African MarketPhotographer Jonas Elmqvist

Bujumburra, Burundi

The Swedish Photographer Jonas Elmqvist is born in 1970

in Stockholm. He has no formal education in photography

but have studied geography and communications at Lund

University. In all his carrer he has been working with images

both as photographer and graphic designer. Jonas is

describing his photography as moments when he has open

a door into an new part of live and is standing in the door

way and letting the impressions come to him. Most of his

photographs are technical simple often taken with same

lens on the camera for severals weeks. But don't be

missled, the timing and framing are precise and executed

with passion.

Photographer Jonas Elmqvist

African marketAfter a day of travel through Rwanda over the

mountains to Burundi the plains surrounding

Bujumbura opened out before us. High up in the

mountains it was cold and rainy but on the plains

the nice central African weather met us. The light

was intense, the temperature was about 30

degrees centigrade and the air was dry. It was late

afternoon as we entered Bujumbura.

I was visiting a friend who was an aid worker in

Tanzania. I had joined him on a trip to Rwanda and

Burundi for about two weeks. This was a golden

moment to get close to the central African culture

as we were travelling alongside Boy Scouts and

Girl Guides from Burundi.

Three years earlier in 2005 the civil war in Burundi

had ended. Over 300 000 were killed in the twelve-

year long conflict. The conflict had the same origin

as that in Rwanda, between the two ethnic groups

Tutsi and Hutu. In Rwanda that ended up in a

genocide. Hundred of thousands of machete

equipped Hutus had slaughtered over 800 000

Tutsi and moderate Hutu men, women, elderly and

children in less than 3 months. Would that be an

open wound in the society or would life go on as

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CarryingEverything can be carried on your head. In a land

where buses and cars are something you use as a

last resort when it's not possible to walk yourself,

everything is carried in your hands or on your

head. The later is the only way to carry these heavy

things without being worn out.

All these people are merchants carrying goods in

and out, from left and right. They are crossing

streets, loading cars and trucks, emptying small

minivans and there seems to be no end to the

work. From the air it probably would look like an

ant colony.

In a market like this one in Bujumbura there are

no big brands or stores. Everything is on a very

small scale: the largest market stands are just a

few square metres. But a lot of the goods are not

for sale in Bujumbura and will be rerouted out to

the countryside after changing owners at the

market in Bujumbura.

The market itself is under a huge roof, about 15

metres high and 100 metres along each side.

Inside there are endless small alleys, most of

them less than one metre wide. There is no other

way than to carry the goods in your hand or on

your head, if you want to get them out of the

market.

There are very few bags or dedicated carrying

equipment. Almost everything is carried in its

original box, simple plastic bags or is wrapped

with some cloth and held together with small

strings.

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Business as usualTrade and markets are the economic nerve centre

for all cultures. Some goods were only available to

buy during some parts of the day and other goods

were available almost 24-7. In the beginning I had

some problems to find where things were sold.

There were no signs and if there were any signs

they were probably be in Swahili. But there was a

hidden system. Fresh food was outside and

everything else was kept inside. Almost all the

businessmen and women were working in

clusters. Fabrics were sold in one place and seed

in another. It is very simple when you see the

pattern behind the chaos.

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African market

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MuzungoI have never felt so white as I did on my first day at

the market in Bujumbura. Muzungo means “white

guy”. It can be said in a friendly way or it can be

quite aggressive. In any case it's hard to ignore.

You automatically turn your head and then

everybody shouts Muzungo after you. This was very

refreshing and I'm sure that after being called

Muzungo constantly for a couple of days, I will

never call anybody anything else but their name.

In the word Muzungo, there is a whole palette of

associations. Morgan C. explains it like this:

The Rwandans didn’t always call white people

"Muzungo". Back when the Germans were the

colonisers, they were called German. The French

were the French. Et cetera.

But after World War I, when the Belgians came to

take over the territory from the Germans, they

were called Abazungu, not Belgians.

Because the verb that Muzungu and Abazungu

come from is “kuzungura,” which means “to

replace, to take over”. … [Nowadays all western

people are called Muzungo].

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In the sun there is no hurryEverything takes its time, and people in Africa

know that. Things will be solved but when the sun

is high in the sky everything goes slow. There is no

problem with this because everybody has the same

rhythm.

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There are no free mealsIn Burundi you have to take care of yourself and

those close to you. Building social networks is

important. There is practically no social welfare

system at all; you must work to stay alive. The

people from Africa I travelled with ignored

beggars. They felt sorry for them but were not

interested in helping anybody who did not work for

their food.

Actually it was quite seldom I met beggars. In

Burundi there is always a job to do, even if it is not

so well paid. There is no limit to how little you can

earn, therefore almost everybody works in one or

other way.

When I had been walking the same streets for a

couple of days I found people who sat or stood on

the same spot everyday. The woman sitting on a

simple chair or the man standing at the

crossroads with a white shirt and newly polished

shoes. What are they doing? They are of course

working; opening a gate or having an exchange

office in their pocket.

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Dark AfricaFrom a Western view of point there is no more

dangerous thing to do, outside of visiting a war

zone, than visiting black Africa. I don't know what

makes them so afraid. Perhaps it is the brutal

genocide in 1993 or the fact that all the European

colonial powers were forced out of Africa in the

20th century.

It's true that many awful things have happened in

Africa and often it has some connection with

history and the old Europe. Most parts of Africa are

poor if you compare with Europe, but the dreams

of the young and the elder in Burundi are more or

less the same as I have: to fall in love, get an

education, have a good job, have fun with your

friends etc. The young people I met in Burundi

lived a life quite similar to my life in Sweden, with

the exception of our relative economic wealth.

History connects European culture with African

culture. It's easy to adopt and like Africa; a laugh is

never far away.

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Per Eriksson was my key to Africa. He opened doors and let

me enjoy his network in Africa. 2008 was his last year as the

Swedish Temperance movement’s project manager in Dar

es Salaam, Tanzania. I visited him just a few weeks before

he went home to Sweden.

Per, Thank You!

My key to Africa