archived posts
Monday, August 3, 2009 by Shutter Sisters Today is the day that The Motherhood is hosting a LIVE chat with Jen and Stephanie straight from Rwanda! Be sure to visit the chat page and click on 'join chat'. See you over there today (8/3) at 12 ET.
Saturday, August 1, 2009 by Shutter Sisters
How long will it be? Her eyes ask me as we part.
Soon. My eyes shine back as she turns to walk away.
We met a year and a half ago in a playground. She had come to this country with the promise that her children would be able to join her only to discover no such plans would be made. Our friendship grew in little bursts of five minute conversation, until she was ready to find a safer place to live. Not long after she began her quest to reunite her family once again.
There is only one glitch. She'll have to stay in this country while the papers are sorted out for her daughters, age s 11and 14 to come. How long could it possibly take? We ask each other as two months turns into six and then six turns into almost a year. The girls are growing up, and the waiting grows more difficult everyday.
In less than an hour, Stephanie and I will land in Rwanda where those two dear girls will greet us on the other side of the gate. We'll tell them their mother is waiting, that no matter how hard it looks right now, the best is yet to be.
Their eyes so full of light
their hearts so full of hope
will make us all believe.
Monday, July 27, 2009 by stephanie roberts 
While Jen and I were spending time in the Shutter Suite at BlogHer09 this past weekend, Jen Skyped with our family members in Rwanda to finalize plans for our visit to their homes later this week. I could tell you that it was emotional experience for me to hear the sweetness in their voices, to hear them say my name for the first time, and to feel the warm connection between Jen and her friends... but it's difficult to put in words. All I could do was cry.
Saturday, July 18, 2009 by stephanie roberts 
Two weeks from today, I'll be on the ground in Rwanda with Jen for the start of our Picture Hope dream assignment. The idea of this leaves me a little breathless. I wonder how I'll feel. I wonder how the people I meet will feel about me. I wonder if we'll find the hope we seek. I wonder if I'll be brave in spite of fear. I wonder if I'll feel at home... or lost. I can only assume that the visions before my eyes will change me in a profound way. I wonder who I will become.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 by Jen Lemen 
Boys playing in an open field, running to greet the girl and me as we sit quietly together under the tree. They eye me first and then the camera.
Do you want to see? I hold the camera out as an offering.
We have no language to share except a common lens. I slip the Rebel around the first boy's neck and then the next until they each get a turn to fill the frame with whatever they deem. The boys laugh, they shine, they sing, joyful in their freedom, unfettered in their delight. With each shot they relax a little bit more until I begin to really see.
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye. This is what the Little Prince said to the man stranded in the desert. This is what I say to myself as my notions of rich and poor, happy or deprived, melt at what they make of the lens, at how they view one another, when I give up my place, stop working for the shot and let everybody be.
Picture Hope launches in two short weeks. More news to follow.
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Jen and Stephanie will be in The Shutter Suite sharing details on Picture Hope and signing books at our Picture Hope / Blurb reception, Friday June 24th from 4-5:30 in the Suite. Come celebrate Hope with us! Let us know you're coming by RSVPing to our facebook page.