Funworld June 2011

A PHOTO ESSAY OF WEST AFRICAN AMUSEMENT PARKS

Scattered around Dakar, Senegal, are small amusement parks where children and teenagers go to find entertainment in this West African city.

According to the World Bank, there will be more than 1 billion members of the middle class in developing countries within the next 20 years, and 43 million of them will live in sub-Saharan Africa. This project was undertaken to show a different face of West Africa and focus on the middle class and everyday life entertainment.

Ricci Shryock is a multimedia journalist and photographer who has rarely met story she didn’t like. For Shryock, being a photographer and journalist is about getting to know people as well as cities and understanding the complexities, details, and beauty of their situations. Shryock has contributed to The New York Times, the Associated Press, and the United Nations. She currently splits her time between West Africa and Washington, D.C.