Golden eyes

What can I say that hasn't been said better. Let's hope their suffering ends soon.

heart breaking, it makes it harder to enjoy the photography.

I've been following since the start and this is the best series yet on The Big Picture - which is definitely saying something.

#33, she've seen a lot for a 8year old

I'm from that region. i'm from bukavu and those pictures were too hard for me...
But i have to thank you however for having bring the reality of misery and war to people from north. Things they seems to forget unfortunetly

Beginning with #4 all of my needs and wants turned to 'dribble.' At # 18 my heart fell apart - from there, it went downhill. Thanks so much for the shot of reality that says I am blessed.

The Rush Limbaugh "Club Gitmo" shirt in picture #22 is funny.

fotos bastante realistas e com absoluto senso da miseria humana, obtidas pelo fotografo.

Great pictures showing the individual suffering of each. To often war pictures are to distant and make the suffering disconnected and thus turn it into a mere statistic. Not allowing us to connect to the situation of other humans with hopes and families, across the globe. These pictures prevent: "Death of One Man Tragedy Death of Millions a Statistic".

#18 utterly breaks my heart.

Such beautiful, awful photos. Some day I hope they are all able to see peace again.

Je reste sans voix devant tant de misère et pourtant il brille encore de l'espoir dans certains regards...
Magnifiques photos, très touchantes!

Wonderful portrails. Congratulations!

What can we do to help?

Amazing photos. Wordless for number 18.

I would like to help, what do I need to do? I'd adopt the son who has machete marks on him...

Truly wonderful pics. It's crazy how religions and ideologies can divide compatriots, resulting to civil wars. They only gain in this whole story are the millions spent on military equipment... I'm sure the people behind all this are well known, but the climax of the trade must be big enough to silence almost every concern, even though it's dealing with human lives..

please some do something for them................
hey US where are you...........

great work.

Mass poverty in Congo and Uganda and nothing more...

Touching and heartbreaking

I love this website! The photos are so touchy!

13 is my hero

Compliments! Really great pictures..I have just left the DRC...thank you for sharing these pics!

If you really want to help, find small organizations to give money to; stop replacing your cell phone every 2 years; stop buying diamonds; and start thinking about how you spend your consumer dollars. Every thing we do has an effect somewhere in the world. Many of the economic connections come back to DRC. It's not just a matter of throwing up our hands in despair about poverty and violence. These each has a genesis and reasons that they are prolonged. US politics and aid play a part, but neither is the whole solution. There are plenty of organizations working in eastern DRC that can use your cash if you want to donate. Use your Google-fu, people.

Awesome! Unfortunately, we're talking about suffered people...

Nothing we can do.

magnifique photos bouleversantes et pleines de pudeur
patrick M

Thanks for posting these photos. It is so essential to see how people at other sides of our planet live.
This could bring appreciation for what we have and our work and living conditions.

Absolutly stunning photography.
Let's hope that with one day there is peace for these people.
Human beings really are the worse kind...
Finbarr you should be comended for bringing this to light and it's what people need to see, #18 shouldn't have a "this may offend" on it without the shock nothing will get done.
There's too many goody two shoes hippy mung beans that want to cover up things and only show the good side of life.when people need to be shocked.

Very Sad and touching..

#35 makes me wanna take the boy home and give him a life.... But sitting here all I can say is that I want to... but I cant actually do it.... which makes me feel like a hypocrite..

#13 makes me smile.... 200 pairs of matching clothes...... Wow.... He must be the rich dude around... What does a money changer actually do ???

#23 Loved the photo....

very touching ...
thanks for share all brother ...

keep safe human right

Great Photos. The photos did a good job viewing the reality of the situation there, but in a dignified way.

i love your comments, too bad you'll forget all about this as soon as you close this page and return to your grande latte and your complicated existence. very sad indeed

#59: I am a software engineering, I use my computer to make a living. By the way I have a clean conscience, your comment is not making me angry because I live in peace with the world.

Beautifull pictures... hope for a peace day in Congo.

I'm an Accountant at Multinational Oil Company. Never in my life time have i ever seen such a collection of pictures. we have to do so many things on behalf of our poor peoples. it is time to get together .......?

Big up the big picture!!
thank you.

GR8 pictures as usual............
Will there ever be peace in he heart of Africa??

And the world is worried abt recession!!

Poignant !

how can one say anything while sitting in my home with my children sipping coffee

Increible, amazing, magnifique...

Thomas Malthus was right and is right. A condom in every six-pack.

And this happen all the time on our planet while we complain about our life during eating a Hamburger. The Western Countries have put more money in capitalism in the last months than for development aid since 1945. Any further questions?
SOME MORE PICTURES (Topic: Congo after the War - Maltreated children's souls) -> http://www.stern.de/wissenschaft/mensch/:Kongo-Krieg-Geschundene-Kinderseelen/656073.html

Amazing photos that speak of what is really happening outside of the fox and msnbc realm.

on a side note look at the orange shirt #22 "Club Gitmo" from the rush limbaugh show ...amazing

reminds me of a photo i have from iraq with a local man working on a broken raw sewage pipe that has a shirt that says "I voted for bush and all I got was this lousey t-shirt"

Amazing, beautiful people. Strong as mountains.

And the only one weeping is crying for someone else.

All in the name of power and money. How did the world get so screwed up.

I just want to bring the kids in numbers 35 and 38 home with me. Otherwise they'll just end up like number 32. Boy soldiers.

No words could explain what i'm feeling now.
besides, wonderful photos.

Jolts you into realising that we have nothing to complain about. Incredible and heart-breaking photographs

Deeply moved..... US spends billions of dollars on Star Wars like crazy programmes and designing latest weapons......who will feed these hungry sons of divine Lord.........

Pìkné fotky! Nice photos!

When I was a kid, my mother used to tell me to finish my dinner, because some young child in africa was starving.

It was many years before I realised that child would die whether I ate my brussel sprouts or not. I think I'm going out and buy a new cell phone.

These pictures are very deep and beautiful. They show that these people are completely human and have to deal with more than many of us in the West will ever know.

That being said, much of Africa is in chaos, we can blame as much as we want on European colonization and capitalist agendas, but it is the people that are killing each other, they are uprooting their cultures and destroying their lands and their people.

Africa, in many aspects, is very far behind in modernization. European history is full of similar stories, we have committed similar atrocities but we managed to get out of it (for the most part) through reason and experience. It seems like Africa just refuse to listen.

Throwing more money at the problem will not combat the situation. The governments are more corrupt than even the worst European politician. The hard-working African people are so often the ones that are brutalized, raped and murdered. Much of the continent lies in total ruin. It is a shame because there exists a rich culture with wonderful people. But it seems that there is no way of peace nor much of a future for many parts of Africa.

@ 112.

I agree completely.

so sad. and can you imagine some people in the u.s. think they have it so bad. they all need to take a look at these photos. but i am affraid of what coul happen to us here in the u.s. in the future. we should pray for these people in the photos. and for ourselves in the u.s.
God bless

so sad...=
let's pray for their safety...

Why not let nature run it's course? Nobody can ever seem to understand that this is why the population is growing exponentially. It's never going to plateau until we stop saving everyone and everything that comes along in the world. For example, picture 18 is that of a child that nature would euthanize, but not the bleeding hearts that want to save every child they can, even if it means they'll be stricken with disease and pain for the rest of their lives. But these morons are the ones that complain about the population crisis while donating to dying children.

The human race will be it's own demise and these pictures are proof.

There is a lot of beauty in the images of the people and the natural riches of Congo, and it is hard to understand the atrocious levels of violence and hatred that leaves the place in constant convulsions. Except that we live from a lot of the natural resources from regions like Congo and this creates a huge incentive for bribery, corruption, violence, and ultimately conflict. It is enough to see how some corporations are willing to make despicable deals to get access to the resources. Just look at the deals for the oil in Cabinda, Angola. Once upon a time it was said that the country is ruled by a communist mafia. Now there is no word about this anymore, but the same clique is in power. George Bush and Dick Cheney even received Mr. dos Santos in the White House. He is one of the richest persons in the world. One hard working dictator who could care less about the suffering of his people. Congo next door is no different in this respect.

We all are guilty, in our hungherness, in our need of more, all we are trash, we made this with our needs, money, jewlery, gold, shine, shine, shine, all we need it's that, when our souls are dry and empty, we should fill it up with love, not whith things. All of you there, don't buy a bigger T.V. or "better" car, apreciate the nature just how it is, FREE!

Take some time to look at #35....

Cell phones are actually one of the tools that enables growth in many local economies as a means of connecting sellers with buyers and getting goods to the right markets when needed.
Alternate currencies have evolved around trading cell-phone minutes instead of cash. A minute today will still be a minute next week, whereas a roll of bills may quickly decline in value to half or worse...
As with all structures, these too work best in times of peace and relative security.
Heartbreaking pictures of a beautiful people... thanks for bringing them to our attention again, please keep them coming.

heartbreaking, thought provoking, powerful photography - thank you once again for opening our eyes

whilst I do not know how to help the people illustrated here, after a trip to Kenya I have set up this website to help two schools who are very much in need of help, please take a look http://www.mombasaschools.org.uk/

very moving, excellent pictures. Thanks for sharing.

#18...my God, how she's small... and how we're fat...

São simplesmente lindas, perfeitas!

These amazing photographs show the world what is really happening in most of Africa. The inhumanity of terrible people against their own kind. Animals are better than these so called humans. Most are governed by a dictator, who with his so called armies (thugs and monsters) go around killing, raping, mutilating, and then burning the villages and killing the villagers livestock. Thousands of orphaned children, who have given up on hope. So much genocide, hatred because another person comes from a different tribe!!!! I get sick to my stomach when I think about what these poor defenseless people have to go through. A living Hell! And don't blame the USA,,It would take the whole world to settle this! !!!pp

Many Thanks Indeed for this pictures.

Regads from Spain

Many Thanks Indeed for this pictures.

Regads from Spain

I LOVE the way LEFTISTS describe gold mining and their other jobs as "hard manual labour." What the Hell do they expect? That Microsoft is going to set-up a high tech plant there?? These people NEED the jobs they have and are GLAD for them because it sure beats starving. Stupid socialists should butt out. Reminds me of all the crying 2 years ago about poor little children "ship breaking" in Pakistan. Jobs = money = food.

Do you all notice the Congolese names? They are Africans but with French names.
And does anybody notice which colonial nation has its colonies always caught in tribal wars, and which colonial nation has its colonies thrive in peace and prosperity ?
The French colonials never taught their colonies about democracy (even when France is the birth land of democratic republic?), discipline, or responsibility of leaders towards their people. So their colonies are always at war (Congo, Ruanda, Mauritania, etc). Their colonies' leaders are never first class leaders, capable of holding a nation together besides their own tribe, in other words, egoistic.
These differs from colonies from England like South Africa, ZImbabwe (at first), Kenya, Tanzania, (not including divided India which was war torn in its first years because of unduly country division into two) : they get good disciplined and far thinking leaders, educated in UK, a KINGDOM not a REPUBLIC.
The youth of Africa should be educated in UK so they could be good leaders with empathy for people, not be schooled in the guillotine head-beheading France.

Well done Finbarr O'Reilly ; I was used to work in East Congo with "Doctors Without Boarders" and I ' m glad that pictures are representing what words can hardly say . I keep being haunted by this misery in Congo while here, in West Australia where I live , the materialism is encouraged to the extreme . Totally opposite worlds , Australians very ignorant of their extremely good fortune!

Crepate tutti merdacce africane!

Regards from Italy

Well done, and such great photography, some of these shots are breathtaking... it really captures the essence of the situation.

Finbarr
You may not realize it, but I so proud of you and what you are doing. Dad

Superb photojournalism!

CANNOT WAIT FOR ALL THESE VIOLENCE TO END. LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO LIVE IN SUCH VIOLENCE. THESE PEOPLE NEED RELIEF FROM THIS INSTABILITY.

Heartbreaking, compassionate, courageous photos. I most particularly appreciate and respect Mr. Finbarr O'Reilly for caring enough about the people in the photos to have learned their names, and for recording them as real people rather than anonymous strangers.

I commend your skill and sensitivity here. The humanity of these people comes across without prejudice. The painful silence and sorrow present here comes across all the more for the restraint. These people have been surrounded by chaos and hatred and here in these moments we see them as individuals.

We all know there's no magic wand with any conflict zone. Speaking as someone who has spent time in Northern Ireland. I do know that if people are given pause to see those around them, that they may hurt, true humanity then brutality and rage are often averted. These pictures help provide that pause.

ola pobrecillos me parecen muy malas las condiciones en las que viven esas pobes personas no se que decir me e quedado "en blanco" "sin palabras"
les deseo buena suerte para ellos...

Imperialism Results !!

Lost lives, displaced families/homes, starvation, unsanitary survival (existance, not living)! The suffering is spoken in the Eyes of these beautiful souls. We see and hear the lambs-a-cryin'...I pray we find ways to care for all HUMANITY distant and far. Our own eternity hinges upon how we respond to the crying. Once I see and know, I am compeled to act. I held the children, wiped the tears, caressed each face in my arms as I prayed for their deliverance, realizing that my own is anchored in theirs. God, give me strength to move from my comfort zone to be an obedient shepherd. Thanks for the revelation in photos! Sensitive! Powerful!

de très belles photos qui en disent long...

"CANNOT WAIT FOR ALL THESE VIOLENCE TO END. LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO LIVE IN SUCH VIOLENCE. THESE PEOPLE NEED RELIEF FROM THIS INSTABILITY."

Unfortunately violence is part of the sub Saharan Africans' nature. Wherever they go, violence and hedonistic behavior follows. Just look at the inner cities in the United States and look at what's happening to the cities in Europe they're now beginning to infest.

Nothing unusual. Thousands of years of documented history and we still see starving babies, genocide and the entire list of 3rd world indicators that plague that entire continent.

Don't waste your money attempting to fix a problem that needs to solve itself.

Wow, those are great portraits! Well done!

What a sad commentary these remarks are. For the most part, it appears as though they are simply reviews of the author's photography? My god, have we become so detached? Perhaps the most targeted comments were...what can we do? Congogirl, your remarks were poignant and direct. Thank you. People, take time to look into the eyes of the children....and then ask youself, "what can I do."

Speechless................

Hey Tiffany- Why is it always "what can _____ do for these people?" How about they do something for themselves for once? Hundreds of billions, TRILLIONS if you include private charity, has been given to this continent. All it has achieved doing is severely increasing the size of the population, setting it up for an even more catastrophic problem. Blame can only get you so far, they need to look at themselves for the cause of their problems. Look into the eyes of the children?-the world has been guilt-tripped into that for DECADES. Not only has there been ZERO results, it has actually gotten worse over there. Cease all aid, and let nature solve Africas problems- it is long overdue.

i think that this is a bad thing happen to the congolese i prey that god will hlep these people.

God thank you for your mercy to us, and comfort those who suffer ...

yu have this strengh to keep eye, humanity and esthetic. Everything inside is together: blood, sadness, the shame, the hopeness, the smile... To keep all is to be alive. Yur photography is alive.

as a black man in mississippi to think i have it bad .we all can help my hart go out to them,how can i help.

very sad, but the photos are amazing!
contratulations!

Gorgeous. Tragic, but very, very beautiful.

Really great selection of photographs. Striking beauty of faces and in the same time hoorible human tragedy.

Dear Mr. Taylor, thank you for offering these amazingly powerful photos to the world. I am president of an association in support of victims of sexual violence in the DRC here in the Eastern Pyrenees (France). We are partnering with a local association in Kasongo (Maniema, DRC) a zone that has suffered from the war since 98. We are in the process of developing our website (you can see the current draft on line) and we need good photos. Is there any chance that we might be able to use some of yours? What process would that require? We are putting all our resources into local awareness raising and helping our partner in the DRC apply for funds. Linde Rachel for Ensemble pour les femmes.

It was #20 that struck my heart and brought tears to my eyes. How rare it is that a photographer shows the Congolese people for who they are: human. beings.

finbarr o'reilly, asante sana. you capture a region that has my heart and my voice, thank you for the value your images crown the people of eastern DRC with. hakuna amani, hakuna maisha.

Fantastic pics, a spectacularly beautiful country, where the suffering goes on and on, beautiful, sad, afraid, proud,and happy faces despite all,we volunteer our childrens childhood away, they have their,s taken.