Rena Effendi
UKRAINE
“Anna Zavorotnya survived
Holodomor [the Soviet-era
imposed famine of Ukraine]
when she was just six months
old in 1932. She was rescued
from a group of starving villagers
who resorted to cannibalism and
nearly butchered her for food.
Anna also lived through the
Nazi occupation of Ukraine. In
1986 she witnessed Chernobyl,
the world’s worst nuclear
disaster, in the city of Pripyat.
Anna chose to return home just
a few months after the accident.
I watched her run around her
yard with almost manic energy
in a ghost town with only three
remaining residents. I asked
Anna why she chose to come
back – wasn’t she afraid of
radiation? ‘Radiation? No, I can’t
see it. What about starvation?
I am afraid of that!’ she said.
In spite of all the adversities
she had faced in her life,
Anna’s spirit was indomitable.”Ami Vitale
KENYA
“Traditionally, the Samburu women
of northern Kenya are married off
at a young age without an
education, let alone a chance
to work. But as one of the first
female keepers of the Reteti
Elephant Sanctuary, Mary Lengees
is breaking new ground. Though
she and the women who work
for her encounter resistance,
they are united in their mission to
rescue abandoned elephant calves,
nurse them back to health, and
reintroduce them to the wild.”REPORTAGE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY (FROM BEGINNING): HANNAH REYES MORALES/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX/HEADPRESS; DINA LITOVSKY/REDUX/HEADPRESS; SARA HYLTON/REDUX/HEADPRESS;ANDREA BRUCE/NOOR; STEPHANIE SINCLAIR/REDUX/HEADPRESS; RENA EFFENDI/NG IMAGE COLLECTION; AMI VITALE/NG IMAGE COLLECTION(^46) | marieclaire.com.au