This One’s For The Dreamers Out There…

A King. Tabaan, 13, from Afghanistan. "The first thing I would do as king, is provide security to the people. That’s the most important thing in Afghanistan, I think. The second thing I would do as a king is to fight unemployment. That is a bad thing & a big problem. © Chris de Bode

Undecided. Blaise Bedzermitki Leveltson (12) from Haiti was deeply traumatized by the 2010 earthquake but still has many dreams. He'd like to become a driver or mechanic but also admires Michael Jackson. "Well, I dream about so many things. If I really had to choose I’d struggle. If I'm being sensible I should be a driver, but I also dream about being like Michael Jackson." © Chris de Bode

Flying. Dilan Kaya is a 21 year old young woman living in Istanbul. She is studying urban and regional planning at Istanbul Technical University. Dilan Kaya dreams of flying. She has since she was a kid. In the photo, she is on the little island called Maiden’s Tower. She tries to fly from there while she admires the birds flying above her. © Chris de Bode

Of being a boy. Rens Zomerdijk (14) was born as Renske, a girl. “I was born in the wrong body. I have always felt like a boy. I dream of actually being one. I take masculine hormones. Next year I will have a breast removal surgery. I can’t wait! “Rens lives in a strict Christian community. It was very difficult to expose himself as a transgender. © Chris de Bode

Farmer. Antonio (11) from Mozambique. His parents have to work hard to get food on the table & healthy & nutritious food is hard to get and Antonio became chronically malnourished. "I want to be a farmer. Not a rice farmer like my dad. I want cows and calves. Cows give milk and that’s what I like best!" © Chris de Bode

Heart Surgeon. Batool (14) from Jordan. “I watch a TV series about a hospital every week. One of the main characters is the heart surgeon. He can always heal his patients. I dream of being him, because my aunt has a heart problem. If I would be the actor, I could make sure she is healthy again. The heart is everything. It provides life and love.” © Chris de Bode

Veterinarian. Djarida (8) from Mexico. She is from a disadvantaged Mayan background. Her father left the family home & her mother works as a housekeeper. Djarida loves all animals, especially dogs. "Many girls are not allowed to go to school or only for a short time. Then they are required to help at home, to get married or to work. When I grow up I want to be a veterinarian. I have to study hard but I'm sure I will succeed." © Chris de Bode

Bird. Elsa, (7) lives with her parents & 5 siblings in the Mozambican countryside. She doesn't go to school. She dreams of being a bird. "I’d love to be a red bird. Red is my favorite color. I would fly as high as I can to my grandmother who lives around the corner. But I would still be a lot faster. I could also fly to the city to visit my aunt & to my older sister who lives in a different town.” © Chris de Bode

Walking bare feet on green grass. Emam, (10), fled from Syria & now lives in the Zataari refugee camp in Jordan. She dreams of walking bare feet on green grass & playing like she used to do. “Color & grass is what I miss most. The only place here were I feel at ease is the playground. I want to go back home. To the vineyard and the meadows…” © Chris de Bode

Living in a peaceful home. Eurgenia de Winter (13) says “I dream of living in a peaceful home with a father & a mother. That is normal for most children, but I’ve never had that experience.” Her parents couldn’t provide her a safe upbringing, so she was placed in foster care. © Chris de Bode

To be the fastest runner. Wilberforse, 11 yrs, lives in Northern Uganda together with his parents and 6 brothers and sisters. “I want to be the fastest. I want my parents, my school and country to be proud of me. Every day I run. I dream of coming home with the biggest trophy” © Chris de Bode

What do you dream about? One of life’s biggest commonalities – whether you live in Afghanistan or Africa, Haiti or Honduras – is that you dream. You have some vision of the future that is other than your present circumstance. If you’re a kid they can be little things – like sitting through school and dreaming of that ice-cream popsicle sold outside at lunch break, or it can be a big thing, like one day I want to be an astronaut. Your dreams depend on your circumstances and sometimes simply where you are born can determine your destiny. But dreams – well, there are always dreams…

For almost 8 years Dutch photographer Chris de Bode has been working with Save the ChildrenNL on a project about children – their resilience, power, potential…and, above all, dreams. His book Dreams – The Power of Children is released tomorrow. De Bode photographed and spoke with 58 children from 13 countries.

PDN spoke with Chris de Bode about his new book:

PDN: How did the book come about originally?
Chris de Bode: The NGO Save the Children approached me in 2011 to work with them on a concept that would demonstrate the power and potential of children. A dream represents personal identity, creativity and ambition, so we decided to find out if a dream could be captured in a photo. Over the past years, we have managed to recreate the dreams of many powerful, incredible and talented children. They often live in hopeless and depressing circumstances, but manage to rise above these living conditions.

PDN: How did this work logistically – did they send you to different countries to specifically shoot this project, or did you add on days when shooting for other stories for them?
de Bode: In general we added days to the assignments I was given. In that way I could combine project visits with catching dreams. It made it relatively easy to talk to children I met along the way.

PDN: What inspired you about this project?
de Bode: To me, that is the power of children: they have the ability to see the positive, the innocence and the hope, where adults can only see the misery and impossibilities. Most of the children had never been asked the question “what do you dream of?” But all of them had a dream locked up inside them, waiting to be heard. This determination, ingenuity and resilience inspired me to create personal documents, using my skills as a photographer to capture the dream and personality of the child.

PDN: Was it easy to get them to explain their dreams to you?
de Bode: Some children knew exactly what their dream was, others needed encouragement but all of them had clear personal motives for the dream. We discovered that all dreams have one thing in common: they always represent a solution, fulfilment or escape from heartache, longing and ambition.

PDN: Tell us a little about the actual on the ground process?
de Bode: None of the photos were pre-produced. Everything depended on the moment and the few available materials. We were conscious of the fact that there was a thin line between respecting the dream and creating a dress up party. I can honestly say that this project has been the biggest challenge of my career. Every time: one child, one dream and one photo to do justice to the power of a dream.

PDN: Can you tell us about one or two of your favorite kids that you met along the way – and some of the wildest or most ambitious dreams you encountered?
de Bode: It surprised me that I could photograph so many different dreams. At the beginning of the project I feared I would end up with a lot of nurses and policemen dreams. It is hard to pick a few examples since every child was special. One of the most striking examples was a Syrian girl I met in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Emam told me she was fed up with the camp she was living in for some years already. All she could dream about was being able to be on green grass. It sounded so simple, but it was a big thing for her. That touched me a lot. Another kid was Blaise from Haiti. I met him just after the devastating earthquake. He just couldn’t choose one single dream. Taxi driver, car mechanic and to top it all up… being Michael Jackson! We combined all of that in one image. He is for me the example of a resilient child.

PDN: What did you take away from this project?
de Bode: This book is an ode to the power of children. It bundles hope for the future, as these children will one day lead the world. I learned from this project that children know what they need to change their circumstances. But it requires encouragement and a little help to achieve their ambitions. I hope that by acknowledging the dream through this project, we have lit a spark in the hearts of the children. It is my ultimate goal as a photographer to make people more sensitive of the world around them and to put things in perspective. I hope that this book will inspire you to look beyond the living conditions of children and see the child itself.”

–Samantha Reinders

Dreams – The Power of Children
Chris de Bode
Self published in collaboration with Save the Children NL (November 2019)
The book is available here