Photojournalist donates prize money to ‘long-forgotten’ village in Tafileh

AMMAN — Mohammad Qaralah, a Jordanian photojournalist, did not expect that a photo he took of a boy’s worn-out shoes in southern Jordan would go viral, making a “long-forgotten” village the focus of many donations. 

Qaralah has been involved in voluntary works and the charity sector for a long time, he explained, focusing on marginalised villages outside the capital.  

One day, he discovered a village called Borbata in Tafilah Governorate, 180km southwest of Amman, describing the difficult situation faced by the school students in the village as “shocking”. 

He decided to take photos of the students, most of whom did not have decent clothing and shoes to wear, as a woman from the United Arab Emirates wanted to make a donation to these children. 

“I took photos before and after the donations as documentation for this donor, but I later decided to post a photo on Facebook and I was totally surprised by the reaction,” he told The Jordan Times in an interview. 

The photo went viral on social media, sparking widespread support by the media, with around 47 media outlets using it. 

The positive reaction by the media and donors prompted Qaralah to submit the photo to the King Hussein Award for Excellence in Journalism. On Saturday, his photo was selected as the winner of the award.  

As soon as he learned he had won the JD 3,000-award, Qaralah decided to donate all of the award money to the people of Borbata.     

“I noticed that there is a severe lack of barbershops in the area, as the students’ hair was really long and they needed to have it cut, so I want to donate this money for the opening of a barbershop in Borbata and in another village in Maan,” he said. 

He stressed that villages located outside Amman suffer from a lack of media attention. 

“Many people like to donate, but they don’t know who is the right person to direct these donations to,” he added. 

He noted that this photo stood as a bridge that led him to start helping other underprivileged people living in the surrounding villages, adding that his photo has attracted the attention of Jordanians and prompted them to donate to underprivileged families living outside the capital. 

“We created a goodwill bridge to this village to send more gifts to them. I don’t like to call them donations; I prefer to call them gifts,” he added. 

Commenting on his decision to donate the award money, he said that it was an honour to simply win an award bearing the name of His Majesty  the late King Hussein. 

“This is the story of Borbata children; not my story. It’s their cause and they deserve this award,” he said.