2011, 11 mins 38s
Enrico Parenti had gone to Ethiopia to work with an NGO that helps orphaned children get a better education. On his last two days in the country, he followed with a small filmmaking crew, a street child, Zewdu, who sells chewing gums to passersby in the city of Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia counts on of the largest populations of orphaned children in the world. About 13% of children in the country are missing one of their parents. This represents an estimated 4.6 million children – 800,000 of whom were orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
One day, Zewdu, is by chance paid more by a foreigner and he decides to spend that money to go back to the village where his father lives. But, a different destiny is abut to unveil.
Written, filmed and edited by Enrico Parenti, Zewdu the street child‘s crew included Stefano Piro (music), Golden Tekeba and Thomas Lemma (on site production), Sintayehu Eshetu (translation), and Marco di Campli San Vito (editing assistance).