Thursday November 6, 2008, Kilolirwe, North Kivu, Democratic Republic Of Congo

Rebels over run town as thousands flee Eastern Congo

Rebels in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have forced thousands of civilians out of a town they have taken from a pro-government militia. Rebel leader Laurent Nkuna's men took Kiwanja after two days of fierce fighting, before ordering about 35,000 people out of the town so they could search it. General Nkunda's Tutsi rebels say they are fighting to protect the Tutsi community against Hutu FDLR rebels who fled DR Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Militias loyal to General Nkunda conduct a combat demonstration near the village of Kilolirwe in the mountains north of Goma

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Monday January 1, 1753, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The Akaki river: pollution in Africa

Messeret Seifu, 42 years old, collects wood searching through garbage transported by a recent flood of the Akaki river in the village of Akaki, in the outskirts of Ethiopia on Tusday September 16 2008. Despite its high toxicity, the Akaki river is still used for various purposes including irrigation and animal drink. The major pollutant industries include tanneries, breweries, wineries, distilleries, soft drink, chemical and metal work industries, the Addis Ababa Abattoir Enterprise and the National Tobacco Factory.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Monday June 1, 2009, Undisclosed Location, Arabian Sea

American aircraft carrier supporting war in Afghanistan

The flight deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), a nuclear powered american aircraft carrier that is currently supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, the american effort in Afghanistan, by sending tens of its jets every day to support ground troops in air to ground bombing operations, on Monday June 1 2009 at an undisclosed location in the Arabian Sea.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Thursday September 11, 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Ethiopians celebrate 2000 New Year on Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian Calender marks 13 months starting on September 11 of the western calendar. In the year 2007, Ethiopians celebrated their millennium. Currently, the country struggles with two digit inflation, food commodities more than doubled in price in the last year and millions of Ethiopians now depend on food aid.

Blood flows as a bull is slaughtered on the first day of the year 2000 marked on the Gregorian Calender followed in Ethiopia.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Monday January 19, 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Models vie for Miss Ethiopia crown

Eliminated contenders for the crown display ball dresses, their final change for the night during the 2009 Miss Ethiopia beauty pageant held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Addis Ababa. Chuna Okaka, a 22-year-old university student from Gambella won the crown. Okaka will next take part in the Miss World Cultural Heritage competition set to take place in Namibia later this year.

Models wearing gowns during Miss Ethiopia competition.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Sunday January 11, 2009, Gonder, Amhara, Ethiopia

Ethiopia's Jews

A group of 150 Ethiopian Jews pray at their Synagogue, which is funded by a foreign non-governmental organization in the city of Gonder, where some 9,000 "Falash Mura" now live. The Falash Mura are said to be Ethiopian Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity. The Israeli Government is still verifying their claims and if a clear link between them and Israel would be established, they would have the right to return to their motherland. In the meantime, Israeli and other Jewish non-governmental organizations are working in support of the community.

Ethiopian Jews praying at their synagogue.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Thursday April 2, 2009, Lagos, Nigeria

Nollywood Nigeria's film industry

Currently, Nigerian films outsell Hollywood films in Nigeria and many other African countries. Nollywood is a nascent film industry in Nigeria, growing up within the last two decades to become the third largest film industry on the planet, behind the United States and India. Nigeria has a US$250 million movie industry, churning out some 200 videos for the home video market every month.

"2009 African Movie Academy Award" winner for best performance by an actress in a supporting role Mercy Johnson continues to cry after playing a dramatic part during the filming of "The Darkest Link", a Nollywood production

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Friday November 30, 2007, Mayfa Haja, Yemen

Dozens of Somali refugees killed in boat tragedy

Ever since the collapse of the Barre regime in 1991, Somali men, women and children have been buying passage in small open fishing boats to Yemen, where they are given automatic political asylum. The trip, which costs from $70 to $150 USD per person, can be fatal, due to rough seas, overcrowded boats and merciless smugglers. On the night of November 29, 2007, a small fishing boat flipped over and was overwhelmed by constant waves while unloading refugees just a few hundred meters from the Yemeni shores of Meifa Haja. Of its 130 passengers, only 42 reached the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) refugee center in Meifa. Thirty bodies where recovered the next day while the rest are still unaccounted for.

Two men from the Society for Humanitarian Solidarity (SHS), a Yemeni UNHCR partner, recover the body of a dead Somali refugee as part of a recovery operation on the beaches of Mayfa Haja.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Monday September 1, 2008, Konso, Southern National People Region, Ethiopia

Ethiopia food crisis growing

Elfenesh, 7, at one of Konso's Ethiopian Ministry of Health Centers in southern Ethiopia. Save the Children USA operates in the center providing support to the government staff.

Elfenesh, a 7-year-old girl, is treated at a health care center.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Sunday July 20, 2008, Nyang'Oma Kogelo, Kenya

Barack Obama's Kenyan roots

US Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a Kenyan from the village of Nyang'oma Kogelo, in Nyanza Province, and Ann Dunham, a white American from Wichita, Kansas. The Obamas are a members of the Luo tribe, Kenya's third-largest ethnic group. Besides Barack Obama, Barack Obama Sr. fathered six other sons and a daughter. All but one live in Britain or the United States.

Sarah Onyango Obama parental step grandmother of Barack Obama comes

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Tuesday May 6, 2008, Katana, South Kivu, Democratic Republic Of Congo ( Drc )

Sexual Violence in Eastern DRC

A patient suffering from gynecological problems is visited at an improvised medical center organized by staffers of the Panzi hospital, in the village of katana, in the Eastern DRC province of South Kivu on Tuesday May the 6th 2008.

Most of the screened women suffer from physical problems caused by sexual violence. In Eastern DRC rape can be used as a weapon to undermine the whole social structure. Sexual violence is often used to weaken any opposition in the population. Many women have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair. According to the United Nations, 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the total number across the country. ?ÄúThe sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world,?Äù said John Holmes, the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs. The attacks go on despite the presence of the largest United Nations peacekeeping force in the world, with more than 17,000 troops. NAMES AND AGE OF THE SUBJECTS HAVE BEEN OMITTED TO PROTECT THEIR IDENTITIES.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Thursday November 13, 2008, Sodo, Ethiopia

Ethiopia's worsening food crisis

American NGO "The International Medical Corps" delivers food aid and medical care to hundreds of starving and malnourished Ethiopians, south of the city of Sodo in Southern Ethiopia. Ethiopia is in the midst of a food crisis affecting an estimated 6.4 million people. Tens of thousands of children under five are suffering from acute severe malnutrition and urgently require therapeutic feeding and other assistance. Failure of recent seasonal rains precipitated crop failures in most of the country, and cycles of flooding and drought have been further compounded by the global increase in the price of food crops and fuel.

A malnourished child waits to be examined by Ethiopian government medical staff at a local clinic supported by the American NGO "The International Medical Corps"

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Monday June 1, 2009, Undisclosed Location, Arabian Sea

American aircraft carrier supporting war in Afghanistan

US NAVY fighter pilots on the wa to their planes headed to missions to Afghanistan aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), a nuclear powered american aircraft carrier that is currently supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, the american effort in Afghanistan, by sending tens of its jets every day to support ground troops in air to ground bombing operations, on Monday June 1 2009 at an undisclosed location in the Arabian Sea. .

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Thursday November 27, 2008, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Heroin addiction an increasing problem in Pakistan

While Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Maldives all suffer from drug consumption, Pakistan is the worst victim of the drug trade in South Asia. Today, the country has the largest heroin consumer market in the south-west Asia region. The drug addicts resort to crime for generating income for the purchase of narcotics. The situation is becoming serious due to the number of heroin addicts in the country. An alarming rate of increase of 100,000 addicts per year is highly dangerous to society. The drug addicts are affecting nearly 20 million dependents and family members with psychological, social, and economic repercussions.

A man worshiped by the local heroin addict community as a healer receives tea and cigarettes as gifts on the second floor of a depot in front of a Mosque in the city of Rawalpindi.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Saturday April 4, 2009, Yenagoa, Bayelsa, Nigeria

Nollywood Nigeria's film industry

Currently, Nigerian films outsell Hollywood films in Nigeria and many other African countries. Nollywood is a nascent film industry in Nigeria, growing up within the last two decades to become the third largest film industry on the planet, behind the United States and India. Nigeria has a US$250 million movie industry, churning out some 200 videos for the home video market every month.

Nollywood Superstar Actress Stephanie Okereke, with friends, getting dressed in her hotel room a few hours before the 2009 African Movie Academy Awards where she's nominated for best actress in a leading role and best screen play writer

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Sunday January 18, 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Models vie for Miss Ethiopia crown

Contenders for the crown wait backstage for their turn to meet the jury and the crowd during the 2009 Miss Ethiopia beauty pageant held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Addis Ababa. Chuna Okaka, a 22-year-old university student from Gambella won the crown. Okaka will next take part in the Miss World Cultural Heritage competition set to take place in Namibia later this year.

A crowd of models wearing bikinis backstage at Miss Ethiopia competition.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Monday June 1, 2009, Undisclosed Location, Arabian Sea

American aircraft carrier supporting war in Afghanistan

US NAVY Plane Captain Shawn Beals a 30 years old aviation school graduate, on the ship's flight deck minutes before launching one of the planes his team is responsible for on missions to Afghanistan aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), a nuclear powered american aircraft carrier that is currently supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, the american effort in Afghanistan, by sending tens of its jets every day to support ground troops in air to ground bombing operations, on Monday June 1 2009 at an undisclosed location in the Arabian Sea. .Plane Captains are sailors working on the flight deck, responsible for the ship's airplanes.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Sunday January 11, 2009, Gonder, Amhara, Ethiopia

Ethiopia's Jews

An Ethiopian Jewish child watches her mother prepare Njera, a local pancake, at a compound they rent from a Christian family in the city of Gonder. The city of Gonder is home to some 9,000 so-called "Falash Mura." The Falash Mura are said to be Ethiopian Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity. The Israeli Government is still verifying their claims and if a clear link between them and Israel would be established, they would have the right to return to their motherland. In the meantime, Israeli and other Jewish non-governmental organizations are working in support of the community.

Ethiopian Jewish child watching her mother bake at their home.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Friday November 30, 2007, Mayfa Haja, Yemen

Dozens of Somali refugees killed in boat tragedy

Ever since the collapse of the Barre regime in 1991, Somali men, women and children have been buying passage in small open fishing boats to Yemen, where they are given automatic political asylum. The trip, which costs from $70 to $150 USD per person, can be fatal, due to rough seas, overcrowded boats and merciless smugglers. On the night of November 29, 2007, a small fishing boat flipped over and was overwhelmed by constant waves while unloading refugees just a few hundred meters from the Yemeni shores of Meifa Haja. Of its 130 passengers, only 42 reached the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) refugee center in Meifa. Thirty bodies where recovered the next day while the rest are still unaccounted for.

Men from the Society for Humanitarian Solidarity (SHS), a Yemeni UNHCR partner, join volunteers in recovering the bodies of dead Somali refugees as part of a recovery operation on the beaches of Mayfa Haja.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Sunday December 7, 2008, Karachi, Pakistan

Heroin addiction an increasing problem in Pakistan

While Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Maldives all suffer from drug consumption, Pakistan is the worst victim of the drug trade in South Asia. Today, the country has the largest heroin consumer market in the south-west Asia region. The drug addicts resort to crime for generating income for the purchase of narcotics. The situation is becoming serious due to the number of heroin addicts in the country. An alarming rate of increase of 100,000 addicts per year is highly dangerous to society. The drug addicts are affecting nearly 20 million dependents and family members with psychological, social, and economic repercussions.

A patient sits in his room in the heroin addiction ward of the Edhi Foundation Clinic in the city of Karachi.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Monday March 19, 2007, Monrovia, Liberia

First female contingent takes part in UNMIL peacekeeping mission in Liberia

103 Indian police personnel were specially selected to take part in the UNMIL peacekeeping mission in Liberia for an initial deployment of six months. They are the first contingent entirely formed by women in the history of the United Nations Peacekeeping. Their mission in the country is to provide fire support to the unarmed Liberian security forces. In india these women distinguish themselves by operating in the most troubled areas of the country taking part in counter insurgency and crowd control special operations.

Indian female Peacekeepers from the Indian FPU (Formed Police Unit) chase running Liberian men during a cordon and search operation.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Thursday November 6, 2008, Kilolirwe, North Kivu, Democratic Republic Of Congo

Rebels over run town as thousands flee Eastern Congo

Rebels in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have forced thousands of civilians out of a town they have taken from a pro-government militia. Rebel leader Laurent Nkuna's men took Kiwanja after two days of fierce fighting, before ordering about 35,000 people out of the town so they could search it. General Nkunda's Tutsi rebels say they are fighting to protect the Tutsi community against Hutu FDLR rebels who fled DR Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda, near the village of Kilolirwe in the mountains north of Goma

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Thursday May 8, 2008, Bukavu, South Kivu, Democratic Republic Of Congo ( Drc )

Sexual Violence in Eastern DRC

Adele, 35 years old, from the village of Kaniola, cries while recalling voluntarily her tragic story while interned in the Bukavu Mental hospital, in the Eastern DRC province of South Kivu on Thursday May the 8th 2008.

Aldele was rapped for the first time in late 2006 when a group of foreign militias stormed her house in the middle of the night in the village of Kaniola, 80 km from Bukavu. The militias killed her four children, her two brothers and her husband, chopped them into pieces and forced her to cook their flesh, which was eaten by the attackers. they then cut the penis off her husband and once cooked, forced her to eat it. They proceed raping her, and dragged her to a tree not far from her house where she was tied up for several days after the attackers opened her lower belly exposing her intestines. she recalled that birds were nibbling on her flesh. she was found by a local NGO and took to the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where she was interned for 18 months to recover from her physical wounds. She was released from the hospital and sent back to her village. one week later the same militias who rapped her almost two years before showed up to her hut and assaulted her again, accusing her to talk about them to the authorities. she was then dragged to the same tree and tied there till she was able to free herself by cutting the ropes with her teeth. The same NGO founder again, while she was adrifted in the forest. Under complete shock she was directly taken to the only mental hospital of the region, where she is still under the care of its staff.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Sunday January 18, 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Models vie for Miss Ethiopia crown

A contender for the crown works on her make up while a fellow participant speaks on her cell phone during the 2009 Miss Ethiopia beauty pageant held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Addis Ababa. Chuna Okaka, a 22-year-old university student from Gambella won the crown. Okaka will next take part in the Miss World Cultural Heritage competition set to take place in Namibia later this year.

A model touches up her makeup while seated beside a colleague speaking on a cell phone backstage during the Miss Ethiopia competition.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Friday March 27, 2009, Lagos, Nigeria

Nollywood Nigeria's film industry

Currently, Nigerian films outsell Hollywood films in Nigeria and many other African countries. Nollywood is a nascent film industry in Nigeria, growing up within the last two decades to become the third largest film industry on the planet, behind the United States and India. Nigeria has a US$250 million movie industry, churning out some 200 videos for the home video market every month.

A Nollywood star after an event sponsored by the Actors Guild of Nigeria at the famous O'Jeez bar

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Monday June 1, 2009, Undisclosed Location, Arabian Sea

American aircraft carrier supporting war in Afghanistan

Crew aboard the flight deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), load weapons on fighter jets which in a few hours are going to fly over Afghanistan to support ground troops in air to ground bombing missions on Monday June 1 2009 at an undisclosed location the Arabian Sea. .The ship is a nuclear powered american aircraft carrier that is currently supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, the american effort in Afghanistan, by sending tens of its jets every day to support ground troups in air to ground bombing operations.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Sunday March 29, 2009, Lagos, Nigeria

Nollywood Nigeria's film industry

Currently, Nigerian films outsell Hollywood films in Nigeria and many other African countries. Nollywood is a nascent film industry in Nigeria, growing up within the last two decades to become the third largest film industry on the planet, behind the United States and India. Nigeria has a US$250 million movie industry, churning out some 200 videos for the home video market every month.

Victoria, an aspiring actress on The dance floor of a private party for a Hip Hop star at an exclusive club, a hang out for Nollywood stars

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Monday January 1, 2007, Mogadishu, Somalia

Ifrah Hassan Mohammad, 19 years old, TV reporter for GBC ( Global Broadcast Corporation ) reads the news at the GBC studio in Mogadishu, Somalia on Monday January 01 2007 Only a few days after the fall of the United Islamic Courts in Mogadishu, Ethiopian and Transitional Federal Government troops are patrolling the city and securing strategic locations. The people in Mogadishu appear confused and doubtful on t

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Tuesday November 8, 2005, Aru, ituri, Drc

militia disarmament

Former FLAPC militia gun men wait to hand their weapons to the United Nations in Aru, Ituri region of Eastrern DRC on April the 13th 2005. a group of more than 200 militias disarm every day in the Aru DDR (Disarmament demobilization reintegration) site under the supervision of the UNDP ( united nations development program). most of these men are belonging to the FLAPC milita group.

Credit: Guy Calaf / Polaris

Guy Calaf

Guy was born in Italy in 1978. He spent his childhood between Italy and the US.

In 1997 he moved to Milan, where he studied and worked until late 2003. He received a degree in Communication Science from an Italian university in November 2003 upon the completion of a thesis project focusing on the semiotics of Vietnam War photography. In early 2002 he completed a professional photography course in Milan.

Since 2003 Guy's work has been focused on conflicts and social issues, mainly in the Middle East and Africa. He moved to Ethiopia$B!G(Bs capital, Addis Ababa, in 2006 to concentrate on contemporary African issues while working for his editorial clients. Guy is deeply committed to exploring the continent's social dynamics at every level, from small sub cultures in its mega capitals to the changing lives of rural communities whose social structures have been so dramatically altered in the last century.

Several of the publications that have featured Guy's photography include: Vanity Fair IT, US and DE, L'Espresso, Le Figaro Magazine, Paris Match, National Geographic, Le Point, GQ Italy, Der Spiegel, US News & World Report, Newsweek, USA TODAY, Specchio, Max De, The New York Times, Time Magazine, D, Cicero and Stern.