A selection of Tobin Jones' photography work throughout East Africa, Yemen, and Somalia. Contains both a selection of photojournalism, as well as humanitarian photography work.

1. P H O T O G R A P H Y
TOBIN JONES

2. 02 Table of CONTENTs
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05
07
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30
INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Fight Against Al Shabab
Living in the Shadows
Statelessness in Kenya
NGO Work
Conclusion

3. 03
September, 2012
Balidoogle, Somalia
An African Union soldier
tentatively looks out the top of
his armored vehicle during an
Al Shabab ambush on a convoy
pushing out from Mogadishu to
Baidoa in an effort to effort to
capture new territory from the
extremist group.
AMBUSH

4. 04 Chapter 1
With the ousting of Somalia’s
long-time dictator, Siad Barre,
in 1991, few then could have
predicted that for the next two
decades the country would be
in an almost permanent state
of civil war. Born amongst this
anarchy, al Shabab came into
being after the defeat of Somalia’s
Islamic Courts Union (ICU) by the
country’s Transitional Federal
Government and its Ethiopian
backed forces. Representing the
more radical arm of the ICU, al
Shabab immediately set to work
fighting off what it saw as the
foreign invaders.
Allied to al Qaeda and branding
its own form of radical Islam, al
Shabab is notorious for imposing
a particularly oppressive form of
rule in the areas it controls. This
not only includes the banning
of many forms of entertainment,
such as football, but also
imposing harsh punishments to
anyone who breaks its rules.
In 2007, with the Ethiopian’s
withdrawal from Mogadishu,
Uganda under the African Union
landed in Mogadishu to a find
a city in chaos and began the
slow job of slowly taking it back.
Almost eight years later, the
African Union Mission in Somalia
– now composed of more than
six troop contributing countries –
has succeeded in not only kicking
Al Shbab out of Mogadishu, but
also out of most of the country.
The Fight Against Al Shabab
A five year project documenting Somalia’s transition from a
war torn country into Africa’s newest democracy.

5. 05
OFFENSIVE
African Union soldiers walk
through a newly captured town
and on their way into another in
the South of Somalia during an
offensive on Al Shabab positions.
October, 2013
Garowe, Somalia

6. 06
Location, New Zealand 2009
October, 2014
Garowe, Somalia
A group of Ugandan soldiers,
belonging to the African Union
Mission in Somalia, gather before
embarking on an operation in
Bule Burte town to find al Shabab
militants.
SOLDIER BOYS

7. 07
From left to right: Somalia 2013, Somalia 2012

8. 08
February, 2013
Qoryooley, Somalia
Two African Union soldiers walk
hand in hand through a forward
operating base on the even before
an offensive to take the town of
Qoryooley from the extremist
group Al Shabab in South Central
Somalia.
A NEW TOMORROW

9. 09Chapter 2
Muhamasheen
of Yemen
Living In The
Shadows

10. 10
The Middle East’s poorest state, Yemen
is a country in turmoil. While most of its
neighbors have grown obscenely rich, fueled
by giant oil deposits underneath their soils,
Yemen has been forced to watch from the
sideline as its own economy has grown
increasingly stagnant. Decades of endemic
corruption, dwindling resources, and a
tyrannical government have left the country
only a shell of its former self –with more than
45% of the population now living below the
poverty line.
With its plethora of problems, Yemen’s future
is unclear. There is little to suggest whether
the country will be able to pull itself together
after its recent revolution, quell rebellion in
the South, or silence al-Qaeda. What is clear,
though, is that while Yemen’s government
grapples with the many problems on its plate,
other issues such as human rights are being
laid by the wayside. The consequence of this
may come back to haunt
the country in the future.
“Al Akhdam”, meaning“The Servant”in
Arabic, is a term in Yemen reserved for the
lowest of the low. You can usually see these
people, mostly consisting of Yemen’s darker
skinned population, in the small alleyways of
Sana’a, dutifully sweeping the streets of the
day’s rubbish. Considered dirty and lazy, the
Akhdam have held such jobs for as long as
most can remember. Here they make up what
would essentially be the equivalent of the
untouchable caste in India. Ostracized by the
general population in Yemen, they are forced
Yemen’s Untouchables

11. 11
Street Sweepers
In a quieter alley of Sanaa’s old city two young
boys sweep up the dust and refuse that has
accumulated over the course of the day. Being
high up on a mountain plateau, in an
environment with little vegetarian, Sanaa is
often covered with a cloud of dust. When this
settles it is essential that it be swept up on a
regular basis so that it does not
become unmanageable.

12. 12
Solomon’s Children
Solomon, a street sweeper, rests
on the steps of a mosque in the
old citzy of Sanaa after a night
of sweeping up other people’s
rubbish wish his two boys.

13. 13

14. 14
At a hairdressing salon next door to a Muhamasheen community in central Sanaa, a member of the community gets his face whitened. Although not true for all of the Muhamasheen,
one of the caste’s distinguishing features is their dark skin.This has resulted in many to try and remedy this through the use of bleaching creams to try and lighten the skin.

15. 15
December 2017
Githerai, Kenya
Three generations of Shona wom-
en weave baskets on the floor of
their home in the town of Githurai
on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.
Basket weaving, in a traditional
style unique to the Shona, is one
of the major revenue sources
for the group. Basket weaving is
usually done by all of the female
members of the family, even by
girls as young as the age of five.
WEAVERS

16. 16 Chapter 3
The Shona in Kenya originally
came from Zimbabwe in 1961 as
missionaries for the Gospel of God
church. From the original twenty
families who came, there are now
estimated to be roughly 4,000 Shona
living in Kenya - including some of
the original settlers, their children,
grandchildren, and even great
grandchildren. Four generations in
total.
The Shona are a group of culturally
similar Bantu-speaking people from
Zimbabwe and are most famous
for having built Great Zimbabwe, a
civilization, which thrived between
the 11th and 15th centuries A.D.
Today the Shona number roughly 10
million and are spread over
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana,
Zambia, and Mozambique - as well as
the small minority in Kenya.
The majority of the Shona lack a
legal identity in Kenya, which creates
multiple and far reaching problems
for the group. Without Kenyan
identity cards - which are required
for anything from opening a bank
account, to buying land, sending
children to school, acquiring a
business permit, or even allowing
one to move freely - the Shona
have been relegated to the fringes
of society and the informal labor
market.
Shona children are able to attend
school in Kenya up to the level of
class 8, but are required to show birth
certificates in order to sit for their
primary education examinations,
after which children attend
secondary school. Without birth
certificates it is very difficult for most
to complete their education. This
forces them to drop out of school at
a very young age. Many girls end up
getting married and in general Shona
children do not achieve full potential.
Young Shona orphans, as well as
non-Shonas, are usually adopted by
Sisters in the church. There they are
taught about the Shona religion and
raised to become Sisters themselves.
Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo
Kenyatta, was friendly with the Shona
community and even promised
to grant them land at one point.
However, he died in 1978 before this
became a reality.
Kenya’s Stateless Minority
Documenting Kenya’s Stateless Shona Community

17. 17
Clockwise from left to right: Githurai 2017, Kinoo 2017.

18. 18
A young Shona girl looks up from her
work during a lesson at her school in
Nairobi, Kenya, on November 2, 2017.
Location, Nairobi 2017
Shona Girls At School

19. 19
Location, Nairobi 2017 Location, Nairobi 2017 Location, Githurai 2017
Sisters in Training Sisters in Church Dixon Sitting in Chair
A group of Sisters and young girls training to be
Sisters sit during a church service at the Shona
community’s Gospel of God Church in Nairobi,
Kenya, on October 28, 2017.
young Sister attends class at a school set up by
the Shona community behind their Gospel of
God church in Nairobi, Kenya, on November 2,
2017.
Dixon Ncube, an 86 year old who came to
Kenya in the 1970s as a missionary from
Zimbabwe, sits inside of his rented home in the
town of Githurai on the outskirts of Nairobi,
Kenya, on October 25, 2017.

20. 20
Location, Kinoo 2017 Location, Nairobi 2017 Location, Nairobi 2017
Mofat’s House Gospel of God Church Old Man & His Wife
Sisters at the Shona’s Gospel of God church
in Nairobi, Kenya, take part in a daily prayer
session on October 27, 2017.
Mofat Ngwabi, an 88 year old Shona elder,
peers out of the window at his home in the
town of Kinoo on the outskirts of Nairobi,
Kenya, on October 29, 2017.
Mofat Ngwabi, an 88 year old Shona elder, is
helped by his wife, Mangwenya, down a path
leading to their home in the town of Kinoo on
the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, on October 29,
2017.

21. 21
Being born in Africa and having worked
on the continent for almost the entirety
of my career, Africa is not just another
assignment for me but my home. As a
result I’m keenly familiar with not just
most of the continent, but the multitude
of different people who also call it home.
Having worked for some of the world’s
most respected news outlets and largest
NGO’s, I have covered everything from
stories of human tragedy - war and
humanitarian crisis - to those of human
triumph and the continents emergence
into the modern world.
With each new assignment it is my
aim not just to create something that
is socially engaging and beautifully
shot, but to create something new and
different that will create empathy and
surprise the viewer.
Past clients in the international
organisation, NGO, and social enterprise
fields have included WFP, UNFPA, UNSOM,
AU, USAID, UNHCR, Danish Refugee
Council (DRC), RH Supplies Coalition,
Access Afya, Gravity Light, and many
others.
TOBIN JONES NGO PORTFOLIO
A selection of photographs from clients in the NGO sector.
Chapter 4

22. 22
Clockwise from left to right: Uganda 2016 (DRC), Kenya 2016 (UNHCR), Somalia 2014 (AMISOM)

23. 23
Above: A young school girl in Mogadishu, Somalia, looks out of her classroom window
to an assembly being held in the courtyard. (UNSOM)
Left: A young girl in the Nairobi slum of Kibera reaches out to touch a GravityLight, an innovative
new product that harnesses the earth’s gravity and its potential energy to create a source of sus-
tainable power able to ligh homes in an environmentally friendly manner. (GravityLight)

24. 24
Right: A mother sits with her young child in the early
morning light drinking tea at the Danish Refugee
Council run Rhino Refugee Camp in Northern Uganda.
There has been a huge influx of refugees in Uganda
from South Sudan since fighting broke out there in
2013. (DRC)
Below: Rose Nathike, a South Sudanese refugee and a mem-
ber of the Refugee Olympic Team in the 800m, runs during
a training session in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 24, 2017. The
Rio Olympics in 2016 represented the first time in Olympic
history athletes were able to compete in the games as refu-
gees. Today UNHCR continues to work with refugee athletes
across the world to ensure they have the same opportuni-
ties as those with a country to represent. (UNHCR)

25. 25
From left to right: Somalia 2013 (UNSOM), Somalia 2014 (AMISOM), Somalia 2017 (WFP), Somalia 2014 (UNSOM)

26. 26

27. 27
Thank you for having taken the time to look through my portfolio and I hope you
have enjoyed the work you have seen. I am currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, and am
available for assignments across the region and further afield.
For more of my work feel free to click on the links below to see my website, as well as
my Instagram and Twitter feeds. You can also get in touch with me directly by clicking
on the email icon below or through the contact page on my website.
Thank you,
A Brief
Conclusion
www.tobinjonesphotography.com

29. TOBIN JONES PHOTOGRAPHY - PORTFOLIO
© 2018 Tobin Jones, All rights reserved.
No part of this catalog may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form, or by no means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the
publisher.
Page composition by www.tobinjonesphotography.com
Designed in Nairobi, Kenya