Life was never the same for Register photo editor Kari René Hall after her 1989 visit to a refugee camp along the Thai-Cambodian border.
Chan Peov
She was working as a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times at the time, and took time off to document the lives of refugees at a camp adjacent to a war-zone. She followed and photographed a guerrilla soldier named Chan Peov, who had lost his leg to a land mine. His wife and daughter were killed in a shelling attack, and was struggling to raise two young daughters in treacherous living conditions.
When Hall returned home, she had produced several stories about Peov. The articles included contact information on how readers could help or donate to organizations working at the camp. Her stories would later become part of a book called “Beyond the Killing Fields,” which includes a message from the Dalai Lama. Her photos painted a picture of something that was not on most people’s radar. She witnessed how her personal story of Peov struck an emotional connection and moved readers to action.
Henry Guillante
In 2001, Hall published a story about a former outlaw biker named Henry Guiliante and the difficulties he had in raising his kids in an Anaheim motel. It had several parallels to the Peov story, as both were experiencing personal crises and struggling to become productive members of society.
Hall joined The Orange County Register in 2004, and continues to utilize photographs as a way to bring visual life to local conflicts, events, places, tragedies and opportunities.
Her stories of Peov and Guiliante served as case studies for a program to instruct front-line mental health professionals how to put a face to conflict and violence, beyond the statistics. Hall also believes giving a voice to people who are adversely affected by violence or conflicts often helps the victims themselves, as they want to tell their stories as part of their own recovery process.
Hall is a Dart Center For Journalism and Trauma Ochberg Fellow at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The Dart Center For Journalism sponsored Hall’s tuition and expenses to participate in his two-week program in Porano, Italy last month, and she is currently collaborating with program participants online through May 2010. Frank Ochberg (to whom the Fellowship is named) personally invited Hall to participate.
As the sole journalist representative, Hall is a participant alongside social workers, doctors, psychologists and other mental health professionals from around the world. All participants are on equal footing and share ideas from their own professional experience. Hall is offering input on how to effectively work with and utilize the media to cover the recovery process and aftermaths of war, violence, natural disasters and other trauma.
In documenting the lives of Peov and Guiliante during stressful times, Hall observed how both men seemed ill-equipped to leave the trauma they experienced as soldiers behind them and become contributing members of society. Hall’s fellow classmates are proposing ideas on how victims of violence can feel a sense of self worth again, take control of their lives and support their families without exclusively relying on government aid.
The overarching mission is to develop an integrated global mental health action plan for trauma and post-conflict recovery, as part of a program developed 28 years ago in collaboration with the Ministries of Health.
Upon completion of the program, Hall will receive a Certificate of Completion from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Health.
Considering the fact there is more than one billion people who have been affected by violence or disaster in our world, it is a noble and complicated endeavor, for sure. Hats off to Hall for believing in the power of journalism to inspire positive change in the world and bring healing to the afflicted.
Hall (pictured at far right) in Villa Paolina in Porano, Italy with a smaller group of faculty and program classmates:
On April 11, an OC resident will step in front of a sold-out crowd to perform the National Anthem at Honda Center before the start of the Anaheim Ducks last regular season game against the Edmonton Oilers. A big moment on a big (icy) stage. Would you like to have a say at who this person may be? Could it be you?
The Register’s automotive editor and 
