Africa is a vibrant continent. With a vibrant people. In fact, we have possibly the happiest people on earth. I say this with honesty. I have covered Africa as a photojournalist, both urban and rural settings. And as such, I have seen both the good and dark side to this continent.
Indeed, poverty still bites hard, education still lags behind, diseases still dominate our households, hunger still forms a narrative of a way Africa is viewed, but amidst all these drawbacks, we are a diversely rich continent. Takes me to this picture.
I composed this shot in Kisaasi, a suburb in Kampala while walking to a friend’s house. I found six boys of about 6 to 10 years swimming in a ditch of stagnant water used by bricks layers.
In this water, some people would only see typhoid, bilharzia, and hepatitis A- etcetera. To these boys however, it was a chance to cool off, fine-tune their backstrokes, better their diving skills, practice their butterfly strokes and generally have fun. And they indeed had an amazing time. They come from poor backgrounds that their parents and guardians cannot afford to pay for modern swimming pools.
Won’t you get sick by playing in this dirty water? I asked one of them. “No, we never get sick. We always come to play here. Its fun.”
