Près de trois cents photographies témoignant de l'action humanitaire de l'association ADE fondée par les deux auteurs pour venir en aide aux enfants du Sud-Soudan au début des années 1990 alors que la guerre civile ravageait leur pays. Ils retracent le parcours de ceux avec lesquels ils ont passé plusieurs années, certains étant devenus artistes peintres reconnus. ©Electre 2024

In February 1992, during a humanitarian mission in Southern Sudan for the European Association for Studies on Nutrition and Child Development (ADE), the authors « discovered » thousands of young boys, « unaccompanied minors », abandoned in the Polataka camp (Sudanese province of Equatoria). The course of their lives since birth dictated by the armed conflicts which had shaken the Southern Sudan, and decimated by hunger and disease, these young boys (aged five to fourteen) lived in conditions of absolute poverty. To alleviate the emergency, ADE was launching a medical action in Polataka, between 1992 and 1995, and then further south in Omere and Labone where the boys were displaced.

But, « we cannot consider caring only for the body without nourishing the soul », says Dr. Zygmunt L. Ostrowski who, a few months later, in addition to providing medicines to heal them and food to nourish their meager bodies, also brought food of the soul» in the form of colored paints, brushes and papers. Revealing young « artistes en herbe » this art therapy leads to the creation by Zygmunt of the « School of Painting Polataka ».

In April 1994, twenty-six boys, among the most motivated and creative, were installed in Kisubi, near Kampala, and educated in the best schools and colleges in Uganda... A real ADE family was born. Alongside their studies, the young painters continued to develop their artistic talents without constraints or directives. Over time, their skills progressed markedly. Today, several of these young artists are known thanks to the many exhibitions of their works organized around the world and because of their introduction by Marie- Christine in « Le Monde d'Hermès ». In addition to the intellectual stimulation sparked by their various creative activities, higher academic studies have led them to join the elite of their young state of South Sudan.

In around 350 photos and 40 pages of text, the authors recount this incredible « odyssey », while evoking some funny anecdotes, the happy events but also the trials faced.