Afghanistan is the wound that never heals. A reminder of the past comes in the form of a riveting book, “The Photographer: Into War-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders”. This is the story of young Didier Lefevre, a photographer, hired by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF; Doctors Without Borders) to document their journey to northern Afghanistan in 1986 to set up medical services. This is when the Russian invasion was in full swing with the MSF mission illegal and dangerous. (Matters became worse: in August 2004 MSF left Afghanistan, closing down all operations, after 5 MSF staff members were shot and killed. After an absence of 5 years, in 2009 MSF started to engage again in Afghanistan because of the desperation there).
The book is unique. One always wonders upon seeing evocative photographs what happened before and after. Here, Lefevre’s black and white photographs are interspersed between graphics panels in a seamless and compelling first-person narrative. This is a perfect blending of a graphical novel format with photo-journalism. The art, in color, is by Emmanuel Guibert and is in complete balance with the story line. But the storyline is not war, which is always distant if ever-present. This is about the arduous travel, the work of healing, the impact of war and above all the Afghan temperament.
You marvel at the resilience of the Afghan people, their strength and courage, their inner beauty and pride, through all the anguish and suffering of war. And you are equally glad for the dedication and courage of the MSF for its selfless work. If there is flaw in the book, it is that you wish Lefevre's photographs were larger for all the detail that is there. There are indelible lessons in humanity. '...When you give a dead child back to its mother.. and, in return, she slips a handkerchief with a few walnuts into your hand... and she says, "Thank you, thanks to you he is ready to meet Allah"...'
Like “Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon History of Hiroshima” by Keiji Nakazawa, the graphic novel in 10 volumes about the human impact of the A-bomb, “The Photographer” should be made must-reading for world leaders. Though very different from the raw power of Nakazawa's book, you want that awareness of people's lives to be there before policy decisions are made.