The Promise | By Irina Werning

During lockdown I photographed her every week. One day in the middle of a shoot she told me “Hurry up with the hair-ideas cause last night I promised to cut my hair when school is back”. My heart stopped, she was my number one muse and of course, I adored her long hair. I went home feeling miserable, but it didn’t last long. I soon found myself daydreaming of the day she would get that haircut, put on a now dusty backpack and smile once again.

After missing 260 days of school (1.5 years), it was announced that schools would open. So we cut her hair with tears in our eyes. Antonella simply said “I always thought if I cut my hair something in me would go missing. But when school closed that’s exactly how I felt”. And like any 12-year-old she never looked back. Antonella’s promise was a testimony of the extraordinary value and expectations that kids have for a normal schooling experience.

 

While developed countries discuss the success of virtual education, this is not an option for most kids in Latin America, where lack of devices, connection or support from families is a reality. Before the pandemic, education was already a problem in Latin America, plagued by deep structural inequalities that mirrored the wide income inequality in the region. The pandemic has made this bad situation worse. Latin American children have lost on average around 4 months more of class time than students elsewhere in the world. Children’s future is under threat.

 

Photo Essay curated by Diego Orlando.