Skipping in Tamale

A few days ago I was contacted by a small local African NGO whose project I had made a short assignment with maybe six years ago. They were re-doing their website and wanted to give it a new look. Generally, I never, ever give away images but there are always notable exceptions and I remembered their tremendous work educating (and protecting) lone street children and their enigmatic champion, Agnes Chiravera. Agnes is one of those elegantly tough African women that just make things work through sheer will power.

I also remembered waiting for the school to open and being invited to do some skipping with a young girl and her friends that I subsequently photographed. Never easy to skip with cameras – but it certainly made the children laugh.

It’s those kind of memories that make some of the more tricky stuff bearable.

Street children play in the grounds of a school run by the Youth Alive project. Tamale, Northern Ghana
Street children play in the grounds of a school run by the Youth Alive project. Tamale, Northern Ghana
Agnes Chiravera, social worker and head of the Youth Alive project, hugs a former street child who is now in full time education.
Agnes Chiravera, social worker and head of the Youth Alive project, hugs a former street child who is now in full time education.