as photographer and graphic designer. Jonas is
describing his photography as moments when he has open
a door into an new part of live and is standing in the door
way and letting the impressions come to him. Most of his
photographs are technical simple often taken with same
lens on the camera for severals weeks. But don't be
missled, the timing and framing are precise and executed
with passion.
Photographer Jonas Elmqvist
African marketAfter a day of travel through Rwanda over the
mountains to Burundi the plains surrounding
Bujumbura opened out before us. High up in the
mountains it was cold and rainy but on the plains
the nice central African weather met us. The light
was intense, the temperature was about 30
degrees centigrade and the air was dry. It was late
afternoon as we entered Bujumbura.
I was visiting a friend who was an aid worker in
Tanzania. I had joined him on a trip to Rwanda and
Burundi for about two weeks. This was a golden
moment to get close to the central African culture
as we were travelling alongside Boy Scouts and
Girl Guides from Burundi.
Three years earlier in 2005 the civil war in Burundi
had ended. Over 300 000 were killed in the twelve-
year long conflict. The conflict had the same origin
as that in Rwanda, between the two ethnic groups
Tutsi and Hutu. In Rwanda that ended up in a
genocide. Hundred of thousands of machete
equipped Hutus had slaughtered over 800 000
Tutsi and moderate Hutu men, women, elderly and
children in less than 3 months. Would that be an
open wound in the society or would life go on as
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CarryingEverything can be carried on your head. In a land
where buses and cars are something you use as a
last resort when it's not possible to walk yourself,
everything is carried in your hands or on your
head. The later is the only way to carry these heavy
things without being worn out.
All these people are merchants carrying goods in
and out, from left and right. They are crossing
streets, loading cars and trucks, emptying small
minivans and there seems to be no end to the
work. From the air it probably would look like an
ant colony.
In a market like this one in Bujumbura there are
no big brands or stores. Everything is on a very
small scale: the largest market stands are just a
few square metres. But a lot of the goods are not
for sale in Bujumbura and will be rerouted out to
the countryside after changing owners at the
market in Bujumbura.
The market itself is under a huge roof, about 15
metres high and 100 metres along each side.
Inside there are endless small alleys, most of
them less than one metre wide. There is no other
way than to carry the goods in your hand or on
your head, if you want to get them out of the
market.
There are very few bags or dedicated carrying
equipment. Almost everything is carried in its
original box, simple plastic bags or is wrapped
with some cloth and held together with small
strings.
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Business as usualTrade and markets are the economic nerve centre
for all cultures. Some goods were only available to
buy during some parts of the day and other goods
were available almost 24-7. In the beginning I had
some problems to find where things were sold.
There were no signs and if there were any signs
they were probably be in Swahili. But there was a
hidden system. Fresh food was outside and
everything else was kept inside. Almost all the
businessmen and women were working in
clusters. Fabrics were sold in one place and seed
in another. It is very simple when you see the
pattern behind the chaos.
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African market
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MuzungoI have never felt so white as I did on my first day at
the market in Bujumbura. Muzungo means “white
guy”. It can be said in a friendly way or it can be
quite aggressive. In any case it's hard to ignore.
You automatically turn your head and then
everybody shouts Muzungo after you. This was very
refreshing and I'm sure that after being called
Muzungo constantly for a couple of days, I will
never call anybody anything else but their name.
In the word Muzungo, there is a whole palette of
associations. Morgan C. explains it like this:
The Rwandans didn’t always call white people
"Muzungo". Back when the Germans were the
colonisers, they were called German. The French
were the French. Et cetera.
But after World War I, when the Belgians came to
take over the territory from the Germans, they
were called Abazungu, not Belgians.
Because the verb that Muzungu and Abazungu
come from is “kuzungura,” which means “to
replace, to take over”. … [Nowadays all western
people are called Muzungo].
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In the sun there is no hurryEverything takes its time, and people in Africa
know that. Things will be solved but when the sun
is high in the sky everything goes slow. There is no
problem with this because everybody has the same
rhythm.
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There are no free mealsIn Burundi you have to take care of yourself and
those close to you. Building social networks is
important. There is practically no social welfare
system at all; you must work to stay alive. The
people from Africa I travelled with ignored
beggars. They felt sorry for them but were not
interested in helping anybody who did not work for
their food.
Actually it was quite seldom I met beggars. In
Burundi there is always a job to do, even if it is not
so well paid. There is no limit to how little you can
earn, therefore almost everybody works in one or
other way.
When I had been walking the same streets for a
couple of days I found people who sat or stood on
the same spot everyday. The woman sitting on a
simple chair or the man standing at the
crossroads with a white shirt and newly polished
shoes. What are they doing? They are of course
working; opening a gate or having an exchange
office in their pocket.
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Dark AfricaFrom a Western view of point there is no more
dangerous thing to do, outside of visiting a war
zone, than visiting black Africa. I don't know what
makes them so afraid. Perhaps it is the brutal
genocide in 1993 or the fact that all the European
colonial powers were forced out of Africa in the
20th century.
It's true that many awful things have happened in
Africa and often it has some connection with
history and the old Europe. Most parts of Africa are
poor if you compare with Europe, but the dreams
of the young and the elder in Burundi are more or
less the same as I have: to fall in love, get an
education, have a good job, have fun with your
friends etc. The young people I met in Burundi
lived a life quite similar to my life in Sweden, with
the exception of our relative economic wealth.
History connects European culture with African
culture. It's easy to adopt and like Africa; a laugh is
never far away.
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Per Eriksson was my key to Africa. He opened doors and let
me enjoy his network in Africa. 2008 was his last year as the
Swedish Temperance movement’s project manager in Dar
es Salaam, Tanzania. I visited him just a few weeks before
he went home to Sweden.
Per, Thank You!
My key to Africa