patrick rohr.

photojournalist

One million Rohingya refugees live in the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh.

The situation in the camp is horrible. There's a lack of wood, there are no roads - and from June to November, the monsoon floods the camp. Many shelters might be washed away since there are no trees any more that could hold together the hills the shelters are built on. In their desperate search for wood, the refugees even dig up roots.

I visited one of the five hospitals Doctors Without Borders provide.

They‘re as full as any hospital in a city of the refugee camp's size would be, too. But owing to the heavy monsoon rains, latrines could be eroded - with diseases like cholera and typhus as a consequence. In that case, the hospitals would soon have severe capacity problems.

I visited the camp on behalf of Helvetas, Doctors Without Borders and Swiss Solidarity.

Biovision.

The aim of the Biovision Foundation is to improve the lives of people in Africa in a sustainable way and at the same time to protect the environment as the basis of all life. For its 20th anniversary, Biovision commissioned me to produce a calendar with photos and reports.

Ethiopia.

Thanks to the SKY project, young people in Ethiopia learn professional skills in a three-month training programme. After that they can find a job or start their own business more easily. I visited this project on behalf of the Swiss development organisation Helvetas in 2017.

Laos.

In the northernmost part of Laos, next to the border with China, tea grows on centuries old trees and not, as is usal, on bushes. I visited the tea farmers in Phongsaly for Helvetas.

Nepal.

One year after the devastating earthquakes in Nepal, I visited the little village of Marbu at the foot of the Himalaya. The two earthquakes in 2015 destroyed Marbu completely. Helvetas supported the villagers with building new and earthquake resilient houses.

Zimbabwe.

People with HIV and Aids in Zimbabwe can get free treatment at the Ruedi Lüthy Foundation's Newlands Clinic in Harare. I've visited the clinic and its patients several times for the last ten years. In 2024, the clinic celebrated its 20th anniversary. Here you can see the pictures I shot for the anniversary magazine.