Stand up Cambodia!

A disabled German volleyball player before his team's game against Slovakia during WOVD World Cup in Cambodia, Olympic Stadium, Phnom Penh, 14.12.2009. Read more

© Grzegorz Ostręga / Babel Images.

God child

Tep Sareth, 21, claims he woke up one day at the age of 13 with the power to predict the future. Now, in his home province Svay Rieng, Cambodia, he's reffered as a "god child". "I cannot make things happen, I can only say what will and won't happen offering advice on how to escape bad fortune", he explains. In the process he seems to have secured himself a lucrative business. He earns up to 300$ a week telling the futures of rich and poor alike, while his mother sells special packs of herbal brews for 1.20$ each. A monk at a local pagoda remains sceptical: "People believe what they will, but this is not Buddhism".

© Grzegorz Ostrega / Babel Images

Elections according to Vetëvendosje!

I vote, You vote, He/She votes, We vote, You vote, They profit - graffiti in the centre of Prishtina made by Vetëvendosje! - group of kosovo Albanians which fight in non-violence way for rights to self-determination. Organization is against presence of international forces in Kosovo (UNMIK, EULEX, ICO, KFOR) and boycott the Ahtisaari Plan according to which local elections take place.

© Michal Kowalski / Babel Images

Kosovo loves America

 

American flag is a common view in Kosovo. On the streets of all kosovian cities You can find places like this small local cafe in Mitrovica. New state adores USA because of their help during the war with Serbia in 1999. Now american soldiers are the biggest part of KFOR (Kosovo Forces), which are stationed in former serbian province.

© Mieszko Stanislawski / Babel Images

The Great Race

Boatsmen and spectators waiting for Sunday races during the annual Water Festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Every year this three days long event - marking the reversal of flow of the Tonle Sap river - attracts around two million people from the countryside to come and watch competing teams from all across the country.

© Grzegorz Ostręga / Babel Images

Sleeping on the street

Homeless street child sleeping in early morning on a sidewalk of one of the most touristic streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia (31.07.2009).

It is hard to estimate the number of street children in Phnom Penh as they are very mobile and often move from place to place. Some sources say it is two thousand, other say it's much higher. Aged from four to seventeen they are hugely vulnerable to all kinds of exploitation, abuses, drugs use and gang activities. Money they collect from tourists goes mainly to other people, what leaves them in extreme poverty and "no way out" situation.

© Grzegorz Ostręga / Babel Images

Two faces of Kosovo

View on Prizren from Kaljaja hill. On the first plan - ruins of a building in serbian quarter destroyed by Albanians during ethnic unrest in 2004. Remains of the quarter are protected by KFOR soldiers.

© Michal Kowalski / Babel Images