"An Angolan child stares at bullet
holes left in his orphanage
after a midnight raid. Another child and a guard were killed
in the midnight rampage..."

Cover Photo by Ami Vitale.
Click HERE to visit her site.

Ami is an independent journalist, who has traveled around the
world documenting the effects of poverty, ethnic and religious warfare, and endangered species. Her photos have appeared in such publications as Time, Newsweek, USA Today, The New
York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, U.S. News
and World Report, Business Week, the Financial Times, and
MSNBC. She has received numerous awards and grants, including
Magazine Photographer of the Year by the National Press Association
and the Canon Female Photojournalist Grant.

This particular photo was taken a few years ago in Angola, which has endured 25 years of civil war. Ami described the scene this way:

"It was taken the morning after a late night rampage of an orphanage in Angola. Rebels were looking for food and things to steal and they killed the guard and a child. It struck me as so deeply disturbing not only because of the tragedy but because the children were so disconnected. They simply had shut down their emotions and observed the scene with an indefinable coolness. Most of them had lost both their parents to the then, 25-year-old conflict and they witnessed this sort of thing on a daily basis. People were starving and the situation had become seemingly hopeless."

More photos from the scene can be found in the Angola section of her portfolio.

Used with permission (and much thanks.)