Foundation

During the past years my work has focused on documenting the life of people in countries like Burma or Nepal. I am concentrating on social or humanitarian issues. This requires me to go to areas of war or into refugee settlements to make my photos or interviews with refugees, help-organisations, orphans or victims of war. I can not do my work only, then disappear and leave these people behind in their misery or suffering. That's why I am supporting my interview partners with food or other needed goods in general, that I give them directly during our meetings. This a little support I can give to these needy people, who are always very supporting to my queries and they always offer me everything they have. During the last years I have spent many months inside refugee-settlements or in camps, that have been established by armed revolutionary forces to protect their own people against the atrocities of government forces. The help of my contacts has always been invaluable and I owe everyone my deepest thanks and respect.

The work as a journalist or photographer in this field is highly questionable and it is also required to see it in a critical light. It is the author, who is getting a benefit from the suffering of other people. To raise awareness for the plight of these people is very important, that their life can maybe change through this publicity. But until the situation is not changing for these people, who are an object of my work and research, I feel the urgent need to give them a direct and concrete support.

I personally can only give little help to the people, who I meet or to who I talk to for the research for my work. A little food-donation is not enough to improve their lives or to give them a minimum of living-standard or health-care. For this reason I have established the Keinom Foundation to support these people in a direct way.