ENTRY DESCRIPTION
I captured these images of little girls on the offshores of the Indian ocean at Zanzibar, Tanzania.
After meeting them, I came to know that they have been hunting octopuses on the Indian Ocean’s African coast to sustain their living every day by selling them fresh to local buyers, and now it has become their only means of occupation. Likewise, many girls there despite going to school are the breadwinners of the family.
It’s certainly not a life for everyone. Long hours, hard work, and bad weather are enough to keep most people on land. But if you ask these little octopus hunters about fishing for a living they will tell a different story.
Their life is nothing but hard work – hard work that is beyond our imagination. Their day starts before sunrise, moving on to start the only work they know, the only life they lead – “octopus hunting”.
Of course, they hope and dream for a better life for their family, as their life and future in this work are very uncertain.
They do not have income during monsoon months. Also, the rough seas are always dangerous, even then, it’s not monsoon season. The lack of infrastructure nearby and the reluctance of the government and other bigger corporations to build proper facilities are taking their dreams away.
Not only this in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic has also rapidly spread around the world with extensive social and economic effects is totally unprecedented and is the biggest crisis to hit the future of these hard-working girls and their day to day life has become a great struggle to sustain a livelihood for them and their family.

AUTHOR
I am Geetika Singh .. A Travel, Humanitarian, and Wildlife photographer born and brought up in the Nothern plains of India. As a photographer, my photographic portfolio spans the four corners of the globe and my favorite part of my travel photography is getting to meet people from different cultures and show a different unexplored world through my lens. I usually find my subjects by chance, while I travel. But, I'm particularly drawn to ancient traditions that are still surviving and evolving. Telling stories of people working in unique, challenging environments and those who live in a close bond with nature. Almost practicing for the last 8 years, the journey is unstoppable and my love for travel and wildlife has brought me to the Savanas of Africa. Hence my work allows me to travel to different countries of the world and my goal is simply to explore and save the extinct culture, species, nature, and wildlife.

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