A new book by photographer?Gabriele Galimberti takes a unique look at wealth disparity across the globe by picturing children next to their most prized possessions: their favorite toys. “Toy Stories” took?Galimberti approximately a year to complete as he traveled from one corner of the world to the next, coming into close contact with both great affluence and abject poverty. What?Galimberti found is that no matter where the children came from or what their backgrounds were, their precious toys still managed to alight their faces with joy and pride.
In Northern Zambia,?for instance — one of the most impoverished parts of the world –?Galimberti was moved by a group of children’s favorite toys. As he writes in the book, “the children had found a box of sunglasses — I think it fell off a truck — and the glasses became their favorite toys. Actually, their only toys. They would play ‘market,’ buying and selling the glasses to each other, sharing everything between them.”
Below is Maundy, age 3, showing off her colorful sunglasses.
Compare this to the variety of toys owned by Julius of Switzerland, also age 3.
What caught my eye about the next picture, featuring Arafa and Aisha of Tanzania, both age 5, is that two of their toys are identical to the ones I played with as a boy. Skeletor, sixth from the left, and Tung Lashor, fifth from the right, are part of Mattel’s 1980s Masters of the Universe action figure roster. Who knows how these two sweet girls ended up with such a pair of dastardly villains?
To see more photos of children around the world with their favorite toys, check out?Gabriele Galimberti’s “Toy Stories.”
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Joseph Guyer?lives in Texas. An ad man by trade, he firmly agrees?with Bill Clinton that there is nothing wrong with America that can’t be cured by what is right with America. You can read more of his work at?Liberals Unite,?DemoNews, and?SenaReider. You can also follow him on Twitter?@joerobguy.
