Pau Preto, Matias Cardoso - Minas Gerais, Brazil, 2015
It’s after school. Kids are running.
From the school, some of the children would walk home and others would board the school bus, passing through dirt and sandy roads. That same afternoon, I had breakfast with Thaislaine's family. She’s the girl on the right in the picture. While her parents were talking to my fellow photographers, Thaislaine (10) was my guide to the territory of her home-life and, as a teacher, she taught me about the relationship her family and the community had with the ebb of the São Francisco River.
River that has been drying continuously, as the girl could not help but notice. From what her short life had already witnessed, she could already say that the river had dried up: she pointed out the Velho Chico (an affectionate name to the São Francisco) to me. It was far, dozens of meters away. And she told me that it would once reach our feet. Life here happens along the life of the River and it’s no different for the children.
From the school, some of the children would walk home and others would board the school bus, passing through dirt and sandy roads. That same afternoon, I had breakfast with Thaislaine's family. She’s the girl on the right in the picture. While her parents were talking to my fellow photographers, Thaislaine (10) was my guide to the territory of her home-life and, as a teacher, she taught me about the relationship her family and the community had with the ebb of the São Francisco River.
River that has been drying continuously, as the girl could not help but notice. From what her short life had already witnessed, she could already say that the river had dried up: she pointed out the Velho Chico (an affectionate name to the São Francisco) to me. It was far, dozens of meters away. And she told me that it would once reach our feet. Life here happens along the life of the River and it’s no different for the children.
After school. Kids are running.
The enjoyment showed on their faces, bodies and movements does not live up to the uneven reality in which their school is. A single teacher teaching eight students, from four different grades, in the same room, at the same time. It’s true that rural education has its specificities, but none of them includes the precariousness of teachers and teaching this way. According to the teacher, the class did not even had all of its students present. Many didn’t attend due to poor school transportation.
The enjoyment showed on their faces, bodies and movements does not live up to the uneven reality in which their school is. A single teacher teaching eight students, from four different grades, in the same room, at the same time. It’s true that rural education has its specificities, but none of them includes the precariousness of teachers and teaching this way. According to the teacher, the class did not even had all of its students present. Many didn’t attend due to poor school transportation.
