‘I am alive’: photo exhibition in Geneva looks at child survivors of war

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José David Ríos, 17 years old (2019), survivor of the armed conflict in Colombia. He grew up in the southwestern part of the country, where coca cultivation and drug trafficking are widespread. Fifty years of conflict in the country have forced 2.3 million children to flee their homes. Dominic Nahr

José started working in the coca plantations when he was four. Just before he turned nine, he was caught in a crossfire. Bullets hit his arm and both legs. For a long time, he could not deal with his feelings; fear and anger overwhelmed him. "I have learned to think critically – and at the same time realised that change is possible." Dominic Nahr

Vichuta Ly, 53 years old (2019), survivor of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia. She was nine years old when she first experienced the terror inflicted by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Her father was arrested and she never saw him again. Her family was driven out of their hometown of Phnom Penh to the countryside. All of them, Vichuta included, were forced to work as labourers in the paddy fields. At age twelve, Vichuta had to join a training programme for child soldiers. Dominic Nahr

Sculls on display inside the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, a memorial for the 2 million people who died during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Vichuta Ly lost 30 members of her family. Only five of them survived. Dominic Nahr

Erich Karl, 105 years old (2019), survivor of the First World War. He grew up in very poor circumstances in Weimar, Germany. He still has vivid memories of the hot chocolate that children received as part of a school feeding programme. (When the journalists met Erich Karl, he was 105 years old. He died in June 2021 at the age of 107.) Dominic Nahr

From his window Erich Karl sees the container village "Allende 2", an accommodation for refugees in Berlin. Five years ago, the first people moved in here. They fled from war and violence, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan. "People in the neighbourhood were worried. Would there be riots or violence? I tried to calm them down: 'Let them come first. Let’s wait and see how it goes. After all, they’re people in need.'" Dominic Nahr

Vanessa Ntakirutimana, 29 years old (2019), survivor of the Rwandan genocide. She was only five years old in 1994 when the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda began. Within just a few months, more than one million people were killed. Like hundreds of thousands of people, Vanessa and her siblings fled to escape the brutal violence. Dominic Nahr

"My mother tied our sleeves together, so that we would not lose each other." Vanessa has not seen her parents since. She does not even know if they are still alive. She was one of the children who were displaced throughout the East African country without a mother or a father to look after her. Dominic Nahr

Rajiya, 15 days old (2019), born in a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. Rajiya’s mother, Jannat Khatun (20), came to Cox’s Bazar, a fishing port in the southwestern part of the country, mid-2018. She grew up on a rice farm. Her parents had to leave everything behind when the area surrounding their village was attacked by military helicopters, houses were set on fire and people were killed. Dominic Nahr

Rajiya’s mother says: “Here at the camp my mother and I are living together. We both have no husband. Only my mother has a food ration card, so we get only one ration of food. We are suffering. As soon as my child has been registered, I will organise a card for both of us.” Dominic Nahr

Evelyne Brix, 86 years old (2019), survivor of the Second Word War. "I know the horrible feeling of being hungry and never having enough to eat." Evelyne grew up in Berlin during the war. Dominic Nahr

Evelyne Brix has left Berlin only once in her life for a long period of time. That was in 1943, when countless children were evacuated from the aerial bombing of the city. She was eleven years old at the time. Her whole class was sent to Bad Lettin, a former spa resort in today’s Czech Republic. Dominic Nahr

Jo Yong-Woong, 74 years old (2019), survivor of the Korean war. He witnessed the war and the battle over Incheon as a six-year-old boy. The amphibious assault on Incheon by United States General Douglas MacArthur was a major turning point in the conflict. “The noise was incredible. It was like thunder,” Jo Yong-Woong says. “Some houses had a bunker. We had nothing but a blanket we could hide under.” Dominic Nahr

“At the time, getting medical care was difficult. It was impossible to cure the disease. I was suffering from lung infections for years on end. It made me very weak.” “Back then everyone was poor. I got all the school materials thanks to my sponsor in the US.” The hairdresser from Nebraska encouraged him to work hard, to finish school, and to follow his dreams. Dominic Nahr

Theophilus Chukwuemeka Amadi, 54 years old (2019), survivor of the Biafran War. The Biafran War, or Nigerian Civil War, was a war of secession between Nigeria’s government and the Biafra region, which was seeking independence. Up to three million people lost their lives. One child caught up in the conflict was Theophilus Chukwuemeka ‘Emeka’ Amadi, then aged three. The fighting drove his family to the brink of starvation. His little brother died, and Emeka suffered from kwashiorkor, an extreme protein deficiency caused by malnutrition. Save the Children was present in Nigeria supporting children and their families with food programmes and health support. Dominic Nahr

Today, Theophilus Chukwuemeka Amadi is married and father to four children between the ages of one and seven years old, his two youngest children are twins. Dominic Nahr

Amal, 11 years old (2018), survivor of the Syrian war. Amal left the besieged city of Homs in Syria at the age of seven and sought refuge in Lebanon. She is a very quiet girl and cries very often, as she is very close to her grandmother who had to remain in Homs. When the photographer Dominic Nahr is taking a portrait of Amal, something rather unusual happens: for just a short moment, the sad child turns into a confident girl. Dominic Nahr

Amal’s family fled Syria in the fourth year of the Syrian war. They left their home as they were afraid of the continued bombing of the besieged city of Homs and sought refuge in Lebanon. Amal and her family have been living in the Bekaa Valley since 2014. When asked what she would wish for, she does not hesitate and says: "Magic." Dominic Nahr

María Consuelo Beltrán, 91 years old (2019), survivor of the Spanish Civil War. “After the bombings, life went back to normal, more or less. People returned to work, and the children to school. But our town was destroyed, most of the inhabitants had left for France and only returned a few years later when the war was officially over. The border was closed completely for years." Dominic Nahr

In April 1937, the Basque town of Guernica (in Euskara: Gernika-Lumo) was bombed by German fighter planes of the Condor Legion. It is estimated that between 200 and 300 people died. Dominic Nahr

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A Swiss photographer and the NGO Save the Children explore how war and humanitarian aid have shaped the lives of children across generations through portraits now on show at the United Nations in Geneva.

“I Am Alive. Ten Children, Ten Wars, Ten Decades – and a Baby” is a photo exhibition by Swiss photographer Dominic Nahr and NGO Save the Children Germany showing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Based on a photobook called “I am Alive”External link, it tells the story of eleven people – including one baby – who as children survived some of the worst wars of the last century.

The show explores what it means to live through the horrors of war as a child and how receiving humanitarian assistance can shape the lives of survivors.

“I wanted to transport the reality of the many wars of the last century,” said Nahr, who has recently been documenting the war in Ukraine.” And unfortunately, the 21st century is also a warlike one.”

“The exhibition gives visitors the chance to talk about the unspeakable, about what war does to children and to all of us, and to share our stories,” said Martina Dase of Save the Children, the initiator and curator of the show.

More than 450 million children across the world – one in six – are living in a conflict zone, according to the NGO.

“This exhibition is a poignant reminder that behind each number is a human being with the same hopes and dreams as the rest of us,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees.

The photos are on display at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, where the Human Rights Council is currently meeting for its 50^th session. It is also in the Swiss city that Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children, advocated for the recognition of children’s rights. Her ideas laid the groundwork for what is now the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The exhibition runs until July 6 and is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm. Visitors must registerExternal link to access the UN building.