PHIL BORGES

In 1998 Phil Borges partnered with Amnesty International to create an exhibit and book celebrating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here are some of the people P. Borges photographed and interviewed. Some are experiencing their first contact with the outside world; some have survived exploitation and repression for years; some whose cultures have been decimated and are attempting a comeback—people trying to hold on to their cultural identities at the edge of the world.

PERU
Cirila was sorting seed potatoes with her grandchildren when we met. Although she doesn’t remember her age, she knows she was born in a potato field during the sowing season. She has cooked for her children and their families since the death of her husband twenty years ago. When I asked her about the hatchet hanging from her belt, she said that she uses it to collect firewood for family meals. Quechua



EQUADOR

Transito (91), a legendary human rights figure, is often referred to as the “Rosa Parks of Ecuador.” After the Spanish conquest, many indigenous people were stripped of their rights and forced to serve as indentured servants in the hacienda system. In 1926, at the age of 17,Transito spoke out against a hacienda owner who had been molesting her. She was sent to jail for five months for protesting her abuse. Upon her release, she became a legend for speaking out about the plight of indigenous Ecuadorians. Later, she was instrumental in organizing a strike by indigenous farmers, which catalyzed a newfound respect for indigenous peoples in Ecuadorian politics and in society at large. Chibcha.

TIBET

Botok and Tsangpa were classified as wealthy by the Communist authorities in 1962, because they owned almost 1,000 sheep and goats. Threatened with imprisonment, they fled across the border into the Indian state of Ladakh with their three daughters and Tsangpa's other husband - it is not uncommon for Tibetan women to take more than one. Tibetan