Ortega R. Jessica A.

Professor Denise Comer

English Composition I: Achieving Expertise

25 December 2017

Visual Analysis

This world tends to value children…not childhood

Barros D. (2017). Cuando yo era niño… Retrieved from:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BT2XNc6h452/?hl=es&taken-by=donaldobarros

The photo shown adobe was captured by Donaldo Barros, a social communicator from

Caracas, Venezuela (South America). The title of the photo: “Cuando yo era niño…” means when

I was a kid in Spanish. This heart-breaking picture was taken during the protest that occurred

between April and August of this year, where people went to the streets to claim for lack of food

and medication, and 157 of them died (Runrun.es, 2017).

The first aspect that can be seen in this picture is its direct approach to the subjects, the

children were standing in front of the photographer, looking right into the camera. The second
 Ortega J. - This world tends to value children…not childhood– Visual Analysis

aspect is a clear distinction between the highlighted parts of the photo and the drackest ones. Other

detail that can be noticed is that the kids were barely standing up alone on the street, holding each

other to avoid falling.

All the visual elements addressed before, work together to provoke an emotional response

to the viewer, who may feel sad and filled with pity. Within the rhetorical analysis, it could be said

that the lights drive the attention of the viewer to the important aspects of the photo, like the boy's

bare chest in the left side. This aspect represents the high vulnerability of the children in a situation

of humanitarian crisis and it brings rawness to the picture. The scar and spots on the boy´s chest

could have been the result of child abuse, which is very common in this situations. In contrast, the

shadows on this picture could reflect the desolation that lies beyond what can be reached with the

sight, these horrible things that may happen to the kids everyday but nobody gets to know, and the

only remain of the trauma stays in the darkness of their eyes. Lastly, it is worth to analyze the way

in which the children hold each other, all alone on the street. This aspect gives the notion that they

only find support in each other, and that they were neglected by adults.

The title and overall theme of this photo, that is, the consequences of humanitarian crisis

on children, brings to the table a serious issue that most organizations and governments have not

payed enough attention to, the question that no one dares to ask, what will these traumatized kids

do when they grow up? if they have already seen all kind of horrible things and how cruel human

beings can be, what kind of society they could built? A quick answer would be that these children

will learn from our mistakes and will lead the path for a brighter future. Based on this answer, most

global organizations, like UNICEF (Child Protection Working Group (CPWG), 2012), focus on

covert health, education and prevention of any harm in their humanitarian action strategies,

because children are valuable and have to be protected.

2
 Ortega J. - This world tends to value children…not childhood– Visual Analysis

But even if they can become healthy productive adults one day, where will their

motivations, ethics and beliefs have gone? Back to the photo, it can´t be seen any hope or

motivation in the eyes of these kids, just emptiness. This emptiness is because they lost something

that a life of therapy can´t return, and is their childhood. When children are exposed to a traumatic

experience caused by a humanitarian crisis, all their joy, dreams, innocence and hope are taken

away, and as adults, they probably will be less capable of feel compassion, empathy or solidarity,

instead they will feel resentment and think “when I was a kid I only knew about hunger and cruelty,

all because of…x reason”.

Following this point of view, the main goal of any government or organization should be

to restore, not their childhood, but their psychological and moral integrity. However, it is much

easier to write down than doing it, and certainly, it is more elaborate and complex task than just

providing food, books and protection to the children.

Because of the complexity of the matter, it is urgent to do more research about the

psychological effect of humanitarian crises on children and how can the damage be repaired

through a concrete treatment. Some investigations of this kind have already been made, like the

paper published by Joan Duncan and Laura Arntson (2004), but further investigations are needed

because:

“The various factors influencing child development and psychosocial well-being

are difficult to isolate, define, and quantify (..) As a result, too often project practitioners

must take a leap of faith that their projects are having a measurable and positive effect on

the lives of children, families, and communities.” (Duncan & Arntson, 2004)

In conclusion, there is a long way for us to go to solve this complex issue but the first and

most important step is to be aware of it.

3
 Ortega J. - This world tends to value children…not childhood– Visual Analysis

References

Child Protection Working Group (CPWG). (2012). Minimum standards for child protection in
humanitarian action. Retrieved December 25, 2017, from UNICEF web site:
https://www.unicef.org/iran/Minimum_standards_for_child_protection_in_humanitarian_
action.pdf
Duncan, J., & Arntson, L. (2004). Children in Crisis: Good Practices in Evaluating Psychosocial
Programming. The International Psychosocial Evaluation Committee. Save the Children
Federation, Inc. . Retrieved December 25, 2017, from
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMH/Resources/Evaluating_Psychosocial_Program
ming.pdf
Runrun.es. (2017, August 08). Retrieved December 25, 2107, from Runrun.es Web site:
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=es&ie=UTF-
8&u=http%3A%2F%2Frunrun.es%2Frr-es-plus%2F319427%2Ffotos-infografia-y-mapa-
muertos-en-protestas-en-venezuela-parte-dos.html&edit-text=