#008 Matthew Smeal | The Raw Reality of Being a Humanitarian Photojournalist

2021-07-11

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Hello beautiful people On today’s podcast we have the talented and kind-hearted Matthew Smeal. Matthew is a writer, videographer, fine art photographer, and for the last 15 years has been a humanitarian and NGO photojournalist. He has worked in countries such as Uganda, Kenya and Cambodia, for organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, The Fred Hollows Foundation and Opportunity International. I first met Matthew in an interview at Méde...

Hello beautiful people

On today’s podcast we have the talented and kind-hearted Matthew Smeal. Matthew is a writer, videographer, fine art photographer, and for the last 15 years has been a humanitarian and NGO photojournalist. He has worked in countries such as Uganda, Kenya and Cambodia, for organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, The Fred Hollows Foundation and Opportunity International.

I first met Matthew in an interview at Médecins Sans Frontières to be their Communications Intern, and immediately we hit it off. You know those people that come into your life, and you are like, this person is going to be a friend for life; that is how I felt and still feel with him. He is a heart on his sleeve kind of guy and so deeply passionate about making the world a better place.

What I personally love about this podcast is the raw vulnerability; he showed up in this podcast in all of his authenticity, from sharing the challenges that can come with being a writer, and how the experience of flow state can lead you in a promising direction in your creativity. He shares about his relationship with the ocean and how it helps in his healing process from things that he has both seen and experienced in his humanitarian work. And, towards the end we speak of a specific project he did with maternal and child health in Nigeria. I will preface this with a trigger warning as we do speak about death and the trauma that can be found in witnessing this up close and first hand. Matthew is quite emotive about this subject and I ask that we have compassion and hold space for those who dedicate their lives to seeing things most of us do not, in the peaceful fight for increased awareness about the imbalance that we have around the world regarding access to health.

Please rate, review, subscribe, share with friends and family, become part of the To Be Human Collective and enjoy this touching conversation with Matthew Smeal.

Connect with Jennah-Louise
Mindset Coaching | https://www.jennahlouise.com.au
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Connect with Matthew
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/matthewsmeal
Website | https://www.matthewsmeal.com.au

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