ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan graduate student Serena Chaudhry plans to present photos depicting the health conditions of Afghan refugees, taken by the refugees themselves, at the American Public Health Association’s annual convention in Atlanta on Wednesday (Oct. 24).

Chaudhry, working toward both her master of public health and master’s in social work degrees, traveled to Pakistan this summer for an internship with the International Catholic Migration Commission. She had a previous interest in the health and relocation issues of immigrants and refugees and applied that through work at the Jalozai camp, in northwestern Pakistan, near the border of Afghanistan.

Chaudhry also went to Pakistan hoping to use techniques she had learned from Caroline Wang, assistant professor of health behavior and health education at U-M School of Public Health. Wang’s Photovoice provides cameras to people in a variety of situations, from the villages of rural China to the homeless shelter of Ann Arbor, to act as recorders of their environment, and potential catalysts for social action and change. She wanted to apply that approach to the Afghan refugees.

With help from a local interpreter, Chaudhry recruited eight refugees and taught them about the project, including how the point-and-shoot cameras worked and how to capture their health and living condition in photographs. She asked them to look for the strengths and weaknesses of the camp within the context of health, and to explain why each picture fulfilled that assignment.

In their eight rolls of film, the refugees told stories of inadequate water and sanitation, of the close living quarters of some 50,000 refugees making for easy transmission of communicable diseases, of the bond with block leaders within the camp, and of the benefits of the few green spaces in the camp.

Chaudhry returned to U-M’s campus in late August with hopes of mounting a photo exhibit to increase awareness of the refugees’ needs and to raise funds to help them. “Two weeks later, the world changed,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how to use this in the context of Sept. 11.”

Though Afghanis had been fleeing their homeland since the 1980s due to civil conflict, terrorist attacks against the United States and American retaliation put Afghanistan in the spotlight.

“The relevance is just much greater,” Chaudhry said.

With support from Doctors Without Borders, a 30-year-old organization that delivers emergency aid to victims of armed conflict, epidemics, and natural and man-made disasters, Chaudhry created a Web display of the pictures.

Chaudhry was sensitive about not wanting to exploit people who had already suffered so much and who had already been frequently photographed by journalists, but felt the photos are far more powerful and informative than what Westerners might otherwise see, since they were taken by peers, with explanations given in their native language.

“They were able to capture expressions and feelings that outsiders could not get,” she said. Photos of Afghani women are particularly hard to get, for example, but with other refugees explaining why they were taking the pictures, including the hope of generating resources for the camp, they participated.

In addition, the project had other benefits besides the pictures themselves—refugees felt the pride of involvement in an international project, and discussing the photos offered therapeutic release as the refugees talked about how they felt about their conditions.

Chaudhry graduates in December and had hoped to return to Pakistan to continue with the photo project, perhaps replicating it in other refugee camps.

“This is all completely unrealistic at the present moment,” she said. “At the same time, the need is even greater.”

Chaudhry still hopes to present her photos in shows in southeast Michigan before the end of the year, and she is still working to generate donations to Doctors Without Borders.

For details on the APHA annual convention, which runs through Thursday in Atlanta, visit http://www.apha.org/meetings/index.htm. Chaudhry’s presentation is session 5236.0, Post Conflict Health Issues, Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

American Public Health Association’spublic healthCaroline WangDoctors Without Bordershttp://www.apha.org/meetings/index.htm