Africa paralysed by some sort of curse is the opposite of the image of the more 'developed' world: industrious, energetic, perpetually evolving. And yet, every time I cross the Mediterranean, my impression is exactly the opposite: the old European continent appears to me exhausted, inert, lacking momentum... afraid of the future. In Africa, everything seems to me to be in turmoil.

Perhaps it is because of the palpable energy transmitted by its young inhabitants (average age: not even twenty), dynamic, projected towards tomorrow, thirsting for redemption. It may be because of the epochal changes - economic, political, cultural - that are shaking increasingly globalised societies. The fact is that Africa seems to me to be running... perhaps to escape the stereotypes in which we have caged it.

Yet another confirmation came to me from a recent trip to Angola. Granted, I had been missing from Luanda for a good ten years, but it is amazing how almost unrecognisable I found it. The city's skyline has been redesigned by glass-concrete skyscrapers; the Marginal that runs alongside the capital's large bay is now an eight-lane road flanked by a pretty promenade, bicycle and pedestrian, punctuated by palm trees; the fishermen's settlements of the Ilha have given way to trendy clubs. Where my favourite restaurant used to be, I found a coworking space packed with young people with mobile phones and laptops.

Ten years ago, everything you could find in Luanda was imported. Today you can fill your shopping cart with canned goods, snacks, soft drinks, wine, detergents... made in Angola. Certainly, the scandalous contrasts between the clique of oligarchs and businessmen (who share the oil and diamond riches) and the rest of the population have not abated. But among the endless shacks of Sambizanga, I discovered the most surprising transformations. Where there was a squatter dump, I visited an art gallery. In a shelter for street children, I saw kids competing for comic books of a superhero, Kid Kamba, signed by Angolan authors.

And then, the most incredible discovery for me. Among the muddy alleys of that favela, I photographed boys playing football along a sewer rivulet ten years ago. It was a lucky shot: Sports Illustraded, an American magazine, put it on the cover and Time relaunched it. What I didn't know - and what I discovered to my amazement - is that that photo inspired the cover of a video game about football, Golden Georges, designed by African programmers and downloaded by millions of kids on their mobile phones. I thought I had immortalised, by freezing it, a fragment of African life. I was wrong: the protagonists of that photo are back on the run.

See, Ultimo numero | Rivista Africa (africarivista.it)

Photo. Luanda, Angola, 2009. © Marco Trovato A Hired Ball