Captions

1. Los pies de Samden (22 años) seguramente pèrderán todos los dedos debido a la congelación. En su huida cruzó Nangp La (un paso a 5.000 m. de altura) equipado apenas con zapatillas. 2

Newly arrived children. They are healed (some of them will lose their feet due to frostbite). Nurse Tenmzin Yonkyi was born in India but has been educated entirely in Tibetan. She heals and disinfects their wounds. She knows that despite their pitiful state they are lucky: they have survived. 1

2. Newly arrived children. They are healed (some of them will lose their feet due to frostbite). Nurse Tenmzin Yonkyi was born in India but has been educated entirely in Tibetan. She heals and disinfects their wounds. She knows that despite their pitiful state they are lucky: they have survived. 1

Taka's story as we know it begins in December 1997. Together with his wife Chimee, they decide to flee Tibet, leaving their beloved province of Kham behind. The Chinese settlers and soldiers do not leave many opportunities. In the middle of a grueling journey on foot, fleeing Chinese military detachments, they cross the Himalayas with a small group. A snowstorm buries most of the group. A thirteen-year-old boy survives but his mother lies dead beside him and he is seriously injured. Taka and his wife leave their backpacks, clothes, and food behind and carry the boy on their backs. After many efforts, the little boy does not resist and dies. They, lost from the rest of the group, miraculously manage to reach Nepal and from there to Kathmandu, still walking on their own feet. But frostbite did its work. Their legs were amputated. He says that despite everything he is happy to feel free. 3

3. Taka's story as we know it begins in December 1997. Together with his wife Chimee, they decide to flee Tibet, leaving their beloved province of Kham behind. The Chinese settlers and soldiers do not leave many opportunities. In the middle of a grueling journey on foot, fleeing Chinese military detachments, they cross the Himalayas with a small group. A snowstorm buries most of the group. A thirteen-year-old boy survives but his mother lies dead beside him and he is seriously injured. Taka and his wife leave their backpacks, clothes, and food behind and carry the boy on their backs. After many efforts, the little boy does not resist and dies. They, lost from the rest of the group, miraculously manage to reach Nepal and from there to Kathmandu, still walking on their own feet. But frostbite did its work. Their legs were amputated. He says that despite everything he is happy to feel free. 3

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Running-up 1998

Ángel López Soto

Refugee reception centre in Kathmandu, Nepal

Presentation

Biography

Ángel López Soto is a documentary photographer. He focuses on current affairs and social denunciation. He collaborates with national and international media.

Some of his projects and reports have been carried out in collaboration with UNICEF, Red Cross, Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID), UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), Ayuda en Acción, Action Aid, Fundación Amigó, and the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, among others.

Ángel López Soto has been the founder of Gea Photowords (an association of photographers, journalists, filmmakers, and writers linked to everything that affects the environment, human rights, and the diversity of our world in all its forms and aspects) together with the photographer Alfons Rodríguez and the journalist Juan Carlos de la Cal.

Selected among several photographers from around the world by the Gamma agency in Paris to photograph the Alhambra in Granada as part of the 'Heritage 2001' project on UNESCO's World Heritage.

Winner and other finalists
edition 1998

Winner edition 1998

Enrique Pimoulier Laspeñas

Journey into the light

Spain

Running-up 1998

José Adolfo Aparicio Herrero

María

Spain

Running-up 1998

Abigail Appes

A little boy from Brazil

Brazil