OK, so completely the truth, completely from my heart.
If you’ve been following along, I got a tattoo a while back, for me, it was a leap of faith, taking on radically different journeys in my life than I thought I was going to be. Just a symbol, but very meaningful to me. Ready? I’m jumping . . .
I am going to Sierra Leone, Africa to help the kids at the Wellington Orphanage.
It’s a trip that’s been in the works since last March, I’m going with my dear photographer friend Crystal, of Love Me photography.
here’s why . . .
I am constantly amazed at what I watch those around me overcome with faith and strength of will. People that in spite of unbearable loss, unthinkable situations, insurmountable odds,
keep. on. moving. forward.
I am drawn to it, want to support it when I see it and I want to show that beauty to the world. You certainly don’t have to go to Africa to witness strength like that, but that’s where I’m going and I can’t wait to show you these amazing children.
Left parent-less by a war for diamonds, these precious, precious children are pulling themselves up. Chris and Paul of Revive Africa are supporting them with a safe place to live, food, education, love. They have become the sole supporters of the Wellington Orphanage and the 94 kids they serve. I am going to Africa meet these kids in person and look into their eyes and use my photography to document their lives, to show their amazing beauty and strength to everyone I can. I am taking a small printer with me so I can give them a bit of their own beauty right back while I’m with them. There’s no mother taking pictures of every single milestone, no slideshows of their precious lives to see, they don’t even have mirrors to see themselves in.
I want them to know their own significance, I want to show them how amazing they are.
The images will also be used for publications like The World Should Know calendar. This past year that project alone raised $13,500. Those funds helped Revive Africa provide basic needs to these precious children, furnished the orphanage with new bunk beds (during Crystal’s trip last year one of the old beds collapsed onto child), as well as countless other projects. We’re going to do it again. We need to raise $5,000 to make it happen. The $5000 helps support the 2011 The World Should Know calendar covering travel expenses & printing costs. Every penny we raise over that amount (and we expect big things!) will be used for remaining projects still in the works at the orphanage.
One of the most pressing projects we will fund with the proceeds is the poultry project. Currently the children are surviving on 2 bowls of rice a day. Building an on site Chicken coup will give the children a way to add protein into their diet and sustain themselves.
We expect to sell at least 2,000 calendars next year equal to $30,000 (7 times the cost for us to travel to create it!!!) Big, big things will happen for the kids at Wellington.
Here’s the whole truth part . . .
While I am doing this for all the right reasons, I am selfish in this pursuit as well.
This trip has become a symbol for me of a way to give meaning to some of my own personal struggles. My own attempt, with my own sheer force of will and faith in a bigger purpose than what I can understand, to make something important and worthwhile come out of hardship.
I will be sending my own children away from me for the first time days before this trip, not because I want to.
For me, that’s a spirit crushing hit. I refuse to let it become that. I’m going to go use every ounce of the talent I have to do something important for someone else, use that time for something more. I get to give my kids images of the light they hold within everyday, this week away from them, I will do this for someone else’s children - that can’t do it for themselves.
I choose a life more extraordinary, for all of us. This time, I’m jumping.
It is so easy to help, every little bit does,
Thank you so much!
-Lauren
by Lauren
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