The real story behind viral photo of Senegalese women basketball players is so inspiring
It is a beautiful photo — five fresh-faced young women, looking
confident and happy, with traditional West African prints juxtaposed
against their Nike
shirts and sneakers. Without context, it’s easy to see why the post
earned 51,000 likes and more than 17,000 retweets. With context, it’s so
much better.
Many of the people who commented on Smith’s post (and others who have
posted it on their own social media accounts and Reddit in recent
months) have made some mistaken assumptions about the photo. They think
this is Senegal’s national team (it isn’t). They guess that it’s
actually an ad for Nike (it’s not). They question whether the women play
basketball in long skirts and head wraps. They wonder if the girls are
being “exoticized” by corporate America.
The day the Squad Goals chat died. They’ve won.— Martin Stone (@stonefish100) October 24, 2017
Let's take more than a moment for all of this #BlackGirlMagic!!!— FEMWOC (@femwoc) October 23, 2017
This is a Senegalese Women's Basketball team. What you sent is a fashion shoot supported by Nike based on exoticism. pic.twitter.com/yqUUhVyaQj— mo (~˘▾˘)~ (@mosqalli) October 24, 2017
Here’s the real story: These five girls aren’t pros (yet). They’re the five students with the highest GPAs at Seed Academy Girls,
a boarding school in Thiès, Senegal, where 20 students receive free
scholarships to study and train in basketball. Back in February 2016,
Nigerian-American artist and graphic designer Folasade Adeoso took
the photo and several others for a project called “Picture Us Ballin’”
to help spread the word and raise funds for the school.
“Additionally, we wanted our students to show the world how they wanted to be seen,” Noah Levine, executive director of the Seed Project,
tells Yahoo Lifestyle of the shoot. “Too many people see Africa through
the eyes of outsiders, and our girls wanted to show everyone what they
think is beautiful.”
Seed Academy girls. (Photo: Folasade Adeoso for Seed Project) |
All of the students helped with this shoot, from designing the Senegalese wax prints to doing their makeup
and choosing the locations. And no, Nike didn’t pay for the shoot,
exactly, but it is a sponsor, providing the students with gear and some
of their clothing.
“We
also want to show that young women deserve just as much of an
opportunity to study and play sports as young boys do,” Levine says.
The
Seed Project, a nonprofit based in the U.S. — which also has an academy
for boys and provides after-school programs throughout Senegal and
Gambia — emphasizes academic study as much as sports. But Levine says
the girls’ No. 1 goal is to play college basketball.
“In
Senegal, girls are less likely to attend school, more likely to drop
out to tend to household chores or prepare for marriage, and rarely
encouraged to re-enroll,” reads a statement on the Seed site.
Photo: Folasade Adeoso for Seed Project |
Despite the erroneous assumptions that some have made about the photo, it is resonating with people the way Seed intended it to.
“I
think the image has received a lot of attention of the past year
because most people don’t expect young, African women (and most of our
students are Muslim) to play sports!” Levine shares. “Our girls are
really, really, talented both on and off the court. In fact, we have
nine students playing college basketball in the U.S., France, and
Africa.”
Levine
hopes that people take their admiration to the next level by donating
to help support these girls. You can even do so by purchasing high-res prints from their shoot here.
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