football colors

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

For my hospital assignment I followed this nurse for some hours. Serious and not very talkative but helpful and nice. Most of the time I spent with him was at the sickbay where he attended the people that needed medical cure.

That day there was an important football game broadcasted by the RTS TV. In a busy european city it is always amazing to see the empty streets while a national football game is on TV, but in Senegal, where life takes place in the streets, it was really shocking. In the hospital there was a room with a TV and during the game all the nurses were there. Even one of the malaria patients (that later I photographed) left his bed and drip I.V. just to watch the game!!

In this picture you can see that the nurse has a small radio in his pocket with an earphone to follow the game while working.

And talking about football.... I don't like football at all, but it was a great experience to watch the Senegal vs Burkina Faso game last september at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium. The stands were so packed that I had to sit on a very small place at the steps holding tight my camera bag. I did not dare to bring the camera out!. And well, I didn't watch the game itself, even if one of the players was the big football star in Senegal -that signed up with the Liverpool team- El Hadji Diouf (that I met in Almadie a couple of days before that game). And I didn't follow the game as I was absorbed by the colorful atmosphere around. The green/yellow/red colors, the drums sound, the african rythms...




That was the reason why I kept the invitation ticket. And also because the ticket number consists in three numbers that add up to 12 between two fives.