children Archives - Jake Lyell

Post Tagged with: "children"

ChildFund in the Philippines

November 9, 2019

These days my work with ChildFund involves getting to the heart of what the organization does through personal video storytelling. I’ve been talking to current and former sponsored children, and their parents, to see how participation in the program leads to transformation in their lives today and puts them on solid ground when they move on to adulthood. Hazel, whose profile is shown above, is a current sponsored child living in rural Mindanao, while Ana Maeh, below, grew up in the program and is now a teacher in Manila. Their stories would be entirely different had not someone from far away made the decision to intervene in their lives. All photographs and video copyright Jake Lyell Photography, LLC 2019. All rights reserved.

Saving Grace

May 30, 2019

At the age of thirteen, Grace’s parents fell on hard times. The bride price paid by an older man in the village was incentive for them to withdraw her from school and marry her off. This video is part of a series I recently shot and produced for ChildFund documenting the organization’s work to prevent early marriage in Zambia.

We Have Rights

October 30, 2018

Children don’t usually get the chance to tell their elected leaders what’s on their mind, especially in the developing world. These bright young ones from Kampala, Uganda, however, were selected by a child rights consortium to appear before their parliament to discuss how violence in their community affects them. Following their appearance, I was able to sit down with them personally so they could share their message with the rest of the world.

Impact of Violence on Children in Honduras

August 29, 2018

Many of Honduras’ children miss out on childhood as a result of the spiraling violence that has become a way of life in the Central American nation. I shot this video as an advocacy tool for ChildFund in its efforts to inform decision makers in Washington and across the world of the sometimes unfathomable dangers children face each day.

Safe Passage: Childhood in the Developing World

August 6, 2018

My retrospective humanitarian photography exhibit, Safe Passage, opened Friday at the main branch of the Richmond Public Library in downtown RVA. It will remain open until September 4th. This e-exhibit is for those of you too distant to visit in person. All of us dream about what we might do with our winnings if we were lucky enough to win the lottery. What if someone told you you’d already won? The citizenship lottery, that is. You live here. For most of us, the inequalities and hardships within our own borders cannot compare to the level of hardship that exists in the developing world. A water tap in our home, free public education, a childhood without forced labor – all of these are liberties enjoyed by most American children. As our country struggles over its southern border and hundreds of migrants land on Europe’s shores each day, much of the rhetoric in[…]

Latin Connection – part 1

October 31, 2017

Ecuador: I shot mostly video on this trip, but not sure when those stories will see the light of day. Happy school children and really tall mountains were the norm. It sure is cold up in them hills. Ecuador’s snow-capped kingpin, Mt. Chimborazo, can be seen in the distance of the landscape below. Other shots of ChildFund’s interventions display livelihood initiatives centered on knitting and agriculture.

It Takes a Chicken

October 4, 2017

In the US we love our pets. In many other parts of the world, they need them. I recently visited a few families in Kenya who depend on their chickens for their livelihood. ChildFund New Zealand’s Gifts that Grow program allows New Zealanders to buy livestock for needy families who will use them as sources of income, nutrition… and happiness.

Hard Labor

July 2, 2017

Child labor was largely stamped out in the US 100 years ago, but across the globe more than 160 million children are still involved in the practice. Today we have the opportunity to eradicate it completely. What steps will we take?

The Call to Heal

June 4, 2017

The health care industry in the USA is one of the most lucrative, in-demand career fields one could enter; so much so that many doctors and nurses from the developing world leave their home countries seeking work in the US or other places where higher wages can be found.

Family Reunion

January 27, 2017

“We believe the family is the best place for every child.” This quote from a social worker narrating the video below is the central theme of the DOVCU program, which is implemented by ChildFund in Uganda and funded by USAID. Parents or family members who struggle through grinding poverty often feel that the best solution is to give their children up to an institution – an orphanage or children’s home – in hopes of a better life for them. The reality is that this often results in children growing up without culture and community and makes them more vulnerable to child trafficking or living on the streets. Furthermore, the standard of living in such institutions is seldom better. The Deinstitutionalization of Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Uganda program seeks to strengthen the livelihoods of families so that breaking apart the family is unnecessary. It also works to bring separated families back together again. I recently shot and produced these three short[…]