Rolling with the Punches

That's what is best to learn early in life.

The punches sooner or later will come and they'll keep coming. It is wise to figure out how to survive them and possibly, how to punch back.

That is what these kids do in a God-forsaken gymnasium of San Juan de la Maguana, the last Far West of the Dominican Republic.

Most of them come from poverty stricken families and grow up with an inner anger, which is hard to dissimulate. All the temptations of the modern world are right there, just a few blocks away from the zinc roofed shack they share with a large extended family.
The latest cell-phones, the Internet, fancy cars, plasma TVs and colorful scooters are their dreams, but they soon turn into nightmares, due to their inaccessibility. And the lack of these goods, make them feel even more discriminated against and fuels their desperation and their rage.

There are no jobs out there, there's no hope to honestly earn what you desire trough legitimate work, besides, most of the rich people they observe in the streets have gained their position through political corruption, nepotism and illicit activities.

This rage fueled by lack of hope often leads them towards becoming first petty thieves and then full-blown criminals dabbling in robberies, drug dealing and prostitution.
Boxing represents a theoretical chance, a possibility of being discovered by a foreign agent, travel, earn money, but mostly it seems to me to be an opportunity for these kids to punch life back in the face, that life that deceived them, defrauded them of what they wanted, voided their hopes.

Boxing is letting them try to open a path, with their fists, out of the otherwise terminal social isolation and captivity they were born in.

And at the same time, discharge their rage.

So they fight.

IF YOU CAN HELP ME HELP THESE KIDS CONTACT ME BY EMAIL (THEY BADLY NEED NEW BOXING EQUIPMENT) CONTACT ME AT magneticart@juno.com

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• boxing
• fighting
• children
• Dominican
• poverty
• sport
• punch
• fight
• photography
• editorial
• reportage
• documentary
• hope