Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
This stunning photo of a six-year-old boy in a face mask kneeling in the middle of an empty street praying for the end of coronavirus and asking God to be able to hug his grandparents again has moved netizens.
The touching scene was captured by the photographer Claudia Alejandra Mora Abanto in the streets of the city of Guadalupe, in the northwestern Peruvian department of La Libertad and has become a symbol of hope in the city.
In the photo, youngster Alen Castaneda Zelada can be seen praying in the street in the night.
Photographer Abanto told Newsflash: “In Guadalupe people organised to light a candle outside their front doors as a symbol of faith every day at 8 pm. Respecting curfew as only one member of the family is allowed to go out, that person lights the candle and goes back home quickly”.
“That day I was the one to light the candle and taking advantage of that situation I took my camera to take a picture and see the empty streets with the candles”
She added: “I came across the boy praying and I took the picture, it touched me because it was amazing and filled me with faith.”
The photographer says that while respecting social distancing she asked the boy what he was praying for, with the boy saying said he was asking for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic and to be able to hug his parents again.
She told Newsflash the boy had decided to leave his house because “it is noisy inside and God could not listen to me with so much noise”.
She told the boy it would be best to go inside and shared the photo after asking for his parents’ permission, gaining over 1,000 shares on social media.
Youngster Alen told local media: “I pray to God to take care of people with the disease. I am asking for nobody to leave their homes. A lot of people are dying from this disease”.
Abraham Castaneda Malca, the boy’s father, told local media that his son left the house for a few minutes to pray in the street because it was noisy inside.
Alen spends the days with his family at home and his parents shared videos of him praying in his bed with the photographer.
Local media reported that the neighbours of that part of the city have organized a prayer chain to ask God to end the coronavirus.
According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Peru has registered 16,325 cases of COVID-19, and 445 deaths.
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