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Post Tagged with: "children"

Unlocking Potential – Senegal

December 22, 2013

A seedling that doesn’t receive enough water and sunlight in it’s infancy cannot grow into a fruitful tree. In the same way, a child who doesn’t receive love and proper care cannot realize his full potential as an adult, should he be fortunate enough to survive into adulthood. ChildFund’s Early Childhood Development (ECD) Program in Senegal is working in immensely challenging conditions to empower parents and caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to properly nurture their children at this crucial stage in life. This is last in a series of six videos from the same number of countries I shot and edited for ChildFund’s new iPad app which exploring the different facets and successes of the ECD program. Special thanks to ChildFund’s Christine Ennulat for the creative input here. Here’s some other fun shots from a stroll down the beach in Dakar:

Getting it Right the First Time – Honduras

December 2, 2013

What’s the one thing that parents can do to raise their children properly? I’m not yet a dad, but I’m at least aware there’s not simply one thing that parents can do to ensure their kids are on the right track. On the contrary, parenting is a holistic affair. ChildFund has a similar approach in its early childhood development programs in Honduras, which allow kids to get the start they need in life in order to realize their full potential. Working amidst the surrounding poverty, their integrated programs emphasize the need for proper nutrition, early stimulation, and love and attention at home from parents and caregivers. Crucial ingredients in the program are the door-to-door guide mothers who carry information and awareness to households, monitoring children’s nutritional and health status along the way. Guide mothers teach parents proper brain stimulation during crucial early years, and quickly identify developmental difficulties to keep[…]

Andean High

September 25, 2013

I’m back in Latin America for the first time in several years. Actually, by the time I publish this I’ll be in India, but anyway. As I work to film and produce a series of videos on the organization’s Early Childhood Development Programs world-wide, recent assignments with ChildFund took me first to Honduras, then to on Ecuador. I also spent a day on the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador’s lofty colonial capital, visiting gardens, schools, and communities supported by ChildFund. I was able to take some time to nab a few stills in the old town too.

Expressions from Madagascar

September 2, 2013

Expecting lions, lemurs, and baobab trees? In contrast, my recent assignment in Madagascar with CARE was of a human-itarian nature. Madagascar certainly does shatter everyone’s expectations, however, mostly in a good way. This fall, CARE will hold an art exhibit in Atlanta, where the organization is based, as a fundraiser for its programs across the globe. Girls in Vatomandry District, Madagascar were recently invited to participate in the art process, and as you can see in the above video, were thrilled at the opportunity to do so. As part of my assignment in this Indian Ocean island nation off the coast of Africa, I was on hand to document some of the girls’ stories and record their messages. These messages, along with their artwork, will be presented at the Atlanta exhibit. PS. There are NO lions in Madagascar, but there is LOTS of rice.

Wings to Fly

August 23, 2013

We often think of Africa as a continent of wide open savannahs and an endless expanse of acacia trees. We fail to remember the massive megalopolises of Kinshasa or Lagos and the seemingly endless expanse of slum dwellings that exist in the urban shadows. It’s true that more so than other regions of the world, Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is rural; about 65% of people live in rural areas. But needs exist in both cities and villages here. The above video documents two families participating in ChildFund’s Early Childhood Development Program in Kenya, known as ECD. Solomon’s family lives in rural Samburu County, a traditional village where the main source of livelihood is cattle rearing. Anabel’s family lives in the crowded Mukuru slums of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, where poor hygiene and sanitation practices contribute to the spread of disease. In both areas, food security for families is a problem. The ECD[…]

Dream Bikes

July 29, 2013

In rural India, students must walk long distances just to get to school. These long walks contribute to frequent tardiness, absenteeism, or even dropping out completely, especially for girls. While some of this may be due to social pressures that traditionally assign girls to the role of domestic helper, another major contributing factor is the insecurity and danger of walking these long distances alone. Hirabai is one of the girls completing her education thanks to the gift of a bicycle through ChildFund’s Dream Bikes program.

Focus on Early Childhood Development

July 19, 2013

I’m currently half-way through a series of videos highlighting ChildFund’s niche-core program, its Early Childhood Development program, known as ECD. It’s an assignment that, once completed, will have taken me to six different countries on four different continents. In a country where children battle with epidemics like malaria and malnutrition, ChildFund’s ECD program in India is not just allowing kids to survive, but also to thrive. By working with parents and caregivers to target children in the first five years of life, ChildFund transforms the communities in which children grow, allowing them to reach their maximum potential in life.

Samburu Runway

July 2, 2013

Every photographer will tell you that sometimes you have to wait around for the right shot; but don’t think there aren’t any shots while you’re just waiting around. I recently needed to photograph a girl from the Samburu tribe in Kenya whose family and community had been helped by ChildFund through the gift of a sheep. However, the livestock graze far away from her village and only come home around sunset. There was plenty to keep me occupied while I waited, but the sun was going down fast. The evening left me walking the sometimes fine line between fashion photography and photojournalism. PS. The sheep and the goats finally came home, and I got the shot I needed.

Recovering from Kony

May 25, 2013

It’s hard to believe that as much hoopla as this guy has stirred up, as much attention as he’s garnered in the media, that the problems he caused are still not yet fixed. Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army plundered Northern Uganda for over a decade. The rebels killed tens of thousands of Ugandan civilians, displaced millions, and turned the peaceful farms across the region into heaps of ashes. The war against Kony’s LRA ended in Uganda in 2006. It’s still ongoing, albeit on a smaller scale, in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. During the rebellion most families in Northern Uganda were forced to flee their homesteads and livelihoods for the security of crowded refugee camps. Still largely dependent on handouts from government and relief organizations, they’ve returned to their land with nothing. Economic and psychological recovery has yet to be realized. When you’re[…]

Struggles of a Small Farmer in Zambia

April 22, 2013

You certainly won’t need an umbrella in South-West Zambia outside the month of January. While many places in Africa have plentiful rainfall and lush soils (central Uganda for instance), many rural farmers, after only one brief rainy season each year, must attempt to cultivate enough food for their families in extremely dry and sweltering conditions. This means that families have only one small window of opportunity to grow food and sell any surplus to earn income. Often that window is not great enough to last the entire year, and so not only does poverty persist, but something even more brutal occurs: hunger. Most of us who would read this entry have never experienced true hunger. Perhaps we’ve had to go without lunch because we were too busy at the office. However, true hunger is a reality for the people of this area of Zambia, most of whom survive on cornmeal porridge[…]