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A shocking reality

Raghu Rai has taken images for our photo-exhibition, which is part of our EVERY ONE campaign launch. He’s India’s most celebrated photographer.

This little boy in the picture, is so malnourished that he looks like he’s only three-months-old, when in fact he’s about nine. The caption cuts through me like a knife. It says, “In the absence of nutrition, the body makes a choice: it decides not to grow in order to stay alive.” I’ve got goose bumps writing this down.

I’m praying the boy is OK, and that seeing his photo will shock people into action.

It was a very difficult choice putting that image into the exhibition, because it really pushes the boundaries of what makes a good photo. I think it was the right choice, though, to include it. We Indians need to really see things as they are. To see that babies are dying for no good reason. I think it’s a crime that we can find water on the moon, but that we can’t save our babies from dying of easily preventable causes.

Photo: Raghu Rai/Save the Children

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