In northern Colombia, in the region Bajo Cauca, more than 180 miles north of Medellín, the landscape is marked by water and seemingly endless expanses. Every day, the children who live there face this rough, unpredictable wilderness – with just one goal in mind: making it to school. Because this is their chance to break out of poverty and create a better life. Like the ten year old Kendys and the other schoolchildren.
For this, they subject themselves to a daily dose of danger. Some of them must cross a ramshackle bridge that could collapse at any moment. Like the ten year old Kendys and some other schoolchildren. One false step and they could drown or break their legs.
Ten-year-old Juan does not have to cross the bridge, but first he has to cross a river in an extremely wobbly canoe, and then walk through deep mud full of stingrays. Although his way is dangerous, he’s glad that he can go to school at all. It brings him a little closer to his dream of moving to a big city.
The children face all this under tough conditions. The temperature is already 34 degrees Celsius in the morning, with humidity at 97 percent. In order to get closer to their wishes and dreams, each day these children carry not only a backpack, but also the fear – on one of the world’s most dangerous ways to school.
