A Revival of the Images

Well, it appears that the Children of Heaven pictures will have another two venues… one will be in a small program at the Havre de Grace library, October 21st at 6:30 pm and then again in January at the New Visions for Women conference at Harford Community College. These small windows of opportunity make be think I must not lose heart in sharing the pictures. I also think I think I need to find a way to display them here. It’s a long overdue project.

Working Toward a Vision

There’s good news and bad news. I am still so committed to the pictures that the kids from Namibia and Zambia took… and I also feel strongly about my own images, but how to get them out to the public? I created a book of photographs with just the Children of Zion kids’ pictures, but these standard photo books are too pricey to allow for a donation on top of it. I’d like to do an exhibit but the cost is simply prohibitive at this time for me as an individual. So, now what? I have the raw materials and the vision for something that could be wonderful, but not the means to implement it.

This one I lay at God’s throne. May His Grace give me wisdom for birthing this project in a more tangible way.

1. Create photograpy books of the children’s work… sell as a fundraiser for the children’s home
2. Create individual prints of the best shots and sell as fundraisers online for individual photographers in the children’s homes or organizations
3. Create an exhibit of photos of both the kids’ shots and my own shots
4. Get not for profit status for Children of Heaven to allow for donations directly into the organization
5. Partner with other photographers and artists committed to raising funds for children around the world in crisis
6. Build a body of work of children (and by children) who are in crisis
7. Build a traveling exhibit of their works to tell their stories
8. Create a robust online presence to tell their stories, show their work, support their needs, build relationships
9. Partner with other nonprofit and faith-based organizations serving orphans around the world
10. Giving and nurturing the arts in these children as a way of expressing their truths, their hopes, their lives

Will you join me in this vision? Please pray for the children. Please pray for the children of heaven.

Prints For Namibia

At last, finished the prints for the Children of Zion Village kids who were in the photography project. Spent 2 hours at the camera store working on one of those photo books as a “sample” to sell as a fundraiser… and hit the back button twice … and lost ALL of my work. I was so so unhappy.

I still have to purchase the small albums and then start the process of getting the albums delivered to the kids. The folks at the camera store were really complimentary of the kids’ pictures. I was very proud of “my” kids.

I’ll face that task another day or perhaps do something online. Need to build a storyboard first, I think.

Have finally started uploading my personal photos to flickr… this is slow going because the pictures are such a large format.

All my pics can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/irmgarde

Next Steps – Printing

Got a call today from the Ritz store where I will be printing the pictures. Plan one is to print snapshots for the kids so they have a record of their time with me. I will be sending them small albums much as I did the Zambian students. This step took so much longer as I have over 1000 pictures and I had to burn CDs of each student’s work because of the limitations at the camera store computer set up. Oh well, the CDs are ready and I’ll be working on prints on Friday!!!

I will also be working with my own pictures as well. Because of the success of my “virtual world” exhibit, I am now determined to have a “real life” exhibit of some kind. The cost will be high initially, but I am trusting God to work out the finances so I can print larger prints for display. I am also excited Bono, who visited the virtual exhibit and accepted my offer of a print. I hope it will remind him of me… but more importantly of the kids we’re rescuing at the Children of Zion and Village of Hope.

Exhibit Opening

On Tuesday, February 12th, 6-7 pm (pacific time), the exhibit, Children of Heaven: Africa’s Children in Crisis will have it’s first opening in Rachelville on Imagination Island of Second Life, a virtual community on the Internet. 25 pictures are being displayed, both student works and my own photographs among them. I can feel in my heart that this is only the beginning. Some of the photographs are simiply wonderful and I know that they will have more life… more exhibits and hopefully, more funds and funding for both the Children of Zion and the Villages of Hope.

I am particulary grateful to Bill and Diana Sowers who have offered the space and the time to show the pictures in their “Rachelville” – a mutli-dimensional tribute to their daughter, Rachel, who died on May 17, 2000. In the months before her death, she envisioned a place called Rachelville and drew many pictures. It is these pictures that were the foundation for the Rachelville that now exists on Second Life. I am honored to be a part of this community that celebrates the lives of all children, whether here in the United States or as far away as Africa. Bill (also known as Rocky Vallejo in SL) said that the “look” of many of the children in our photographs reminded him of Rachel’s eyes near the end of her life… filled with a kind of wisdom and openness to life, despite the pain.

What’s Next?

I am hoping to complete a display of about 25 of the kids’ pics from both Namibia and Zambia in Rachelville, a simulated environment in Second Life. This will be the first of what I hope will be several projects based on the pics that were taken. All of the kids’ pics have been posted to my FlickR account. Ritz camera has agreed to donate a few more cameras to replace the ones that were broken in Africa and they have given me a significant discount to print the pics … both to send back to the kids and to create fundraising prints of higher quality. This is a longer project as I have to do it on site at Ritz locally.

I did manage to pay with my own funds for the pics that the Zambian young adult pics… Those will be hand delivered in February. I printed them online and then purchased small albums for each person. Very cool. I hope to do something similar for the Namibian pics. More on this later.

Now, I must get to work on the Rachelville project.

Home Already

We’ve been home three weeks… I confess… and what happened? First week back was Thanksgiving… back in America. How do you balance the truth of Africa with the excesses of America? So much food! Electricity at the touch of a finger. It’s all too much. And now, facing the Christmas craze. Lord, give me some clarity!

I did manage to get the pics from the Zambian youth on FlickR. They’re good. I really hope we get the funds we need to actually the print them and send a set back to Zambia. They deserve to have the prints… I know it will mean so much. I also want some of the pics printed on quality paper and framed to sell. Same with the Namibia pics… when I get to them.

I am slated to have a “gallery opening” of some of their pics in “Rachelville” in Second Life. That will be very exciting. More later.

London Layover

Well, the trip is almost over and a journey of a different kind will begin as we contemplate how we will continue to support the efforts in both Namibia and Zambia to help the orphans and young adults we met there … Tonight, we have our layover in London and then, in the morning we head home. I expect we’ll be there by dinner time… exhausted, but overflowing with memories.

Right now, I’m looking forward to hugging my own children and I thank God for them…

I can’t wait to go through all the pictures and figure out the best way to print the kids’ pics and send them back with either Rebecca (COZ) in early December or Kathleen (VOH)… it will be important for the kids to have prints. Please pray that we find a cheap way to do this or a donor willing to support this part of the project. I will also be working on the best way to show the pics on the Internet (giving credit to the kids) and possibly selling larger, framed prints as a fundraiser for the homes. Several of the pictures are really, really good work.

Last Night in Africa

Well, it’s our last night in Africa. That’s hard to believe. The time has flown by and each day has brought so many new experiences. From the heartache of poverty at the Green Compound (the closest village to the Schwartz’s current rental) to the joy of the children playacting during our drama class at the Okada School of Nyirenda Village, I am overwhelmed by the Zambian spirit.

I am so grateful that my photography classes gave me access to the young people who are in the Conservation Farming Program … in a very short time, I was able to build a relationship with these fine students who will in two years, if all goes well, be launched into new careers as farmers. It was great to be able to seem them on the property and call out to Sarah, Brian, Joseph, Harriet, Grace, Lameck, Peter, Ignatius, Irene, and Alice.

I also enjoyed my downtime at the farm market, laughing and joking with the guards and two managers, Mwape and Maureen. Today, Mwape taught me many new Nyanga phrases… the most important one being (phonetically), “salan pun, te zaka oh nana,” which means, “goodbye til we meet again.” This is my prayer that we will be able to return and make a difference at this Village of Hope.. and perhaps, at the next one. Yes, it’s in Benedict’s heart and vision (and at the request of other organizations) to start another “self-sustaining” village that rescues orphans, but also lays a groundwork for their future as adults. Maybe not tomorrow, or even next year, but in God’s time. Everything I have seen and heard and touched here has been touched by God… one miracle after another, whether great or small, reveals His grace. (It’s one reason I trust the water will come as well.)

Today, there are 5 boys (Adam, Brighton, Isaac, John, & Moses) and already one of the girls, Maggie, living at the first cottage. These are children from heaven, touched by God.

Drama at the Okada School

Today, we went from one meeting to the next… 7 am staff devotion, 8 am senior staff, and a 10 am photography class with Rose (the housemother), the Kamaus, Christine, and Littea. This was a shortened class as they will be primarily responsible for “documenting” progress here at the village.

At 2 pm, we went back to the Odaka School to teach a creative dramatics class with the 5th and 6th graders. Oh, that sounded ok… 30-35 students make up those two grades. By 2:15 or so, there were only 15 students and I thought, great, this is a perfect size for a class. But, we were still waiting for the young student teachers who would be translating for me since most of the students don’t speak English. So, to “kill some time,” Kathleen offered to sing some of the Bible School songs they sang this summer. Well, once the singing started… the kids started pouring in. Yep… pouring is the right word. Within 15 minutes, we had over 80 and maybe more kids in the room. It was pretty wild in there. So, I did a little quick thinking and used as many kids as I could in “guess who” and where and other story theatre type activities. It was pretty good. The kids laughed quite a bit and enjoyed watching their friends “acting.” We then did two Bible stories, the parable of the sower and the parable of the landowner and the vineyard. I was pretty bushed by the time we finished at 4 pm.

The weather has been holding… with rain only every 2 days, but everyone promised that it would definitely rain today, the 15th of November. This morning, I wouldn’t have believed it… but sure enough, we’ve had thunder and lightning for the last hour or so and I’m sure, rain is right behind.

We were disappointed by the well bore… only 1 litre per second. We are hoping that, as some have said, that the well might produce more after the rainy season… please pray. This is the 4th attempt (at $5000 each) that has been made to get a well that will produce 5 litres/second …which is what is needed for irrigation. Water is Life. This is what is desperately needed.

Today, also, a couple of reporters came from the Zambian Press… we are hoping the final article will be a help as well, since this newspaper is distributed through Zambia.

Tomorrow (Friday), Pat Tuttle will be representing All Kids Can Learn at the White House … many foundations will be there and other organizations that support orphans and adoption around the world. Please pray that this will bring much fruit. The needs are great here. The potential is beyond words.