The Humanity in Others

I received an email last night.

I love the legacy in dialogue that a powerful image can promote. It keeps them poignant as an agent for positive change - These voices are the breath of life that animate an image beyond the sliver of static time captured…

This note is from a woman in Chicago...

  Congratulations on the honorable mention [via IPA]. I look at your photos every so often, and I just discovered that you got this recognition. I really like these sensitive images of the kids in Dakar. Those boys who appear to be friends are really nice pics. One can imagine the challenge of encountering a vastly different place and finding the essence of it on film in such a short amount of time. I think you captured something which comes through which is understandable. There is a kind of genuine openness in the people's faces and spirits. This is a reminder to myself in this kind of hectic urban area to look for the humanity in others. -Mary 

A few more of my favorite images from Dakar… all images ©Bennett Barthelemy

Youths catch coins thrown from tourists arriving on a ferry to Goree Island, Senegal

The principal of a local community school in Dakar, CAFT Senegal working to help change the statistic that nearly half of Dakar youth work and/or cannot afford to attend school - about 50% of Dakar live in poverty...

A man stands in the Doorway Of No Return, Goree Island Senegal… Millions of slaves passed through this western-most point of Africa bound for the New World...

Women learning to read and write Wolof and French under new programs aimed at changing the over 50% illiteracy rate in Dakar.

A teacher at CAFT Senegal and a president of the Senegal chapter of Citoyen Des Rues learn activities and cooperative games to share with youth as part of a training via Play For Peace, an international non profit sharing methodology with some 30 countries.