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Society & Culture

The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan

October 7, 2015
Shima Shahrabi
5 min read
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan

For the past two years, his home province has been the subject of his photographs — from sheds around neighboring villages, the Gulf of Oman port of Chabahar at sunset and the tall palm trees of Iranshahr to Baluchi girls wearing colorful bracelets, an elderly shepherd or a farmer boy to houses without roofs or curtains and schools without doors, classrooms or windows.

Raeesi does not make any money for himself from these photographs, but he has helped local schoolchildren. Because of his photos, some of the most disadvantaged kids in his area have new schoolbags, books and stationery.

Raeesi, who has always had a love of photography, began taking pictures on his smartphone and then posting them on Instagram. And his followers responded, donating money to supply schools with water and air conditioning, and ensuring  children could buy shoes, books and other necessities.

“I show the real life of the people of Baluchistan,” says Raeesi, an ethnic Baluchi . “Some people ask, why do I photograph only poor people? But I am recording the life of ordinary people. This simple life might not be believable for those who live in northern Tehran and follow my posts, but these pictures are from the real lives of Baluchistan people. I believe I have so many followers because these pictures are real.”

Raeesi's Instagram page currently has about 46,000 followers. Raeesi, 26, was born in Bandargas, a village near Chabahar. He says he really wants to help the children from the nearby villages to go school. “Our village was doing better that other villages around it,” he says. “My father works in the heavy agricultural machinery sector and is financially comfortable, but I have seen neighboring children and children from the villages around us who have had to give up school because they can’t afford a schoolbag, textbooks, school uniform or even pencils. You might not believe it, but in one village, 35 children, aged from seven to 13, have never attended school.”

The first time one of Raeesi's followers contacted him to say that they wanted to deposit one million tomans — about US$340 —into to his account to help some of the poverty-stricken children and their families he had featured on his page, it came as a surprise. “I did not accept at first,” says Raeesi, “but after a few days of struggling with myself, I came to a decision. Why not, if I can help children? I posted something about it and asked followers to comment. Many did, and they all agreed that I should accept funds.”

Raeesi regularly posts updates on the page about how much money he has in the account and how donations have been spent, keeping his followers informed about all his activities to distribute money to the kids and their schools.

 

 
The Instagram Kids of Baluchistan

Photographer Alireza Raeesi has made a difference to some of the poorest children in Baluchistan. He takes photographs of ordinary lives around him, showing what’s it like to be a kid in the province. His Instagram followers have responded by donating money for schoolbooks, educational supplies, and to pay for repairs to classrooms.He says: “It makes me happy to bring joy to these children.” And the children are certainly glad he has an Instagram account.

Posted by Iranwire English on Wednesday, October 7, 2015

 

Door to Door Deliveries

The first thing Alireza Raeesi did was to provide four school with basic necessities. “They did not have doors, windows or electricity,” he says. “We installed those. We provided all four schools with water coolers and gas air conditioners. Up to now, we have provided 1,500 students in around 15 villages with schoolbags, shoes and other educational necessities. In fact, I went door to door to distribute them.”

Some donors deposit money in Raeesi’s account, while others mail books and bags and other much-needed items. “I have no idea about the value of the goods that have been mailed,” he says, “because people might mail 10 to 12 boxes of books and shoes and suitcases all at once and I receive them at home. But I think, over the last two months, people have donated around 20 million tomans,” he says — close to $6,700.

Following a suggestion from a friend,  Raeesi has also launched a website, Kindness Ambassador, on which he sells his photographs. He asks between $10 to $14 dollars for each, and has invited others to post their own photographs on the site for sale too. “The photos are not really ‘sold’,” says Raeesi. “This is purely a symbolic act. By ‘buying’ the picture, charitable people are helping school children in Baluchistan villages. I make no money but it makes me happy by bringing joy to these children.”

Prior to this, Raeesi studied electrical machinery and now lives in Chabahar. “I am in Chabahar, but my parents, my siblings and all my relatives and friends live in the village. I work at a real estate agency. When I go back to my village, I plant watermelons.”

He has also posted pictures of his watermelon farm on his Instagram page, as well as photos of children who work on farms instead of going to school.

Recently, Raeesi bought a Nikon 3200 camera. It was on this camera that he documented the moment when the children of the village received their gifts. Boys and girls in colorful Baluchi outfits sit next to each other in a classroom, displaying their new books and schoolbags in from of them. Their sunburned faces are filled with joy. They smile for the camera and then chant a Salavat: “Peace be Upon the Prophet”.

 

Related articles:

Toxic Storms hit Sistan and Baluchistan Again

Afghan Children Denied Education

I Want to be an Instagram Celebrity

The "I Love Hejab" Instagram campaign

 

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