The theme that keep on hitting me is kids being left behind because of AIDS. This is the vocational training that Good hope does for there older kids. Sewing and farming (chickens) The real pain here is 54 kids 6-16 on 1/4 acher of land.
I am here with another Cape Ann Gail, for the Rockporters out there Heidi Wakemans aunt.
Today was a crazy day at the orphange, the toilet fell off the wall and water went everywhere. Two inches on the hole floor.
This is Gail at the morning feeding that got delayed till 10:30.
One of the more positive process going on if Tanzania right now is the understanding of making money by creating businesses. Mr Shija (a guitar maker by trade) has started the Educare group which consists of 5 villages and has 111 orphans living with extended family.
As a part of the process he has created different type of group and these woman are learning bannana leaf weaving. They just got a order for 100 baskets. They are doing some great work.
This a photo of my room this morning.
Errr… Might be nice if I posted the image with this one…
Here you go.
The is the orphanage that I hear every night. it is a ball throw way from the house that I am staying in.
I got half a tour of the hospital yesterday. They brought me into the X-Ray room, the equipment was from the 40’s and the dark room caught me off guard.
I have been doing fine emotionally to this point. This is a HIV center for teaching and helping out this people effected by HIV and AIDS. These kids were amazing, the teacher they had was fantastic to. But they are directly effect of HIV/AIDS or have it.
I meet with some the mothers. Single mom with 5 childern husband died of AIDS etc…
Hard very hard not getting emotional about it.
After this I realized I need to take the morning off tomorrow and wander around.Need to clear out the head.
I saw two orphanages yesterday, and I say one today. This is me and the kids at St Thaddeaus. We were singing and running around. The kids love seeing there photo on the back of the camera.
Hi Everyone,
The internet has been down and me and the other 8 volunteers have been trying to get on line.
Here is a photo from the New Paradise, The kids were fantastic and a lot of fun to play with.
I am off to my first orphanage today. Geffory is picking me up at 1300. I am slowly getting the lay of the land. There are about 8 volunteers here with me and spent some time with them last night at the canteena, having stale donuts and Chi tea.
My room is better than my fears, but I was woken up last night by ythe cry of a dog or something. It seemed like there was some sort of gaming going on beween the animals at 2 am.
On a nicer note being woken by kids singing at 8 am on there ways to church was a nice alarm clock.
The network here is slow. I will be down grading my olympus camrea so I can post images.
More soon.
I made it. lots of stories on that ride. But that will have to wait for another day.
My stomach is in knots, I sleep a little in my three days of traveling. So, we are off to get water and drop me off to where I will live.
It is a complete culture shock. but I should get the acent down soon.
I hope to post images, more on that tommorow.
i have made it to the uk.
the e-mail system here is cryptic. but all is well.
i am about 1/4 threw my trip to get to tanziania.
i hope everyone is doing well.
Well, I am off…
It was a day of running around but I got what I could get done, done.
Meindert asked me yesterday if I was traveling light, I answered “yes”.
Well, I need to rethink that answer. I am not traveling light. Honestly, I do not know how it all got to weight so much, but it has.
In other news, I met with Gail today and she has given me a list of contact and orphanages that I will visit. It is all starting to feel real now. 13 visits in total and I hoping to spend a day looking for animals. We, will see how it all goes.
Big thanks to Lisa and the kids for sharing this dream with me. It has been a lot of work on everyone.
I will update as soon as I can.
Designer Tom showed up today with a grocery bag full of stuff for me to take to Tanzania. Ten thousand thank you’s to him and his church for putting this bag together. I will pass the bag to Dr. Sam when I arrive.
I have started or should I say continued thinking about the stories that I will be photographing and filming in Tanzania. I really have no script for this trip, other than I know that I will be photographing a lot of orphanages. I often fear that it all might become to fragmented, but then again fragmentation can become a rhythm of miniature master pieces.
Years ago Andrew suggested me reading this book “On Directing Film” at the time I had put together a short film that missed target badly and I was in search of repair. I pick the book up today for the first time in a few years and started flipping threw it realizing that it was time to revisit this book and ideas and that the theory of directing film is similar to that of still photo’s.
To simplify, It all comes down to the story line, the feeling and editing.
This weeks weather
Days away from leaving on my trip, and I think it is a good time to take a look at the weather. It looks like a lot of 8’s
I think I have a warm trip to come, in my reading there was a remark that it sometimes takes a week to get used to the heat. I will let you know!
As part of my trip, I will be leaving behind two Olympus camera’s and teaching kids how to use them. The program is designed so they will create images that a EPIC Change will turn into cards that they will sell online.
Understanding a camera is the easy part, understanding the photography is the hard part. I have asked a few freinds to help me with this issue and I have got a fantastic minuter of different answers. The reality is they are all correct.
I need to let go and see what happens. To much plaining is too much.
Illustrate feeling
And the best images ask questions, like why is that rabbit in a cage and the cage is not catching the rabbit.
(a few years back, a rabbit started eating our garden. I went on a full attach to get that rabbit. Months later of failed catchings it snowed, the rabbit was able to eat the bird seed and use the cage as shelter.)
I seem to have so many list right now and everthing is living in a pile in my office.
Tomorrows is the day that I turn that pile into something understandable. That and I compare it to other list that I have found on the web.
Fellow photographer and traveler to parts of Africa, Steve Simon has posed this great list of things that he is taking on his next trip… Take a look at what he brought.
BTW this is also a test of the blogging camrea that I am take with me… Let see what that image looks like…
I will be the first to tell you that I don’t know the complete story of the histories of the countries that make up Africa. Though there is nothing better than going to Tanzania and forcing yourself to learn something.
I feel lucky that Lisa picked up the book “Unbowed” the memoir of Wangari Maathai. What a great read, to learn about the changes of Kenya in the last 60 years (there have been many). She has a great story telling ability that makes want to reach out and learn more. Also, as a historian makes me want to cry at what we have-lost.
I feel lucky that I was asked to photograph the deconstruction of this local barn, because it really has become a great tune up. The process of taking of photo so easily gets rushed and then mistakes happen. By example, the image here i clipped the left roof support, which would have created a nice line. Plus, even though my view finder has the cross hairs I did not line them up to the floor and the image is turning just a little. These both are easly fixed with slowing down and looking twice