His photographs were originally published in Sur Press. Then, Julio Cesar Osorio's work became part of the photographic exhibition called Work, Play and No Rest, which opened in London last December. Now, the images he registered while travelling through Latin America and South Africa are being exhibited in Foyle's Bookshop in Central London. The aim of the project, of which he is the director, is to collect funds to support two organizations dedicated to helping children in developing countries. The idea arose following Julio's travellings to various parts of Latin America and Africa. As a professional photographer, he decided to take pictures of the tough reality faced by children in those countries. Curiously, the images captured are full of charm and optimism.

Colombian by birth, Julio Cesar Osorio moved to England at the early age of 13, where he joined his father and his two brothers. Seventeen years passed before he returned to his home country - in 1999. He was wondering how much Colombia had changed while he was away. Indeed everything was different. The only images Julio had were the ones from his childhood, captured only in his memory. But now he was seeing Colombia with other eyes, with adult eyes, with the eyes of someone who had seen and lived in another reality, that of a developed country.

After travelling to different rural areas of Colombia, Julio went to his grandmother's town. With great surprise he noticed that it was among the few places which had not changed significantly. Of course the poverty was still the same. But Julio noticed with great satisfaction that the attitudes of the kids had not changed. Whatever it was, coming out of school, playing in the streets or at work from an early age, the children had kept the innocent eyes and the sheer smile characteristic of the youth.

Julio then realized that poverty did not necessarily mean less happiness. And he decided to show the children's curious view on life - view that was maybe difficult to understand by the developed world he had lived in for such a long time.

A project was born

Julio's decision to go back to his home country created in him the need to explore these realities more profoundly. The Work, Play and No Rest project was born. After visiting several parts of Mexico and Venezuela where he gathered images of children living in poor rural areas, Julio had the opportunity to visit Cape Town in South Africa.

He got there as a tourist invited by his good friend Lizette de Mendoça, whom he had met in London. She was to become his associate in the project. In spite of the differences between African and Latin American cultures, Julio found a common factor to the two realities :   the absolute poverty the rural population lived in.

Although apartheid did no longer represent an apparent problem, Julio could see how Black communities were still living in small town without electricity or a sewer system.

It was during a visit to one of these towns, that of Crossroads, that Julio and Lizette found an organization called Beautiful Gate Ministries. Once allowed in by one of the founders, Aukje Brouwer, they found out that the international Christian non-profit organization provided care services to infants and children affected by HIV/AIDS, as well as to orphans and abandoned babies. It seemed more than a simple coincidence.

Julio and Lizette noticed the extraordinary work done by the staff and volunteers for these children in need. It was then Julio decided to allocate part of the funds gathered from the photographic exhibition to support the efforts of Beautiful Gate Ministries.

Indeed, the organization needs such support. Currently, Beautiful Gate Ministries has five centres for child assistance, located in different communities:   two in Crossroads and Muizenberg, both part of Cape Town; one centre situated in Maseru, Lesoto; another in Katutura, in Namibia; and finally, the Kitwe centre, based in Zambia. Unfortunately, it seems that the demand for their services is greater than that currently provided, and the support offered by these centres is far from being enough.

This is why Beautiful Gate Ministries is in the process of building a new Child Care Centre in Cape Town. In order to prevent any delays due to a lack of resources, Julio thought necessary to support the institution for the construction of the new centre.

On the other side of the world

In addition to helping a South African organization, Julio felt the need to assist a South American organization. In his quest to find an institution in need of support, he met Charlotte Coates and Amanda Shippe, co-founders of an organization called Aldea Orphanage Fund. This organization is planning to create a Trade School as part of Aldea por el Infantil (Village for the Children), a government-based orphanage, located in Abancay, central Peru.

Aldea por el Infantil's mission is to provide resources and education to children who were left orphans as a result of the terrorism which affected the country.

During the 80s and part of the 90s, the terrorist-Maoist group the Shining Path torn apart the region, forcing peasants and other residents to become part of the movement or they would otherwise be abused or killed. The Peruvian government deployed Army forces, the police and the so-called "peasant squads for self-defence". Sixty nine thousand people were murdered as a result of the war-like situation between the Shining Path and the latter.

Some of the people who were killed by this ongoing war were the parents of the children. Now, many of these children live at the Aldea por el Infantil Centre.

Abancay, the capital of the department of Apurimac, has managed to cope with all the misfortunes of its inhabitants. Yet the fact that it has suffered directly from terrorism and remains one of the poorest cities in the country, has kept alive the trail of extreme poverty.

The Aldea por el Infantil Orphanage currently shelters 70 children. When a child reaches 16 years of age, s/he stops receiving financial and emotional support. The reason? The lack of economic resources and the fact that at 16 one can be considered as an adult, able to work.

But, how is it possible to let these kids leave the centre without an appropriate education that could guarantee their insertion into the work force?   Are they emotionally ready to face all types of challenges outside the orphanage boundaries?   That same concern gave Charlotte, Amanda and other volunteers, the idea of creating a Trade School within the orphanage. The aim: train the children by local members of the community in different trades. So that, when they are ready to leave at 16, they have the opportunity to incorporate the local work market armed with essential skills.

Judging the viability of the idea, Charlotte and Amanda returned to their home country, England, in order to set up the Aldea Orphanage Fund as a non-profit organization and to start requesting funds for the project. Julio took part to the project and gave the other part of the funds gathered from the photographic exhibition to the Aldea Orphanage Fund's Trade School project.

The Gallery, Foyle's Bookstore
113-119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0EB

The exhibition will be open until August 12, 2005

For more information, please call or email:

Phone:   +44 (0)7957995578 (Julio C. Osorio)

E-mail:   julioosorio@hotmail.com