abuse – Son of the Morning Light

Enslaved in Slave Island #14

February 23, 2023February 23, 2023 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2023/02/1u9a3167e2.jpg — Iresha Wijesinghe, lab assistant at the National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) clinic tending to needle users in Slave Island. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund, in January 2022.

^{• 50mm • f/1.4 • 1/250 • ISO200 • 5DMkIV & EF 50/1.4 courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

Enslaved in Slave Island #13

February 15, 2023February 15, 2023 David BlackerLeave a comment

One an NSACP* outreach volunteer, the other a single father; both lifelong friends, and recovering addicts. Wekanda Housing Scheme, Stewart Street, Slave Island. *Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund*, *in January 2022.*

^{• 70mm • f/4 • 1/400 • ISO800 • 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

^{*The National STD/AIDS Control Programme is a Sri Lankan Health Ministry initiative to coordinate the country’s response to sexually transmitted diseases.}

Enslaved in Slave Island #12

February 8, 2023February 8, 2023 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2023/02/1u9a2610.jpg — *A recovering addict in the Wekanda Housing Scheme, Stewart Street, Slave Island. *Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund*, in January 2022.*

^{• 50mm • f/1.4 • 1/1250 • ISO400 • 5DMkIV & EF 50/1.4, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

Behind the Beach #3

January 26, 2023 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/1u9a4122.jpg — A National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) outreach worker conducts a mobile clinic for beach boys in the Sri Lankan tourist town of Hikkaduwa, registering sex workers, conducting blood tests, and handing out condoms and educational literature. *Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund*, in January 2022.

^{• 47mm • f/4 • 1/4000 • ISO800 • 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

Enslaved in Slave Island #11

January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/1u9a2634.jpg — PA Fernando, an outreach worker with the *National STD/AIDS Control Programme* (NSACP). *Shot on* *Stewart Street, Slave Island, for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund, in January 2022.*

^{• 50mm • f/1.4 • 1/1250 • ISO200 • 5DMkIV & EF 50/1.4, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Enslaved in Slave Island #10

December 20, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1u9a2517b.jpg — *Current and recovering addicts in the Wekanda Housing Scheme, on Stewart Street; participating in a National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) outreach project in *Slave Island*.* *Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund, in January 2022.*

^{• 60mm • f/4 • 1/800 • ISO100 • Canon 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

Enslaved in Slave Island #8

September 26, 2022September 25, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/1u9a2461.jpg — Journalist Aanya Piyari Wipulasena interviews a needle user on *Stewart Street, in Slave Island*. With her are an outreach team from the National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP). Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund, in January 2022.

^{• 24mm • f/4 • 1/320 • ISO800 • Canon 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/f4L, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Trading the Exotic

September 6, 2022September 6, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/1u9a3920.jpg — *Tharindu* was introduced to me as a former beach boy, now volunteering for the* *National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP)* in Hikkaduwa, helping to educate other male sex workers on staying safe. While the obvious attraction of the trade is monetary, with many beach boys hoping to strike it big by marrying a westerner and emigrating, or being bought property locally, a less acknowledged factor is the easy availability of sex with exotic foreigners. The latter can be as addictive as the money, and at the time the photograph was taken it was unclear whether Tharindu had completely given up working the beach. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund in *January 2022.*

^{• 50mm • f/1.4 • 1/640 • ISO100 • 5DMkIV & EF 50/1.4, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

_{*Name changed.}

Chief Tech

August 30, 2022January 27, 2023 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/1u9a4292.jpg — SAH Attanayake, the senior medical laboratory technologist, at the National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP), De Saram Place, Maradana. *Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund, in January 2022.*

^{• 50mm • f/4 • 1/320 • ISO400 • 5DMkIV & EF 50/1.4, courtesy Canon/Metropolitan.}

Understand the Bus Stand

April 11, 2022 David BlackerLeave a comment

https://sonofthemorninglight.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/img_5112.jpg — Young protestors on Galle Face Green, in Colombo, call for the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his cabinet, accusing the government of ineptitude, corruption, and nepotism. 9th April 2022. The government, led by President Rajapakse and his powerfully placed brothers, have failed to gauge the man on the street (and at the bus stand); overestimating the country’s middle and working classes’ willingness to weather a crippling foreign exchange and energy crisis that has seen people suffer rampant inflation and long powercuts, as well as critical shortages of cooking gas, fuel, food, and medicine. Protests that began spontaneously and sporadically in March have grown steadily, culminating in a massive protest in downtown Colombo, that has claimed as many as a million protestors. After futile cabinet reshuffles and opposition posturing in parliament, the legislature went into recession for the traditional Sinhalese and Tamil new year holidays. The protestors, however, have vowed to stay, turning what was planned as a 24-hour protest into something set to go on through this holiday week.