SOS Children's Village Cochin/India - Photo: Benno NeelemanBenno Neeleman is a big man, he has big hands, a wealth of experience and a big heart. The fact that he goes behind a tree to cry unobserved shows that he does not need to explain to us in detail what a seriously traumatised woman in the Democratic Republic of the Congo told him in a flat, emotionless tone, in a single flow of words, about how she had suffered during one of the worst, most constant and under reported conflicts in Africa today. Here, he had almost reached his limit, as a person and as a photographer. How could he intrude with his camera at this intimate, dreadful moment? "If I reach out to someone with the story then it has been worth it." He was in Rwanda just after the genocide. When he returned, he began to think he should give up taking photographs, but the gentle voice of this strong man asks us: "But then who would tell their stories?"
Washing day in an Egyptian SOS Children's Village
Photo: Benno Neeleman
We manage to brighten up the conversation when we ask him which SOS Children's Village he liked most, knowing that each child arrives at an SOS Children's Village with their own different tale of suffering which is deeply rooted in their soul. Neeleman told us that he felt most comfortable at Lilongwe in Malawi, but could not say why. "There's a particular atmosphere there - the friendliness of the people and the laughter of the children." There, he has even apparently been mistaken for the President of SOS Children's Villages, Helmut Kutin, "because of my bald head". He also very much liked SOS Children's Village Morelia in Mexico and SOS Children's Village Flores in Indonesia, and this village and that village...
And now, in all honesty: "What do you think of the work of SOS Children's Villages?"
"It is not perfect, but it is very good", says the "photographer of hope", who has an eye for things that need to be depicted without the use of words. For Neeleman, a good photograph does not need an explanation, whether it is good or sad. But he sometimes does need to reach for words, like in southern Sudan, and make short notes so that the burden is not so great.
Family strengthening programme in Flores/Indonesia
Photo: Benno Neeleman
Since we are speaking so much about roots and the importance of having a home, has he, the world traveller, a fixed abode? It was not until recently that Neeleman realised that there was an SOS Children's Village in Kleve am Niederrhein, just over the border in Germany, right next to where he lives. The man who has already been to 86 countries has gone "as far away as possible" before discovering what was on his doorstep. It is as if he has removed one layer of onion skin after the other before reaching the centre and going back to his roots - the Netherlands. He then shuts the door behind him, opens a good bottle of wine and enjoys his peace. But it tends not to last for very long.
Since the SOS Children's Village in Imst is seen as being the very centre of the organisation, Benno Neeleman wants to go there. But at the moment, it is probably too near for him!
SOS Children's Village Morelia/Mexico - Photo: Benno Neeleman
A number of professional photographers work for SOS Children's Villages on a regular basis. They charge the organisation lower rates for their photographs and sometimes even provide photographs free of charge. Benno Neeleman (born in 1957) takes photographs for other organisations such as UNICEF, UNAIDS, Plan, Terre des Hommes, Médecins Sans Frontières and Caritas and has won several prestigious prizes for his work. He has worked for SOS Children's Villages in more than 30 different countries.