TITLE: The Holy Man in the Crying House.
They live in a house completely holed. How is this house still standing? There is a place below the house where you are more or less protected in case of rain. Inside the house, we can’t stand straight, the roof is so down that you can’t stand up. When it rains, it rains everywhere in the house except above the bed. We must be careful what boards we walk on, because some will break. They dread the rain, because they do not know where to take refuge and also because when it rains, "Vien" can’t climb in the coconut trees, it is slippery and dangerous. That's how he earns a living. He climbs without any safety, barefoot, bare hands, more than fifteen meters high, to cut the coconuts. He risks his life for less than one euro. It's incomprehensible. How do people dare to send him to the top of the coconut trees, knowing that he is putting his life on the line for a coconut? Does their life have more value than "Vien"’s life ? Certainly not. "Vien" and his wife "Nee" have something unique that others do not have. They have faith, unconditional love and wisdom. They are bright. But sometimes they can’t smile. They are so poor and their house is so dilapidated that in the village some people do not dare talk to them, as if the poverty was contagious. One thing is certain: "Vien" and "Nee" do not know the material wealth, but they have opened some doors inaccessible to most of us.
AUTHOR: Julien De Wilde (Belgium)
SHARE
Support this photographer - share this work on Facebook.