Perspectives on poverty in Africa

What we learn from the media tends to affirm our preconceptions instead of challenging them.  Thankfully, there are still journalists left who find and document the less popular narratives, narratives that don't fit as easily into our comfortable stereotypes.

These are from a Reuters photo essay on poverty in Africa. 

A woman looks out the window of her one-room hut at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 9, 2010. A shift in racial hiring practices and the recent global economic crisis means many white South Africans have fallen on hard times. Researchers now estimate some 450,000 whites, of a total white population of 4.5 million, live below the poverty line and 100,000 are struggling just to survive in places such Coronation Park, a former caravan camp currently home to more than 400 white squatters. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Friends talk through the window of a one-room hut at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Children walk through a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Children play with a tyre used to block the entrance to a squatter camp for poor white South Africans, at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A family smokes together during a quiet moment at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 13, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Andre Coetzee, 57, drinks a mug of coffee at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A woman drives a car at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 13, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A man receives a monthly supply of food aid donated to residents of a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A woman pushes a cart with a monthly supply of food aid donated to residents of a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Residents of a squatter camp for poor white South Africans line up for a communal meal at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Residents of a squatter camp for poor white South Africans line up for a communal meal at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Leone Smit, 41, does dishes in her shack while her son and his friend rest on a bed at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Andre Coetzee, 57, (L) sits with a neighbouring family at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 13, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Mara Udwesthuizen, 64, sits outside her tent home at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Vernon Nel, (L) cuts the hair of Reynard, 14, at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010.

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Anne Le Roux, 60, calms down her grandson, Reynard, 14 at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 16, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Lukas Gouws (C), 29, scolds a boy for digging up snakes at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Lukas Gouws, 29, smokes at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A girl cries after being beaten by her father, in their makeshift home at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A teenager plays cricket at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 

REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Girls set up a play house in their garden outside a family shack at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Donovan Durant, 23, (C) weeps as he looks at blood-soaked rags burning in a fire after his girlfriend gave birth prematurely and their baby died after a few hours at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdor March 7, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

People attend an Afrikaans Sunday service in a makeshift tent church at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 7, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Anna Snyders (C), 20, grieves beside her boyfriend, Donovan Durant, 23, at the funeral for their baby who died hours after she gave birth prematurely at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Anna Snyders, 20, (C) is comforted during the funeral for her baby who died hours after being born prematurely at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans, in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Donovan Durant (C), 23, carries the casket of his baby who died hours after being born prematurely while his girlfriend Anna Snyders, 20, (L) is comforted during a funeral service at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 12, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Desmond Thomas, 40, (R) lights a cigarette beside the charred remains of his caravan that burned down the previous night after a candle set it on fire at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 7, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Residents work on reparing a car at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6, 2010. 
REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

A resident works on reparing a car at a squatter camp for poor white South Africans at Coronation Park in Krugersdorp, March 6,