Badis, Libya

Shepherd Ahmed A Salam fills a trough with water for his flock of sheep and goats as dusk approaches in the village of Badis in the Green Mountains region of Eastern Libya. July 2011.

The Libyan revolution started in mid-February, at the peak of the 2011 ‘Arab Spring’. What began as an isolated street protest in Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, escalated into a call for regime change. Yet as the insurgency progressed, life was put on hold. Schools and universities remained closed, government salaries were not paid, and banks opened just one day a week. The revolution that started with such fervor had turned to stalemate. Despite the troubles, people continued normal life as best they could. But there was tension in the air. The threat of Gaddafi loyalist infiltrators was a constant source of rumor and worry.