Picturing Hope in Tanzania

Jen, her eight-year-old son and eleven-year-old daughter, and I leave for Tanzania at the end of this week for our next self-guided Picture Hope assignment. We'll be focused on sharing the story of Mama Lucy Kamptoni and Shepherds Junior, a small primary school in Arusha she started with chicken and egg money and expanded with support from our Fair Content partner, Epic Change. I'm curious to see how this journey will differ from our experience in Rwanda, and so eager to sink back into Africa.

I wonder about that girl in the doorway. Jen Lemen. I'm eager to see what unfolds for her as she makes room for so much more.

Kiss and Tell

Greetings in Rwanda are warm and lingering.  Men in Rwanda, for example, have a custom of gently letting temples touch, first left, then right, then left, when they first see each other.  Women and children extend not just a hand but their whole arm for the other to clasp for as long as a minute before letting go.  It's not uncommon to see two people draped around each other, simply as a way of saying hello.  Still, for all the endless displays of cozy affection, kissing each other--even on the cheek--really isn't very common, and kissing with a big smoochy, smacking sound?  Never.

All cross-cultural correctness taken into account, I still couldn't bring myself to get with the no kissing program.  The babies were too delicious.  The children were too sweet.  The old people were just too loveable for me to keep those kisses to myself.

Thankfully, this unheard of practice of covering someone's cheeks or face in loud smoochy kisses was met with laughter and much delight.  I think everyone was glad I didn't hold back----those old ladies most especially.  What can possibly make you feel more loved than a spontaneous smack delivered with enthusiasm and so much love?

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Do you have any kissing pictures that make your heart take a little leap?  A little moment there of unbridled affection?  Show us your kisses.  We promise not to tell.

When Pictures Move

Picture Hope: Curious Eyes & Hopeful Hearts from LittlePurpleCow Productions on Vimeo.

Earlier this year, I traded my Nikon D80 for a D90 primarily because I was drawn to the notion of experimenting with video. As a photographer first, my initial instinct and preference is always to create still images, but there are certain moments in time when a single photograph is challenged to clearly document an experience. Standing in an open field in Kizarakome, Rwanda when these children appeared was one of those moments. When pictures move, you can study the sweetness of evolving expressions, watch curiosity unfold, and witness the ease of joy and trust in motion.

How do you feel about moving pictures? Are you experimenting? Curious to try?

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Video capture using a Nikon D90 with a Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. Video editing in iMovie '09.

Everything is Going to Be A-Okay

Just one stop, Innocent said, as a very sluggish Mutoni slid into the backseat next to me.  Two stops, it turns out, to find out if this kid has malaria (she did), and then fifteen more to run our errands before our friend and driver William would turn around and bring us back home again.

To our credit, we didn't know she had malaria until we got the second malaria test back and the day was almost finished.  Still.  We dragged that kid from shop to shop looking for the converter we needed and then from bank to bank looking for a Western Union so we could get more cash.  She spent the entire afternoon sweltering in the car, playing with my camera, taking pictures of her feet, the upholstery, people walking by, without one complaint or the slightest concern.  When was the last time that happened at your house?

Of all the photos from our trip, this one is one of my favorites.  Mutoni in the foreground, taking whatever comes.  The doctor, accomplished and confident, knowing just how to treat her.  President Kagame, the darling of Africa, looking on from the poster in the background, telling you every five seconds on television or the radio that with hard work and faith and love, everything is going to be a-okay.

I have less complicated challenges and I'm not always sure of such things, but being with Mutoni that day, I believed.  There's just something about faith.  Something about trust.  Something about believing it's all going to work out, that blows everything else away.

Picture Hope: The Truth of the Matter

"I don't think there's anything wrong," my friend tells me after the tenth hour of hashing things out at a weekend long planning meeting where I was less engaged than usual.  "I just think you're not on this continent anymore.  You're there."

I start to object, make my case for why it's not true and then I come across this picture, taken by one of the kids running around in the yard with the Rebel XTi I can hardly keep track of the second we get to the village.  I can't tell if it's 1950 or 2010.  The only thing that makes sense is the ease and peace of mind I feel looking back on myself in this scene and the hope that stirs in my heart whenever I think about my future.

Embedded was one of the words Stephanie used to describe me in Rwanda.  Seamless was another.  Merged.

Whatever the term, I think my friend got it right.  Something deep in me has made the move.  I know what I'm meant for now.  I know what I need to do.

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How about you?  Do you have a photo that reminds you of a defining moment?  A version of you that helps you know who you are and what matters to you?  Share your favorite self-defining portraits in the comments below.