1968. The Nigerian civil war was tearing apart the country. At the same time, a major hydroelectric dam was being constructed across the Niger River, and thousands of people were being removed from their villages, and resettled in new communities. Yet here, in a sparsely populated part of the savannah lands, north of the damsite, I was able to photograph the productive, interwoven lives of the fishing Sarkawa, the nomadic Fulani, the Kamberi farmers, the Hausa townspeople.

Are they still there, nearly half a century later? The children -- those who survived -- are grown, with children of their own. The adults are elderly, like me. The old people are dead.

Like this old man, I am living with diminished vision. Yet, like him, I have work to do. I can bring back these people in all their grand variety, I can show these meaningful lives that once were.