2022: The Year in Pictures

Today’s children are growing up in a closely interconnected world. In 2022, that became clearer than ever.

From the war in Ukraine, to famine-like conditions in East Africa, to the climate emergency, the cost of living crisis and Covid’s long tail, a bewildering series of global events collided, connected and intersected. They played out in myriad ways in children’s lives.

But as this pick of our 30 favourite photos from 2022 shows, children were not passive victims or simply observers. These powerful and tender images – of determined girls and dancing boys, local activists and loving families – remind us that each child is the subject of their world. And from that understanding and feeling of connection comes hope and inspiration.

That’s why we’re inviting you to take a moment to glimpse into these children’s lives. As we step into 2023, we hope you’ll find plenty here to move, inspire and feel connected.

GUATEMALA

“It is difficult to live here,” says Ibsan’s mum, Juana. “There are times in summer when there is no rain. It's harder because there is no corn, there is no harvest.”

Ibsan’s home, nestled between mountains, is in a drought-prone region of Central America known as the Dry Corridor. We’re supporting families here so children like Ibsan get a healthy diet and the chance to thrive.

Photographer Luisa Dörr:

“I photographed Ibsan near her house in the corn field. It was around noon. It was very hot, around 40c.

“Ibsan showed me the corn field and the seeds they collected for the next planting. She was proud of it and happy with our little time together.

“People struggle there due to the lack of rain. With climate change the dry season is extended and storms are even more frequent and destructive, resulting in food insecurity, because families depend on grain crops for their livelihood.”

“I love my little sheep,” exclaims seven-year-old Petrona. But two years ago, the tranquillity of her mountain village was shattered by a terrifying storm. Flooding and mudslides across Quiché district destroyed lives, homes and crops.

In the months that followed, we helped families like Petrona’s get back on their feet.

Photographer Luisa Dörr:

“I realised it would be a good moment to make a family portrait: a family of women. They were all so shy at the beginning and then suddenly, all of them wanted to have a portrait. 

“I chose the background, with the mountain views, no noise, posed them together and asked them to be quiet and look at the camera. I tried to capture their strong and resilient way of dealing with life.”

“Wearing these clothes means the homeland of Guatemala,” says 11-year-old Maria Elena, wearing a traditional Mayan dress.

But among disadvantaged communities in Guatemala, child malnutrition rates are high. Maria Elena’s teacher, Roxy, says, “Children used to fall asleep in class, because of hunger.”

We’ve helped set up free meals at schools in the district of Quiché. Roxy says now children concentrate better and are learning more. What’s more, ingredients are supplied by farmers from the community, giving a boost to the local economy.

Photographer Luisa Dörr:

“For years young people all over the world felt ashamed of their traditional heritage. Now it seems a new wave of recognition is empowering young people with respect and pride for their traditions.

“Those girls wearing Mayan dresses, could have chosen to wear a T-shirt with jeans. Instead they are wearing clothes with tradition and pride. Seeing them playing basketball in the damask sunset was so wonderful. This tiny moment will be with me forever.” 

NIGERIA

“They put her [Saratou] on oxygen,” says Hafsat. “She tried to remove the oxygen mask. That's why I stayed with her every night, holding her hand as she slept so that she didn't remove it. I was very unhappy. I cried and cried. I was so tired. We had many nights without sleeping.”

Working in partnership with GSK, we have supplied dozens of health centres in Nigeria with essential oxygen supplies and trained hundreds of health workers how to identify and treat cases of pneumonia – like Saratou’s.

Photographer Yagazie Emezi:

“I met Hafsat and Saratou at the hospital where Saratou was receiving treatment and it just so happened that they were being discharged that day. Hafsat graciously agreed to us following her back to her home where we met her entire family. It was good to meet the other children and build familiarity.

“This image shows the strong bond that exists between mother and daughter. I like the connection that’s visible between them and how Hafsat is very present with her daughter in the moment.”

In Nigeria’s Jigawa state, mobile vaccination teams bring cold boxes of vaccines to remote communities by motorbike – and in the rainy season, by canoe. The vaccine health workers set up mobile clinics in communities and go door-to-door for children whose vaccines are due.

Photographer Yagazie Emezi:

“We were traveling on motorbikes, following the mobile vaccination team to a remote community in Jigawa state and we really wanted to see how the mobile team gets to them.

“The landscape was incredible, especially for me living in Lagos where, in my area, there are few trees. In Jigawa you see all these bulbous baobab trees scattered around the area. It’s a really striking sight. 

“To get this shot, it was a matter of me and my bad knees bending up and down to get different heights and then taking the image from a low angle to add a bit of drama.”

Three-year-old Michelle recently became very ill with life-threatening pneumonia. She was struggling to breath and running a high temperature.

Uduak brought Michelle to one of the primary health centres we support in Nigeria, in partnership with GSK. A week after starting treatment, Uduak says Michelle started to improve. She’s made a full recovery – and is back playing with her brothers.

Photographer Yagazie Emezi:

“This portrait is really about waiting for moments to happen.

“What I love about photographing families is you can always tell when families are close because genuine moments just happen. So the eldest son, Ebubu, was focused on the camera, because he is curious. Michelle is playing with her baby brother, so she got distracted while the photo was being taken. And then the mum is this kind of connector for all of them. I really love those moments of genuine happiness.

“I think my favourite memory was them being at home and seeing how the mum juggled everything at the same time. You know, the kids came in, and she told them to wash their hands and bring out their homework and get ready for the evening.

 “I really just love that representation of a family unit. It reminds us how similar we are across the globe.”

MALAWI

When Cyclone Ana hit Malawi, the floodwaters that followed ripped through 12-year-old Ethel’s* family home. Now Ethel lives with her grandmother in a camp for displaced families.

Initially, after her traumatic experience, Ethel felt anxious and scared. But with support from our child protection officer at the camp, she’s back to doing what she loves – singing, dancing and playing.

Photographer Thoko Chikondi:

“We spoke with Ethel about how her family had been affected by Tropical storm Ana and Cyclone Idai. She told me she lost all her clothes, her school uniform, everything really. The only clothes she had were the ones that were on her body on the day they were forced to flee their home to the camp. Everything else was washed away.  

“I asked if I could take her portrait. She was covering herself with a Chitenje (cloth) as she was shy, so we decided to incorporate it into the picture. I asked her to hold it up and look at the sun and then took the frame.  

“I showed her the photo and she said, 'I look beautiful even though my clothes are dirty.' It felt like she was part of the image-making process. It made her feel good at that moment, despite the pain she had experienced.” 

ROMANIA

“My heart is in Ukraine,” says Milena*. “It’s painful to leave my home and country. It was difficult to say goodbye to the men in our lives at the border. We didn’t know if we would ever see them again."

Milena* brought her baby son Bodhan* to Romania. Here, we’ve supported her with food and cash vouchers.

Photographer Lewis Khan:

“I met Milena at a school where a number of families had been put up by the Romanian government. This portrait was taken on their bed in the room they were sharing with another family. It felt a very intimate space we were invited into, away from the communal areas of the school. Although temporary, this space was theirs. That felt important after being forced to flee with very few belongings and no place to head to.

“I worked slowly and calmly with Milena and Bohdan. I wanted them to be at ease and to feel comfortable in front of the camera.”

“I am full of energy when I dance!” says Estas*, age 10, who used to dance in competitions in Ukraine. “I know the Cha-Cha-Cha, Tango, Samba, Slow Waltz, Vienna Waltz, Drive and Quick Step – seven dances.”

Estas fled the war in Ukraine with his two sisters, Darina* and Vira*. But his mum, dad and older brother, who’s an adult, have stayed behind.

Photographer Lewis Khan:

“It came up during conversation that Estas wanted to be a dancer when he was older. His biggest role model was his older brother, who he said was an amazing dancer and had been teaching him to dance since he was very young.

“We asked Estas if he’d be happy to show us some of his dancing, to which he happily agreed. This photo was taken in the courtyard of the school where he was staying. Estas talked us through different styles of dance he had been learning and demonstrated them with a performance.”

AFGHANISTAN

“Our children are walking around bare foot in cold wind, they do not have anything to wear on their feet when it rains or snows. We do not have clothes or food,” says Samira’s* mum, Gulalai*.

Samira, age three, has been treated for malnutrition and for pneumonia by a mobile health clinic that visits the area once a week. Thankfully, she has now recovered.

But as Gulalai says, the family is desperately poor. They live in a tiny two-room house. They don’t have electricity or running water. With her husband often unable to find paid work, the family has to survive on many days on bread alone.

Arzoo's father hasn’t been able to work for months. He’s ill but he can’t see a doctor because the family can't afford the fees they charge. To buy food for his family, he has to borrow money from other families. Most days, Arzoo and her family just have bread to eat.

KENYA

Photographer Tommy Trenchard:

“This photo was taken in a tiny village in Garissa County in northern Kenya. Almost every household here had lost livestock to the ongoing drought. Most of the men had left with their surviving animals in search of pasture elsewhere. When we visited it was mostly the women and children who had remained. People said the drought was among the worst in living memory, and that they were struggling to get by.

“We had already been with Maryan's family for quite a while and taken portraits of most of the family members before I took this picture of Maryan. Her mother and other family members were talking to Save the Children staff at the entrance to their home, but Maryan had stayed inside where it was cooler.

“The family lives in a typical structure of sticks and fabric. The sun was streaming through the walls, casting shadows over the floor where Maryan was sitting, gazing out towards the entrance. The family's home, basic as it was, seemed like a refuge from the harsh and inhospitable landscape outside, and the scene felt peaceful and serene.”

Bilan* lives in Garissa County, northern Kenya, with her daughter, Ajabo*, age three. Bilan is six months pregnant, and both she and Ajabo are malnourished. They’re getting treatment for malnutrition from community health volunteers we support.

Photographer Tommy Trenchard:  

“We met Bilan in her village in Garissa county on a day when a Save the Children outreach team was conducting screenings for malnutrition. After meeting Bilan at her home, we accompanied her to the screening site beneath a large tree, where she and her daughter were assessed by the team and found to be malnourished.

“Bilan’s husband had left the village several months earlier with most of the family's remaining livestock in search of pasture, leaving just a few cattle at home in Bilan's care. Bilan, who was six months pregnant at the time this photo was taken, walked many miles with the cattle every day to find grazing, but she said they were providing barely any milk. After returning from the screening, she wanted to show us the cattle. They were visibly emaciated.”

SOUTH SUDAN

“It is good that a girl should not be married at a young age,” says Ayen*, age 15, who takes part in an adolescent group we run. “Now that education is here, let’s make sure that we all get educated to enable us develop our land like other countries.”

 Ayen’s rural community in the Akobo West region of South Sudan faces a triple threat: conflict, hunger and climate change. Communities face the danger of attacks by local militias and revenge killings among different ethnic groups. At the same time, a succession of floods – fuelled by the changing climate – has swept away homes and crops, leaving families with nothing. 

Photographer Esther Mbabazi:

"We met Ayen and took some portraits, then followed her to the child-friendly space where she loves to play volleyball with her friends.

“The next day, we were able to return to her home and take some more portraits. This time she was much more relaxed and I was able to capture her character and personality. This image was taken just after she had her nails painted a bright purple colour by her stepsister, Nyallith*.” 

CAMBODIA

Every morning, 12-year-old Ratana sets off from her home on Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake by boat. She’s heading for a floating school. But on the way, she and her friends have a job to do.

“When we row the boat to school we pick up the trash, and put it in our boat,” says Ratana.

 We’ve helped introduce eco lessons to her school’s curriculum. “I’ve learned about pollution, deforestation and garbage,” she explains. “I’ve learned how to clean the environment.”

Photographer Linh Pham:

“Entering this classroom, it reminded me of my classroom back in the day when I was at elementary school. But I started seeing lots of differences. They don’t have power here, there are no artificial lights, only natural light, and the classroom was crowded.

“The light coming through the window behind Ratana is the only light source in this photo. It gives what is quite a busy scene a softness. It gives the image a beauty.”

Cambodia’s Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and home to more than a million people. But higher temperatures, drought, pollution, overfishing by commercial trawlers and environmental damage have led to a dramatic fall in the fish stocks many people rely on to earn a living. Meanwhile, water pollution is causing high levels of water-borne diseases, with young children particularly at risk.

Our GREEN project, funded by the EU and Norton Rose Fulbright, has introduced eco-clubs into school curriculums where children learn about climate change and the environment, and take part in activities like collecting rubbish from the lake. We support families to adapt and diversify their livelihoods away from fishing to more sustainable options – such as ecotourism or recycling. We’re also working with local social enterprises to develop low-cost household water purifiers and sanitation systems.  

Photographer Linh Pham:

“The activity was happening towards the end of the day. It was about to rain and you can see the white clouds leaving, and black clouds coming towards the scene. The producer from Save the Children offered to ride the boat for me. But I decided to ride with the children instead, as they live on the lake and know how to navigate it.

“It’s not easy to photograph sitting down on a boat. Everything you photograph has to be in front of you and at eye level. You cannot photograph higher or below.”

Photographer Linh Pham:

“This image was taken right after a storm. We took shelter in her house for a couple of hours. This is the moment when it just stopped raining and we were about to leave.

“You can see the boats and the floor are really wet. You have a bit of purple sky thanks to the sunset, and also this yellow artificial light coming from other floating houses.”

NIGERIA

“When I grow up, I'd like to be a pilot. I want to travel to another country. Europe. America.”

After fleeing fighting in her home country of Cameroon, Victory has been living in a refugee camp in Nigeria for the last two years. It’s been difficult, but things are getting better. Victory goes to a safe space for children we set up in her settlement. Whenever she’s there she feels “so much better and happy inside.” And after missing two years of school, we helped her enrol in a local primary school we support.

Photographer Tom Maguire:

“We met Victory on our second day in refugee settlements in Cross River State in south-east Nigeria where Save the Children is supporting thousands of families who have fled conflict in neighbouring Cameroon. We spent two days with Victory photographing her at school and spending time with her friends in the settlement.

“The image was taken at 8am just as the sun had started to push through the clouds casting a soft warm glow across her face. I took this portrait then a detail shot of her hand playing with a paper airplane that she had made. She dreams of becoming a pilot when she grows up so she can travel to other countries. Paired as a diptych, these were the last two frames I took on the shoot.”

Zara* was under pressure to get married at 16, because her family saw it as part of their traditional culture. But Zara refused. Eventually, her family was discouraged through an intervention we made along with the local authorities.

Now Zara lives with her grandmother and siblings. She cooks, helps her grandmother on the farm, and knits caps to sell. She would love to become a fashion designer.

Photographer Etinosa Yvonne:

“This image was taken in mid-afternoon. It was really hot that day. We were in a school, and I didn’t want to put too much attention on her, so I thought about other locations close by where I could make the portrait. I saw the corn field and asked if she’d be happy to be photographed there. For safeguarding reasons, we couldn’t show her face, so I asked her to turn around so her back was to the camera.

“The location and the fact the portrait had to be taken anonymously helped create layers and gave the image an element of curiosity. I knew that environment would work for the image I wanted to make.” 

SOMALIA

“We used to drink milk from the livestock and eat meat. But now we neither drink milk nor eat meat,” says Astur*. Four years ago, Astur had to leave their home in Ethiopia, after the drought there killed most of their livestock. In search of better pasture, they came to Somaliland.

“I miss my friends,” says Astur. “I used to go to school and play with my friends but here I don’t go to school. I stay home all time.”

We’re supporting Astur’s family with cash for food and clothing.

Photographer Misan Harriman:

“The photo came about when we visited Astur, her parents and their younger children. We had just had a candid conversation about what it has been like over the past few years and spoken to their parents about what climate change has done, why there are so many droughts, and their concerns for the future. After discussing, I quietly walked around and tried to engage with the children and use my camera to find the truth in their story.

“My lasting memory looking at this young women is, I hope she never loses hope. I hope the right people – with significant empathy, married with resources – see this image, see this woman. And help make sure hope is in the room as soon as possible. I hope this image plants a seed in you to do something to help.”

Photographer Fredrik Lerneryd:

“The translator and I walked into a room with the words Phase One above the door, meaning that severe cases of malnutrition are treated inside the room. As we entered, we saw Naima sitting on her bed with her baby.

“Naima was sitting on the side of her bed with this beautiful natural light pouring in from the blazing hot sun outside, and I knew it would be a good portrait to establish Naima and the location we met her in.

“I wanted to show the affection she had with little Najma as well as trying to evoke a feeling of urgency and show how serious the situation is for Naima and her fellow Somalis in Baidoa, struggling to keep their children and themselves healthy and strong during such a catastrophic situation as this drought is.

“She was constantly trying to play with him, and keep him happy. Even though children were crying all over the room, she tried to keep her baby safe and comfort him.

“I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to stay positive in a situation like hers. But she reminded me of how resilient humans can be, and how much we can endure when we are pushed to the limits and how strong the love for our children makes us.”

This year, Ladan’s* baby brother, Aaden*, became dangerously malnourished. His mum, Casho*, brought him to a local hospital we support, where he was treated and, thankfully, recovered. “Now he is good, he is toddling around,” says Casho. 

But millions of children are at risk from the food crisis in East Africa. We’re supporting families like Ladan's with cash for food and other essentials.

Photographer Mustafa Saeed:

“This photo was taken in a camp on the outskirts of Qardho. It was afternoon and the weather was warm. It was the second time the water kiosk was opened that day. When there Is enough water, the kiosk is opened up to three times a day for families to line up and fill their buckets.

“It was very crowded. Mothers and daughters had come out for the chance to fill their jerrycans and buckets. As a man, I wasn’t able to push in to take photos. But luckily I had a lens that allowed me to stay back and, focusing in between people’s heads and shoulders, capture this moment.”

UGANDA

Photographer Esther Mbabazi:

“The girls were sitting on an old building during break time at a catch-up club in Wakiso. They kept making eye contact, smiling, and then shying away.

“I started making photos from a distance, and then started coming in closer and talking to them. Some were shy, some of them were more relaxed and confident, and were asking me questions.” 

LEBANON

“I want to prevent girls getting married under the age of 18, because it’s illegal and dangerous for childbirth,” says Leen*. She takes part in sessions about children’s rights and how to advocate for them at an education centre we support near her home in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Photographer Jonathan Hyams:

“Time was very limited for the shoot so we went outside the front of the education centre, which is surrounded by the rich red-brown of the freshly ploughed agricultural land and the white capped mountains that make up the valley in the distance.   

“It was a crisp winter afternoon, with the sun low in the sky. When it came to Leen’s turn, she was very comfortable and confident in front of the camera while her friends made encouraging remarks from the side. It was great to be able follow her lead on how she wanted to pose for the portrait as these portraits were really taken for them, to represent them as they wanted to be seen rather than about an issue or situation. 

“However, I did want to convey the strength and conviction I had witnessed from Leen and her fellow advocates during the session and our group discussions. So, I shot the portrait head on, at her eye level to emphasise her defiant pose, and tried to make the most of the hazy softness of the low sun behind to offer a sense of hope and optimism.”    

UKRAINE

Dmytro* lives with his mother, Olha*, sister and five brothers in northern Ukraine, near the border with Russia and Belarus. When the fighting began, the family stayed indoors for a month, without electricity or running water, only going out every few days to get food.

Dmytro and his siblings try to attend school remotely, but with power cuts and only one smart phone between them, learning is a struggle.

Photographer Anastasia Vlasova:

“Dmytro is the oldest son in a big family. His father is away, which brings even more responsibility on him. Even though Dmytro is a dreamer by nature, he is very disciplined and together.

“During most of the time we spent together, he held or played with his youngest brother. I felt a mixture of beautiful emotions in him, such as love, care and responsibility. I really wanted to capture that in this image.”

In the summer, the home of Dmytro* and his family (see previous image) caught fire due to a short circuit and was completely destroyed. They lost everything. Now, with the support of their community and the local authorities, they’ve moved into a new house.

Photographer Anastasia Vlasova:

“The family of seven kids lost their home in a fire. The day I took this photo in November was the first day of snow in the Kyiv area this winter, which made the moment more dramatic.”

ROMANIA

When the shelling started near their home in Kharkiv, 12-year-old Pavlo* and his mum, dad and nine brothers and sisters, took shelter in their cellar. But when their home was damaged by an explosion, the family decided to pack what they could carry and board a train west. Eventually, they made their way to Romania. 

The children have settled into a new life. But they live with the scars of what they experienced in their country. Pavlo’s dad, Petro, says that this summer his children cried at the sound of rain and thunder because the noise takes them back to being under bombardment in Ukraine. Petro says he’ll never forget that moment.

Photographer Alina Smutko :

“In one of the conversations with the family, we asked whose piano is in the corner of the room. We found out that almost all the ten kids play different musical instruments.

“Pavlo was learning the flute before the war. We asked him to remember any melody. He played the well-known Ukrainian song Shchedryk, which is associated with Christmas.”

UK

Olena* and her daughters Natasha* and Masha* fled Kyiv in June this year and made their way to the UK.

The family had to make the heartbreaking decision to leave behind Olena’s husband, the girls’ father. Initially, they were at least able to keep in touch with him with regular video calls. But recently this has been more difficult because of power cuts in Ukraine as a result of airstrikes on infrastructure.

Photographer Nina Sologubenko:

“I had spent that morning photographing Olena and her daughters as they went about their daily life - doing their maths homework with the help via FaceTime of their dad, who has remained in Ukraine; having lunch; etc.

“It was now time to take some posed shots of the sisters. Natasha, who had previously been quite shy, asked her mum to brush her hair in preparation. It was a lovely intimate moment that was hard to resist. Just out of shot, on the windowsill on the right of the photo, was a mirror that Natasha is looking at to check out her mum’s handiwork.” 

Photographer Henry J Kamara:

“The images were taken in the morning, in a community centre on a Peabody estate in Hackney. It’s a space the kids are super familiar with, where they can express themselves and bring issues or problems. 

“I was invited into their space, to talk to them about the cost of living crisis and about their ideas about identity, representation and where we fit and exist in society. How these issues affect us, and whether we can recognise signs in others and offer support and understanding.

“The images were taken very simply. I brought a black backdrop. One by one, I invited young people to stand in front of it and we would have a brief conversation about some of the things we had been talking about earlier as a group. 

“We had little access to natural light. I used a small strip of window light as my main source of light and a simple half-diffused light at the side. I wanted to emphasise the person, their expression, and the way they stand, look and feel. I think the simplicity of the lighting and the backdrop helps get across the need to cut through all the nonsense and to try to communicate in truth and honesty.”

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Photographer responses have been edited for clarity and length.

*Names changed