Noorderlicht

Biography

Young Miner (2004)

The popular gemstone Tanzanite, purple-blue in colour, is the most important source of income for many Tanzania villages. Mwanzo Lawrence Millinga went to Mererani, where life revolves around mining. The industry attracts people from all over the country, particularly adolescents, often not older than eighteen. Millinga photographed the mineworkers, including the nyoka, or 'snake boys'. Nyoka are able to move quickly through tunnels and passages that are difficult for older workers to  negotiate. The bring food and tools, and search for new veins at a depth of hundreds of meters. It is dangerous work and often the boys do not leave the mine alive.

Mwanzo Lawrence Millinga (Tanzania, 1967) worked for a large Tanzanian media business, before expanding his knowledge of the profession during a period in in Norway and Sweden. Presently he works as a freelancer on photo projects in his own country. Among his publications was the book New Stories, published by the World Press Photo Foundation.