Contest - Your Favorite Book By @suboohi | The Photographer

I love reading novels, comics, magazines, journals, historical stories, biography, school books, fables, myths, anything that I can find in the library or bookshops. My forever favorite book is the Holy Book of Islam, Al Quran. But this time, I'll share my other favorite book that I read many times (oh no, I read all the books more than once..lol), let's say that the book that I can reach whenever I sit on the couch in the living room. There are 3 books;
1. If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules by Cherie Carter-Scott
2. The Photographer by Didier Lefevre, Emmanuel Guibert and Frederic Lemercier
3. Indonesia's Proverbs Dictionary for Students by Nur Arifin Chaniago and Arief Budiman

So, I'll pick "The Photographer" because it's a graphic novel and as big as magazine

One day in 2015, @akukamaruzzaman who also a book lover and bookseller posted a picture of the book on Facebook, and I wrote a comment on it asking him what's the book about. He said that the book is great, based on a true story and worth collecting because he knew I like comics, photography, and also a war-related story. I sent him a sum of money and he sent me the book.

This book is about a journey of a photographer from France, Didier Lefevre when he's joined a mission with Medicine sans frontier (MSF/Doctors Without Borders) in Afghanistan during the war between The Soviet Union against The Mujahidin, around July to October 1986. The books contain stories and photographs by Didier Lefevre, Written and illustrations by Emmanuel Guibert, Layout and coloring by Frederic Lemercier.

He left Paris and flew overnight to Karachi, Pakistan, then continued to Peshawar where he met his other team members and an Afghan translator also guide. His work is to make a photography report from Caravan which going to head to Badakhshan, North Afghanistan near Faizabad city. Their mission is to reach a small field hospital in one of the valleys and build another one far away in the same route.

The book has 3 sections. The first section is about the preparation of the mission and their journey from Peshawar to Anjoman through the mountain with a big caravan who brought guns from Pakistan to Afghanistan. We can read about how he adapted to the local way of dressing and living, such as not peeing while standing.

The second section is about their journey to build the field hospital in Yaftal through a terrifying journey with the Muj and Soviet Union's Attack near Teskhan. In Yaftal and Zaragandara he photographs the activities of the doctors taking care of the patients. They're so close to the front line where every day they can hear the explosion and gun fires from the mountain. I think this is the best part of this book because there are so many beautiful insights from a foreigner in Afghanistan. We can read about the hospitality of the villagers, Afghan women's story and stunning pictures of children as victims of the war, and how he fell in love with the place where he spent a month for preparation, a month on the road, and a month at the field hospital. When the leader of the team said that they're going to take another route back to Pakistan, Didier felt that he couldn't take it anymore and decided to go back to Pakistan alone with another small caravan.

The last section is about his journey to Peshawar through Maidan, Kalotac then being left and robbed by the guides and finally met a corrupt policeman in Bum Boret before he finally reached Peshawar a day earlier than the doctor's team who took another route. The team also met the corrupt policeman in Bum Boret and was taken as war prisoners to Chitral.
It was a very interesting journey to read with beautiful pictures and awesome illustrations. Somehow I love the translation too, we can understand the joke they said along the journey under such a bad situation.

About The Photographer, Didier Lefevre. He left Pakistan after getting his Visa and arrived in Paris in November 1986. He brought almost 4 thousand photographs from the mission (130 film rolls), only 6 were published and many more were just left in his print box. 13 years later, Guibert suggested co-authored and publish the book about his experience. His mother had to wait for 20 years to know the details of her son's journey through the book. Didier passed away in 2007 at age 49 due to heart failure. The book was published in 2009, his other book is Voyages en Afghanistan published by Ouest-France in 2002.

Through Lefevre's photographs and story, I learn about how bad is the war in Afghanistan and how tough is the doctors who spent their time in MSF to help the victims of war. There are many people out there who are kind and brave enough to enter the war zone to deliver humanitarian aids. Lefevre left a wonderful story to learn about the situation at that time through his photographs and books.

Thanks for reading and keep reading because you'll find the wonder of the world through the author's eyes and mind. Book is a window of the world said penasemesta.com! so keep open the window and explore the world!

would like to invite @vandols and @wantideli to share your favourite book with us✌️