The Man of the Trees

Andrea Trivero | 2018 | 19 min.

2020 Official Selection

This is a portrait of Daniel Balima, a horticulturist from Tenkodogo, a small town in Burkina Faso. Daniel contracted Polio as a child and despite losing the ability to use his legs, followed his father around the family nursery on his hands. “I could take two paths: begging or taking my life in hand and devoting myself to work with dignity.” Through his 50+ years of and over one million trees sown, he has nurtured a relationship of intimacy and reciprocity with the plants, and shares the abundance of his garden with community members in need. The plants do not see ‘disability’, and in this they remain open to Daniel’s humble offering.