Show Navigation

Christian Bobst Photography

  • reportage photography
  • nar8tive: multimedia storytelling
  • commercial photography
  • art &creative direction
  • News & Publications
  • Instagram
  • Newsletter
  • Archieve
    • All Galleries
    • Search
    • Cart
    • Lightbox
    • Client Area
  • Biography
  • Contact

Christian Bobst Photography

Search Results

92 images

Refine Search
Match all words
Match any word
Prints
Personal Use
Royalty-Free
Rights-Managed
(leave unchecked to
search all images)

Loading ()...

  • In his tiny office, the priest advises women and girls. A recently conducted survey presents a gloomy picture: of 20 women and girls between the ages of 11 and 45 who registered with him one day, all were HIV positive. Sixteen of them sayed that they had been raped multiple times, the youngest at eight years old, with one 12-year-old having already been violated 10 times. All of those interviewed indicated they suffered from depression. Many say that they had attempted suicide more than once.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_005.jpg
  • (2008) Father Hermann Klein-Hitpass stood up for the weakest members of society in Namibia´s capital, Windhoek, for many decades. For the past 20 years his special focus has been on girls and women whose poverty forced them into sex work. Most of those women do not call him “Father” only because he is a priest – many say that he is like a real father to them.
    _FSC4266.jpg
  • (2008) Whenever possible, Hermann ventured out into the townships to assist with problems or to get a sense of the conditions in which those he cares for were living. The priest talked to women and children on the street about the dangers of AIDS and other STDs. He encouraged them to get tested for AIDS and passed out condoms, even though the Catholic Church forbids it.
    FSC6601.jpg
  • (2008) The bookkeeping of father Hermann is meticuluous. He knows exactly who got what and when from him. Every day of the week, about 300 of the registered women and girls are entitled to collect some food and cloth and to stay at the centre from morning to evening.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_007.jpg
  • (2008) A woman exits Father Hermanns car in Havanna, a district of Katutura. Sometimes Father Hermann drives  some women from the townships to his daycare or back. But most of them have to walk ten kilometers and more to get to his daycare.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_004.jpg
  • For single women, life in the rough ghettos around Katatura is very difficult, particularly for those with small children. Because there are few jobs, prostitution is often the only route to survival. Many become infected with diseases. Sick, weak and ostracized as whores, they have almost no chance of finding normal work and become trapped in a vicious circle.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_003.jpg
  • (2008) For single women, life in the rough ghettos is very difficult, particularly for those with small children. Because there are few jobs, prostitution is often the only route to survival. Many become infected with diseases. Sick, weak and ostracized as whores, they have almost no chance of finding normal work and become trapped in a vicious circle.
    _FSC8491.jpg
  • (2008) Father Hermann talks to a streetwalker who is looking for clients at the Ausspannplatz, a street-walkers patch in the city center of Windhoeck. This area is not safe for the women, especially not at nighttime. Sex workers can´t expect any protection from the police, because prostitution is illegal in Namibia. „When it‘s dark the ladies are wanted by many people, but during the day in parliament they want to burn them out.“ says Hermann in an interview with a local newspaper.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_011.jpg
  • (2008) Most women in the shelter are infected with AIDS or venereal diseases. Sick, weak and ostracized as whores, they have almost no chance of finding normal work. "We give them food once a week and a bible. This is just to keep their hopes alive." Klein-Hitpass says,
    Namibia_Father_hermann_009.jpg
  • A beduin women in front of their tent in the desert of Wahiba, sands, Oman, 2011
    Oman_Travel_061.JPG
  • A beduin women in front of their tent in the desert of Wahiba, sands, Oman, 2011
    Oman_Travel_060.JPG
  • A beduin women returning from the dunes in Wahiba Sands, Oman, 2011
    Oman_Travel_005.JPG
  • Beduin women praying at sunset in the desert in Wahiba Sands, Oman, 2011
    Oman_Travel_004.JPG
  • (2008) At his daycare facility, Father Hermann hands out milk powder to prevent small children from contracting HIV by their mothers from breastfeeding. In 2008, when this photo was taken, sex workers who registered with Hermann received a ration of food and second-hand clothing once per week. The bookkeeping of Father Hermann was always meticuluous. He knew exactly who got what and when.
    _FSC3680.jpg
  • (2008) Father Hermann poses with his old Toyota in front of the roman catholic church at Pioneers Park, where his home, a two room apartment, is located. He always has a big key chain with him, because he has to lock everything tp prevent it from getting stolen.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_010.jpg
  • (2008) This image shows the "kitchen" of Winnies home. Winnie has to share the six square meters sized shack with two other girls to be able to pay the rent.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_017.jpg
  • (2008) A portrait of Irène at the age of eleven. Two years later she became pregnant and ran away from home. Irène tried to abort the baby with illegal pills, lost consciousness, was raped by a young man, and passed away.
    _FSC8766.jpg
  • (2008) "When it is dark enough the ladies are wanted by many people, but during the day in parliament they want to burn them out." says Father Hermann. He notes, prostitutes face an immediate mortal threat of HIV infection - something the government seems unwilling to confront.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_008.jpg
  • (2008) Eunice at the age of 17. At that time, she was already a young mother.
    _FSC6644.jpg
  • Sixteen-year-old Winnie stands in the entrance of the hut that she and two roommates have rented. Often, the girls are sought out and sexually assaulted by unknown men in the hut, particularly when they are drunk and defenseless. They can't protect themselves because the door has no hinge and no lock.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_016.jpg
  • Father Hermann holds a deeply depressed woman to comfort her. Two weeks previously she had lost her baby and been thrown out by her husband and left her to a life on the street.
    Namibia_Father_hermann_001.jpg
  • _CHB2311-exp.JPG
  • Kyoto
    Japan_Polaroids_Ch.bobst005.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-12.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-4.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-2.jpg
  • Early morning at the new delhi train station.
    ch.bobst_delh_station-6.jpg
  • Eine Gruppe von Frauen tanzt zu den Klängen von Trommeln bei einer traditionellen Zeremonie im Dorf Soune in Senegal in der Region der Stadt Thiés.
    _CHB2298-exp.JPG
  • Tokyo
    Japan_Polaroids_Ch.bobst015.jpg
  • Tokyo
    Japan_Polaroids_Ch.bobst004.jpg
  • Beduin girls milking goats in the desert of Wahiba sands, Oman, 2011
    Oman_Travel_059.JPG
  • A Beduin woman in the desert of Wahiba Sands. Oman, 2011
    Oman_Travel_054.JPG
  • A beduin woman living in the desert of Wahiba Sands. Oman, 2011
    Oman_Travel_051.JPG
  • Picture on a sill in a farm in Mirashkani.
    georgia_farmers_002.JPG
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-11.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-10.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-9.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-7.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-6.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-1.jpg
  • Tokyo
    Japan_Polaroids_Ch.bobst001.jpg
  • Beduins living in the desert of Wahiba Sands. Oman, 2011
    Oman_Travel_053.JPG
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-8.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-5.jpg
  • Traditionelle Käse Herstellung auf der Alp Holzmatten im Berner Oberland (Traditional Cheese making process in the mountains of switzerland)
    ch.bobst_holzmatten-3.jpg
  • Beles Sunrise project BSP, Beles Dish Promotion. Meresiet Halle Gewergis (47, blue dress left), head of women's affairs at Tabia Beleso and Kindihafti Hadgu (42), chair of women association (petrol dress, middle) and members of the women development group showing pots with different Beles (Catus) dishes.
    _XTB7278.JPG
  • November 8, 2017 –Women of the Ndiaye family prepare food for their noumerous family members and guets during the Grand magal in Touba  while the men gather to pray on the morning of the Grand Magal. The Grand Magal is also the most important family reunion in Sehegal, and women are the center of the family in Senegalese society. They are respected and honored as the educators of the next generation of good Muslims and as the glue that holds together the family. Unlike in the Arab world, women are not considered to be husband‘s property and therefore do not have to wear veils.
    DSC_3844.JPG
  • Trudy, (28) says that her children are her only joy in life. Because most of the men refuse to use condoms, women who sell themselves often get pregnant. Some of the women have up to ten children, often all from different fathers.
    _DSF9181.JPG
  • April 1, 2015. Women perform traditinal songs at a competition in Djilass, a small village in the disrict of Thiès. The repetitive songs and archaic drums belong to every wrestling match in Senegal. While men hit the drums, the singing is the job of the women.
    _NPS1526.JPG
  • (2008) Several women are fighting for a cigarette. Fights among the women at the shelter are not unusual and  envy is a big problem. Therefore Father Hermann has to be very careful to distribute food and clothes at his shelter equitably.
    _FSC2373_def.JPG
  • Father Hermann’s shelter, November 22, 2013. Father Hermann examines an x-ray of a young boy at the daycare facility. The boy’s mother worries about the health-state of her son an asks for Hermann’s advice. Many women come to the shelter to be examined by Father Hermann when they or their children feel sick. If necessary, Father Hermann admits them to a doctor or to a hospital to claim an appropriate medical treatment, which would not be granted, if the women would go their on their own.
    _ND85348.JPG
  • (2013) For many years, Hermann distributed second hand cloths among the women at the shelter. "Proper cloths are very important to get a minimum of respect in this culture, so the women will always try to dress up as good as possible, even if they have nothing. I don´t want them to spend their money on clothes, when they have hungry children to feed at home." he says.
    Hermann_Namibia_001015_Ch.Bobst_Herm...JPG
  • (2008) The women take their babies with them to the shelter to get some food for them or to have them examined by Father Hermann when they are sick. In an emergency father Hermann would take the children or women to the hospital for proper treatment.
    _FSC1459.JPG
  • A tibetan women (left) and an Indian women and her child (right) in Dharamsala, India, 2009
    tibetans_india_014.jpg
  • Members of the women development group of Tabia Beleso carry pots with different Beles (Cactus) dishes. Photographed for Helvetas Switzerland (Project: Beles Dish Promotion, Beles Sunrise project BSP)
    _XTB7402.JPG
  • Shatila, Lebanon, April 2017. A boy sells consumer goods in one of the numerous shops in the Shatila. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), most of the men in the camp work as labourers or run grocery stores, and women work as cleaners. 10 percent of Lebanon's population is comprised of Palestinian refugees, two-thirds of them live on less than $6 a day.
    DSCF0472capture one.JPG
  • (2013) Alexia lives with four other women and their children, so that they are able to protect themselves from robbers and sexual assaults.
    _DSF7886.JPG
  • (2013) Father Hermann visits Alexia at her home in Katutura. Alexia lives with four other women and their children, so that they are able to protect themselves from robbers and sexual assaults.
    _DSF7081A.JPG
  • (2013) Some of the women are fixing the battery of Father Hermanns car in front of the shelter in Katutura.
    _ND85086.JPG
  • (2013) Father Hermann rests while he visits some of the women at their homes.
    _DSF7471.JPG
  • (2013) Father Hermann talks to some women who bake bread dough in hot oil to sell at a nearby school at Damara 6. Years ago they were also working as sex workers, but they say they are now too old to get enough clients to survive.
    _DSF1566.jpg
  • (2013) Father Hermann walks to the homes of some of some women in Havanna, another district in Katutura, to see if they are ok.
    _DSF9113.jpg
  • (2008) Women and children at Father Hermann´s shelter.
    _FSC7934.JPG
  • Two old women are praying at their home in the Tibtan settlement in Manali, India, 2009
    tibetans_india_007.jpg
  • (2013) Dina gets some tap water at a sanitary installation near her shack. Namibia is is the most arid country south of the Sahara. Rainfall, the main supplier of water, is very scarce. The Namibian government tries to improve the situation of the poorest people in Katutura by constructing sanitary facilities even in the sqatter settlements. But the tap water is not for free, of course. Often, the women have difficulties to bring up the money for the water which they need for themselves and their children.
    _DSF7721.JPG
  • (2013) Father Hermann and some women in front of the Shelter in Katutura.
    _ND86118.JPG
  • (2013) Hermann visits some of the women in Damara 6 at their homes.
    _DSF7319.JPG
  • Damara 6, Katutura township (Windhoek), November 27, 2013. Father Hermann rests while some girls are doing their hair. It took a few years until the women started to trust the priest. But now many say that he is like a real father to them. He became part of the family, part of the people in the township.
    _DSF1335.JPG
  • (2013) Father Hermann visits Alexia (left, with pink shirt) at her home in babylon, a district of Katutura. Alexia lives with four other women and their children, that way, they are able to protect themselves better from robbers and sexual assaults.
    _DSF6200.JPG
  • (2013) Father Hermann visits some of the women who used to come to his shelter. Some are just happy to see him, others immediately ask him for some financial support.
    _DSF7315.JPG
  • Dakar, April 9, 2015. Aissa (23), a waitress at the „Black and White” bar on the beach of Ngor, poses for a portrait with the newspaper „Sunu Lamb“, which daily publishes exclusively Senegalese wrestling matches. Many girls are and women in Senegal are watching wrestling matches on TV, especially those who are big fans of certain wrestlers.
    _DSCF1967.JPG
  • On two sides of a street in Dakar, groups are watching the wrestling match on television at the Senegalese Independence Day on April 4, 2015. The Senegalese people celebrate Independence Day traditionally with some major wrestling fights. Almost the entire population in Senegal, from small children to old women, follow the wrestling matches on TV or, if possible, at the stadium.
    _NPS5745.JPG
  • April 1, 2015. During a tornament in Djilass, a small village in the disrict of Thiès, many women found in the audience keep their thumbs pressed to give their favourite wrestlers luck.
    _ND69001.JPG
  • Portrait of Councilor Zenebe Wondermagegn (32), chairwoman of women association  at her home in Wonchet.  Photographed for Helvetas Switzerland (Project: CBoC Capacity building of Councils, CBoC Capacity building of Councils).
    _XTB0827.JPG
  • The women and children from the Senegalese village Soune have assembled to watch the men fighting in a wrestling match on April 20, 2012. The wrestling matches in the country are delivered occasionally at village celebrations to entertain the audience.
    _CHB3040.JPG
  • (2013) Even statues at the shelter have to be locked with a chain to prevent it from being stolen. Many of the women who visit Father Hermanns shelter grew up on the street and can´t resist to steal whatever they could sell for a little money.
    _DSF0777.jpg
  • (2013) Now that he is old and physically weak, Father Hermann harbors major worries about not being able to find a successor yet. He fears that the women and girls will have to deal with their situations by themselves once again, as he will not be able to help them much longer.
    _DSF8584.jpg
  • (2008) Women and children rest at father Hermanns Daycare facility. They are tired, many of them walked for hours to get some food at the shelter.
    _FSC6079_def.JPG
  • (2013) Almost everything in the daycare needs to be chained and locked up to prevent it from being stolen. Some of the women don´t only steal, they also sell the second hand clothes  or the milk powder they get from Hermann in order to make some money for a alcohol or drugs.
    016_Father Hermann_ch.bobst.JPG
  • (2008) At his daycare Father Hermann tries to comfort a woman who suffers from severe depression after losing her child. Many sex workers suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts, especially when they are infected with AIDS or STDs. But many of these women are not victims only.  They are used to the rough life on the streets.Some try to take advantage of the priest´s kindness, a fact that Father Hermann is well aware of.
    _FSC4536.jpg
  • (2008) Women and children at Father Hermann´s shelter.
    _FSC2973.JPG
  • (2008) The women get some food and drinks at father Hermanns shelter. Many of them come there because they and their children have nothing to eat.
    _FSC7987.JPG
  • Farmers in Yonoféré, Senegal (documenting irrigation projects for HEKS, a Swiss NGO)
    Ferlo_Senegal_ch.bobst_134.JPG
  • Trizah Mokua (28), called Stacey, poses in front of her Matatu, which is waiting for passengers at Nairobi Railways Bus Station. Stacey is one of only two Matatu drivers working at Nairobi‘s largest bus station. Her bus is not one of the fancy ones. Passengers on her route to the slum Kibera can‘t afford that. French footballers are painted on her Matatu, the paint is heavily scraped off. „Some of the drivers deliberately ram me,“ says Stacey. „They don‘t like independent women, they see me as a competitor.“
    DSC_7589 E.JPG
  • Shatila, Lebanon, April 2017: Many alleys are dark and scary even during the day. Crime in the camp is high, theft and sexual assaults on women are common.
    DSCF2179capture one.JPG
  • Father Hermann’s Apartment, Windhoek, November 23, 2013. Father Hermann gives shelter to a woman who knocked on the door of his apartment late at night, looking for help. When in adversity, the women often come to Father Hermann’s home at the Catholic Church in Pioneers Park, Windhoek. Due to the alarming extent of his work and serious health issues the priest has more and more difficulties to keep his apartment clean and tidy.
    _DSF2134A.JPG
  • (2013) Father Hermann discusses an issue with one of the women in front of the Shelter in Katutura.
    _ND86195.JPG
  • (2013) Hermann visits some of the women in Damara 6 at their homes.
    _DSF7601A.JPG
  • (2008) Women and children at Father Hermann´s shelter.
    _FSC1634.JPG
  • After work, Two women sit down in the kitchen at their farmhouse in Mirashkhani.
    007__Georgien.JPG
  • Poultry unit of the Abula Meta Women Group, Besta Modo füttert die Hähnchen.
    _CHB7534.JPG
  • An old women is preparing tea at the kitchen of her home at the Tibetan settlement in Manali, India, 2009
    tibetans_india_006.jpg