A starving boy and a missionary holding hands in Uganda, 1980. In 1980 Mike Wells took this powerful photograph of a Catholic missionary holding the hand of a starving Ugandan boy. It's almost hard to believe that this tiny hand belongs to a human being! Wells made this image while on a side-trip to Uganda, at a seminary where the Verona Fathers were distributing food during the early days of the famine. One of the monks described the situation to Wells and told him that the Karamojong boy was around four years old. Food shortages in Karamoja began in July 1978, after drought, crop failure, and plant disease. Not being a region of great economic or political significance for the Ugandan government, it took no action after being alerted to the situation that year. Following the overthrow of president Amin and the flight of his soldiers in 1979, Karamojong warriors acquired a large quantity of guns and ammunition. The influx of firearms drastically shifted regional power balances and cultural traditions around raiding. It became dangerous to move in and out of Karamoja with cattle or grain. In addition, national insecurity caused a complete breakdown of trade. Families started to run out of food in early 1980. The situation became critical in May and the famine reached its peak in July and August of the same year. In July, the Verona Fathers in Karamoja appealed to the World Food Program in Rome for urgent assistance. The photographer Mike Wells, who would later win the World Press Photo Award for this photo, admitted that he was ashamed to take the photo. He was embarrassed to win as he never entered the competition himself, and was against winning prizes with pictures of people starving to death.
