Desmond Tutu
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I have spent most of my professional life traveling the planet looking for stories to tell. Stories that are hidden, lost and forgotten. Stories of suffering and abandonment. Of violence and fear and despair….
And suddenly, in the midst of the usual chaos that happens in front of my photographic lens, I find stories of overcoming and hope in the midst of this seemingly crazy world. Stories of resilience and optimism with which to face existence towards a better future. Stories like “Resilience on Chalkboard” and “I Wanna Be Messi” that still make me believe there is a glimmer of hope…
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In recent years, Burkina Faso, one of Africa’s poorest and the safest countries, has been the target of more than 300 terrorist attacks.
Education in the French language and the people teaching it have become the centre of the attacks, which to date have closed more than 1,000 schools and has left 150,000 children without a place to learn over the last year and has made abandon their work and seek refuge to 60% of the teachers.
The terrorist threat, which is rapidly spreading to other countries in the region, is becoming an increasing reality. Children are afraid and don’t go to school anymore. They fear these increasingly regular deadly attacks and have started studying at home. Improvised blackboards made up of ‘regiments’ of children learning from each other in which the older ones teach the younger ones is becoming a great whirlpool of creative and cultural resilience.
Education generates trust. Trust generates hope. Hope generates peace.
Go to Resilience on Chalkboard Gallery
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Football is not a privilege, it´s a right. According to the Convention on the Rights-of-the-Child, is a universal language for millions of people around the world regardless of their nationality, language or religion.
In Togo there´s a center for children with disabilities that provides specialized attention to improve their quality life. A new home. In this forgotten part of Africa, disabled children have high risk of abuse and neglect. People believe that disabilities are due to a divine punishment. These minors (known as “snakes” as they lie on the ground) are considered «demons» and are drowned into the river in rituals «for the serpent to leave».
Meanwhile, for these children at Don Orione Center everything it’s all about football that brings peace for their souls and freedom for their minds… Shouting happily, running free… It´s more than a game. Lovely compromise of hope and new home. A great journey of time and memory through their new life, where they all dream of becoming the new Messi in search of their next goal…
Go to I Wanna Be Messi Gallery
Go to Antonio Aragon Renuncio’s General Website