© 2020 Giusy Morabito - All Rights Reserved | By Andrea Bartolomeo
AFRICA: LAND OF STRENGTH AND DIVERSITY, THEREFORE CREATIVE
I was a guest of the Ousmane Faye family, my African family in Dakar.
Relaxed and comfortably seated on the terrace, I watched what was happening in the life below.
It was like being at the theater and seeing, as if it were a show, everyday life.
“An intense moment”, the street was filled with bright colors and I breathed air filled with a pleasant smell, that spicy scent that seemed to emanate peace and joy and that flooded me with serenity and curiosity.
And then that humming of people greeting each other with a big smile saying “Bonjour comme ca va” little things that make you feel in communion with everyone and everything.
In this daily scene I noticed that for the whole week, every day, at the same time around 2pm lunchtime, a young girl would leave Ousmane's house to go to the neighbors.
She walked, with a slow pace and a large round tray full of rice, vegetables and in the center the catch of the day.
My curiosity grew, and grew to the point that I decided to ask a young woman for an explanation.
She replied that in the neighborhood there were some very poor families, because they had no work or no men.
For this reason, the community of the neighborhood would help them until their situation improved; and she added: there is always someone to support, “for us it’s normal” and continued, to make me understand lightly “it’s like being in a big village where we are all one family.”
My heart skipped a beat “UBUNTU” I thought; a word born in South Africa, it flows in the soul and body of all Africans; and it expresses a very simple concept: I am well when you are well.
This is Africa, the land of sharing.
For this reason I wanted to contribute during my winter holidays, to creative events with street children and local schools with the support of a loving principal named Amina.
She supported me in building large maps of Africa, like puzzles, and the children colored a state of their choice, finally we put it all together to render and represent a united Africa in the love of everything and everyone.
The bridge that allowed me to live this experience is Joè Faye, a great friend, artist who accompanied me through the knowledge of this land and these wonderful people.
To those who want to know this enchanting land I extend an invitation: make friends with an African who lives here.
And so over time you can travel with them, not as a tourist but as a traveler, not to fall into the usual false truths, and fake images, let’s learn to look at this wonderful land with the eyes of a child, venturing into something that has always been within us.
MILAN
After creating African maps in Africa, I received many invitations to create them in Italy, so I organized events in some parks in Milan, where children passing by, intrigued by the colorful welcome, joined me in creating maps of Africa—a wonderful experience, where children of every nationality colored Friendship together.
© 2020 Giusy Morabito - All Rights Reserved | By Andrea Bartolomeo