AFRICA!

Most of you who know me, probably know by now that I will be heading back to Africa this week. This will be my second time traveling to Zimbabwe. I'm will be going as part of a small mission team to help build a church and do a couple of other things here and there. Then we will travel to South Africa to work with a homeless girls shelter/school and have some tourist time. I'm very excited to go, not only because I get to be in mission with people, but because I will have several opportunities to use my photography as a gift for those we meet.

For starters I'll get to document the work we do on the church. That's a neat thing to be able to provide the congregation of this church with a record of its construction. I'm bringing a small portable 4x6 printer with me so that I can make prints straight from the camera and give them to people. I'll also use it to do free portrait sessions for families we meet. Understand that in the parts of Africa we will be going, most people haven't seen what they look like, let alone have a family picture. In many cases a family portrait I take and give them will be the only photographic evidence that some of these family ever exisited. Last time I went I took a polaroid camera and handed people the pictures. It only took about five minutes before families were coming from all over dress in their best clothing to get their picture made. I can't think of anything better to do while I'm there.

A good friend of mine who lives in Zimbabwe will be helping to guide our team around. He is a minister in the Zimbabwe United Methodist Conference and has offered to take us to a wedding while we are there. Being the wedding photographer that I am, I couldn't say no. I also volunteered to give my talents to the newly weds by photographing their wedding and providing them with prints while we are there. It doesn't seem like much to us in the States, but to people who can't afford bread, having a wedding photographer come and provide prints is unheard of. God is working in this trip and it seems that he wants my cameras working too. Again, I couldn't be more excited to do this.

I'll also be taking school pictures for the girls school/shelter. We're bring over a bunch of nice little 4 x 6 frames so that they can have their picture and put it in a nice frame. That is going to be a very special gift. Most children there will never have their pictures taken, nor will they ever have a nice frame to put them in. There is a good chance that the picture and frame will be a treasured heirloom for many generations.

I'll be posting some images and thoughts from my trip here as internet access becomes available. Please keep us in our prayers.