KM’s Photo Program!!
The photo program has been incredible so far. The kids immediate love of photography shows in their photos. We were amazed at how great some of the pictures were with only a few photo sessions!
Seeing what they have created so far, we are so excited to see how the photo program develops and what they will create in the future.
The last photo is of our StarSeed students wearing bracelets so kindly made by Dana and Josh Brewer (Ruthie’s parents). They had the thoughtful idea of all the kids having something to remember this project by. The orange bracelets say StarSeeds and Shanti. Thank you. The kids love them and so do we.
All has begun…
Thanks to the hard work of some local construction workers and the monsoon gods sparing us, we are underway.
We filmed the KM kids answering the questions they had prepared from the previous week (name, age, and their favorite thing to play with at the playground). They also wanted to perform for the StarSeeds children just as they had for them. And what performances we had! They sang, had choreographed Bollywood dance routines complete with human pyramids, and had a wonderful rendition of the ABC’s sung by Jeevan and Venki, 2 and 3 year old boys.
The photography program is becoming so much more amazing than we could have imagined. The kids have picked it up so quickly and have been taking endless pics (next blog we will post some of them). Most importantly, they are having so much fun and LOVE taking pictures. We have a hard time getting the cameras back from them at the end of the day, “one more, one more” is the anthem amongst the children.
Next week, the equipment arrives……
First Sunday at KM
We were so fortunate to have Vinod write out a translation so the children could understand what we were saying. Our new friend Bhavya helped with all of the translating in person that day. (not all the kids are fluent in English….yet!). Bhavya was a student at the Engineering University (congrats on the new job!) and volunteers her time every morning at Operation Shanti. After we thanked her for all she does and for helping us she said, “I am the lucky one that gets to be with them and do this”. Wow.
We started off by showing the video that we made of our students at StarSeeds Preschool expressing their excitement about the playground project and introducing themselves. We wanted this project to be one that connected our students at StarSeeds in San Francisco with the kids at KM (Operation Shanti). Our vision was that, in the end, the playground could be one that everyone helped create.
We told them that, the following Sunday, they would be taking their own photos and helping us make a video. We would be filming them answering the same 3 questions that the StarSeeds were asked. This way, the StarSeeds students would have the opportunity to meet the children at KM they have heard so much about.
Visiting Shanti
After the performance we went to KM, which is located in a village on the outskirts of Mysore. We met the kids, all 46 of them, they were all so welcoming and well behaved. Kendra was pleasantly surprised that some of them remembered her. Tracy told them that we had a big “prize” for them and that we would be back on Sunday…..
With the donations for our project, we were also able to create a photography program for Shanti! We bought 4 digital cameras, two for the boys and two for the girls. We hope to show them the power of photography and how it can be used as a way to capture, express, create, remember, and see things in the world around us. Our goal is to have each child at KM exposed to this wonderful medium. We hope that over the next month they grow more comfortable with the camera. We want them to have the freedom to choose what to take a picture of and experience the sense of pride that brings. Our dream is that the photography program continues on in full force after we leave and can be a fun means of self expression for the children at Shanti.
Made it to Mysore….
We met with Tracy Kunichika, the special woman from San Francisco who started Operation Shanti, to go over details of our project. We also went along with her while she made a trip to a slum in Mysore that some of the kids at Shanti are from. Tracy was going to help one of the families there that was having some problems with the roof of their home.
We were both deeply affected by what we experienced.
The spirit and love of the people there in spite of their surroundings was unbelievable.
The pictures explain it better than we can.
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