Friday, December 30, 2011

A LIFE REVEALED

In 1985, during the war between Soviet Union and Afghanistan, there were many girls who lost their family and started to stay in refugee camps but one of them was special. Şarbat Gula (in the picture) was a student in a school in one of these camps and when she was 13, a photographer Steve McCurry had a chance to take a photo of her. This photo was broadcast in one of  the National Geographic journals in 1985 titled ''Afghan Girl.'' Then Şarbat Gula became the symbol of Afghan refugees around the world and her photo became the most known picture in the publication world. Since Afghanistan was a hard place to explore for the Eastern media members, Gula had not been reached and known for more than 15 years. No matter how hard Steve McCurry tried and how much money he sacrificed to find her again, he wasn't able to do it until 2002. In 2002, the National Geographic team went to Afghanistan to find Gula who turned back to her home country after the war was over.  After hard efforts, they found her in a poor village of Afghanistan and her being the same person in the photo was proved by the technology of biometry which measured her eye iris. Having been taken a photo of herself only once in her life, she remembered that day clearly and Steve wanted to take one more photo of her after nearly 20 years. However, Gula was married and her husband was irritated with this situation. Given a good amount of money he let Steve take his wife's photo. Over again her second photo was broadcast in the National Geographic journal in April of 2002 and a documentary was done about her life.

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