When medicine, cinema, dance, and paintbrushes come together, an invisible suture thread appears, binding hearts and making souls vibrate the souls of children from different continents.
Marc GarcÃa-ElÃas (hand surgeon), Nacho Duato (choreographer, dance director, and painter), and Fina Sensada (filmmaker) take part in a surgical expedition to Chad alongside a team of Chadian surgeons.
The goal is to operate on 25 children suffering from hand and foot conditions in a remote, inaccessible region—an area where inhabitants face extreme poverty and lack access to medical care when illness strikes. Yet, poverty does not stop the children of this region—who have the chance to attend a school run by Indian missionaries—from sharing their songs, dances, and joy with a group of Catalan children from a small rural school north of Tarragona. This is the mission undertaken by Dr. Marc, Nacho, and Fina: to act as messengers between the children of these two continents.
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While Marc enters the operating room to train surgeons—his fingers dancing amidst nerves and tendons—Nacho’s fingers dance with brushes and watercolors, capturing the faces of the patients, their families, and the surgeons who heal them, all viewed with a gentle perspective on both the illness and its cure.
Meanwhile, Fina works with her camera, weaving images together. She frames fleeting instants and captures unique moments of the unfolding events, demonstrating how adversity can be transformed into creativity and beauty.
| The “La libreta roja” (The Red Notebook) project consists of two creative acts: |
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| An 18-minute documentary directed by Fina Sensada. A poetic look at the pain and poverty experienced by surgeons and sick children, featuring Nacho, Dr. Marc, and the children themselves. |
| An exhibition of 25 watercolor drawings created by Nacho Duato during this mission to Chad with the intention to show that between black and white lies a whole spectrum of colors. |
“La libreta roja” is a project that seeks to eliminate borders and build bridges between continents, uniting us through art, love, and the beauty of diversity.
Nacho’s personal red notebook—containing all his original drawings—will be displayed alongside the framed series of 25 drawings that HP Charity Journey has generously provided the high-quality printing for these, using the market’s most advanced printers to produce 30 cm × 40 cm prints.
Fifty young people with disabilities from this region of Chad—already trained by local doctors and physiotherapists and currently learning sewing skills to achieve independence—have covered the frames with African fabrics, creating a vibrant display of colors and patterns.
The project aims to raise awareness, showcase, observe, and reflect upon one of the world’s poorest regions through the eyes of its children.
Once the “La libreta roja” project has completed its tour of various locations across Spain, the drawings will be sold for a specific purpose: to raise funds for surgeries and to help more children from this neglected area of ​​southern Chad—where the Fernando Fonseca Foundation organizes annual surgical missions—to get back on their feet.
Fina Sensada – Dr. Marc GarcÃa-ElÃas – Nacho Duato
President – Vice president – Board Member
FERNANDO FONSECA FUNDATION