The Hinguguay Devours an Entire Generation
Eritrea-Ethiopia Border, 2009-2010
This gallery is a brief selection from a much larger body of work. The remaining images and full narrative are reserved for my forthcoming book. For commissioning or licensing enquiries, please contact me directly.
In the highlands along the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, a silent catastrophe unfolded. The Hinguguay Devours an Entire Generation documents the forgotten fallout of HIV/AIDS in a region already fractured by colonial borders and decades of war.
Here, the virus left villages without parents, only children and the elderly remained. Grandparents too frail to stand cradled infants. Ten year olds became heads of households. With no guardians, these children vanished from official records, left without protection, education, or basic rights.
Through haunting images and field reportage, this work reveals how poverty, stigma, and indifference created a perfect storm. The “hinguguay”, a folkloric monster once used to scare children, became real, swallowing a generation while the world looked away.
This series is a testimony to those children still holding together the remnants of broken families, and a call not to let another crisis devour the voiceless in silence.
© Liz Loh-Taylor
