Shaban Athuman
Salem, VA, United States
In 1994, my parents fled the political unrest in their homeland of Burundi, and soon afterwards, I was born in a refugee camp in Kanembwa, Tanzania. For twelve long years this was home. I guess you say that makes me a product of war. But at the turn of the millennium, Tanzania was closing down the refugee camps, so we applied with the International Organization of Immigration to seek resettlement abroad.
Finally, in 2008 my family and I were lucky enough to be accepted as refugees into The United States. We were then placed in Salem, Virginia, and for the past seven years Salem and Roanoke have been home to me. I have met the most loving teachers and neighbors, and it was there that I learned the craft that has brought me here.
Salem is where my journey as a photojournalist began. After finding that I wasn’t cut out to play the sports I liked so much, I started to photograph them. For the past few years, I have honed my craft.
In January of 2015, I moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky where I have been studying ever since at the renowned Western Kentucky University photojournalism program. I seek to become a stronger visual storyteller over the coming years, but having made it this far from a crowded refugee camp in Kanembwa, who knows where I am headed.
I am available to freelance work in the Southwest Virginia and Kentucky areas.
- Audio capture
- Breaking news
- Editorial
- Environment
- Events
- Landscape
- Portrait
- Sports
- Video editing
