by Simone Dutra
I do that a lot of times… Means I keep learning, listening, investigating. I change my mind about a lot of things, but if there is one thing that really gives me pleasure, is when I find that there was something that I thought was futile, nonsense or silly inspires something good. It’s that feeling of : “at least it served a purpose, a good one”…
So, what is the “silly thing” that turned into a great cause that I am talking about ?
I believe many of you have seen or read about a photographic project that shows a man being taken by a woman by the hand. The photographer is the Russian Murad Osamnn. He had the idea of egister places around the world that he visited with his wife, Nataly Osmann and used the hashtag “Follow me”. By Tuesday (18) night, his Instagram account had more them 4.6million followers.
This photographic project, which has become a phenomenon in social networks, has inspired the NGO ‘Teto’ (meaning Roof) to make a campaign to show the reality of people living marginalized in society. The purpose of the "Coleta" (meaning Colect), which will start on May 5, is to invite people to know the conditions in which people live in different communities.
The NGO was created in Chile and operates in 19 countries, with the aim of reducing the vulnerability of residents in the ‘favelas’, with the help of volunteers. The NGO arrived in Rio in 2013, and works in seven communities.
Teto decided to make a photographic series that portrays residents of poor communities, where it works and develops some social projects, at angles similar to those used by Murad. The objective of the campaign is to attract 10,000 volunteers and raise about 350 thousand dollars in resources to continue social projects. In on interview, the NGO director said that the organization tries to reproduce "success stories" of the Internet and insert them in a social context. The idea is to invite the population to know the reality of people who live in poverty.
"Teto works with advertising agencies that bring the possibility of people getting a case that worked on the Internet, as everything on the internet run very fast, and bring to a more social issue. The focus is to bring the idea 'yes, there is all this dazzling side of countries and many cities, but let's look at other causes and other people who have none of it'. That was the idea. We will bring this issue to the other side and also to a more social side with all the problems of the country, "
This is the kind of news that (ok, I know it is so cliché but) fills my heart with joy. Being reminded that photographs can play an important role when it comes to help people. I hope I can continue to be surprised by ideas that at first, I saw as futile, becoming inspirations for greater causes.
My inspiration for this blog post came from this article in one of the most important newspaper in Brazil.