Never let me go

In March 2019, Cyclone Idai devastated Mozambique, claiming over a thousand lives and inflicting immeasurable damage. Beira, a coastal city, was obliterated. Four years later, the city is still rebuilding, haunted by the specter of future disaster as rising sea levels threaten to submerge much of it within three decades.

This photo is part of a photographic project exploring the aftermath of those terrible days and the precarious balance between humanity, water, and spirituality in Mozambique, a global epicenter of climate change catastrophe.

In August 2023, I joined "Amici per l'Africa", an Italian NGO, to document their mission of constructing four drinking water wells in Beira.

There, I encountered survivors - children who lost families, mothers who lost children. Their stories of suffering during the cyclone were harrowing. Yet, their profound faith and devotion were equally inspiring. Water, once a harbinger of destruction, had become a complex symbol: a reminder of God's love amid suffering, a connection to ancestors, and now, a potent emblem of hope and renewal in the face of climate crisis.