Automne 2019, juste quelques semaines avant que la pandémie de Covid ne bouleverse nos vies, j'embarque avec moi deux amis pour le Ghana, Gurvan photographe et architecte, et Eric, vidéaste, qui y réalisera un superbe court métrage. L'idée est de réaliser sur place deux sujets : Documenter Agbogbloshie, la décharge de déchets électroniques tristement  célèbre d'une part, et Bokum, le quartier d'Accra, qui fabrique des champions de boxe. 

Nureni, notre guide, nous permet de rencontrer Adama, boss de “The Gym”. La salle d’entrainement magnétise le quartier, les gamins du quartier y trainent. Devant la salle, un terrain se mue en parking, le jour, occupé par les croyants tôt le matin et à la nuit tombée, et devient le terrain de foot du quartier en fin d’après-midi. The Gym attire les futurs champions, comme Charles “Le Lion noir” et “Old Boy”, Cela deviendra “Old Boy”, visible ici même, mais aussi Sampson Segbedzi, qui deviendra Champion UBO d’Afrique.

In autumn 2019, just a few weeks before the Covid pandemic turned our lives upside down, I took two friends with me to Ghana: Gurvan, a photographer and architect, and Eric, a videographer, who would be making a superb short film there. The idea was to cover two topics: documenting Agbogbloshie, the infamous electronic waste dump, and Bokum, the Accra neighbourhood that produces boxing champions. 

Nureni, our guide, introduced us to Adama, the boss of ‘The Gym’. The training hall is a magnet for the neighbourhood, where local kids hang out. In front of the hall, a field is used as a car park during the day, occupied by worshippers early in the morning and at nightfall, and becomes the neighbourhood football pitch in the late afternoon. The Gym attracts future champions, such as Charles ‘The Black Lion’ and ‘Old Boy’, who will become ‘Old Boy’, visible here, but also Sampson Segbedzi, who will become UBO Champion of Africa.