PhotoVoice (thanks, Interior!)

I was going to write about culture shock today, but I think I'll leave it till later. In case you wondered if I ever experience culture shock here, I do....and as I recently came to realize, sometimes I don't even realize it! But maybe that will be tomorrow's post.

Today, I want to share how the PhotoVoice activity has been going at Baraka's church.

PhotoVoice is a community development tool I learned about while earning my MPH. The activity itself is simple: send small teams of community members (usually youth) out into their local communities with disposable cameras. Instruct them to take photos of both the needs they see in their communities, and the strengths in their communities (also known as community assets).

This is a quick tangent (if you prefer to track the main point of this blog entry, please skip to the next paragraph, where the main point continues!): whenever I see the word "asset," I have to smile, because it reminds me of Bear. This is because one of the first movies we went to together was the third Bourne movie (Ultimatum? or Supremacy? I can never quite keep them straight) where one of my favorite lines was, "Eliminate the asset." And now I can't see or write or say the word 'asset' without thinking of that movie, and then thinking of Bear, and then smiling. It's like a little gift from God, that word.

So. Back to the main point. Where were we? Assets. (Smile.) After the youth take photos of the strengths and assets (smile) in their community, the photos are developed and handed back to the teams. The teams then use their photos to create a presentation about the needs (and assets!) they discovered in their community in the course of taking the photos, and then all the teams share their presentations with one another. Finally, the groups brainstorm together ways that they can help meet the needs in their community (using their community's assets[!], where possible).

There are layers of purpose to the activity: besides just a tool to raise awareness and reach out to serve the local community, the activity is also designed to empower young people to believe they can make a positive difference in the world around them.

We did the PhotoVoice activity together in Baraka's church this past month (while I was home on weekends I helped introduce and facilitate the activity to a group of young adults, and while I was gone during the weeks, they forged ahead, taking photos, creating presentations, etc.). Right now, we are at the brainstorming stage; the young adults have finished presenting their photos to one another and are now thinking and taking time to pray (their suggestion!) about what needs God would have them to prioritize in their community, because they discovered a lot of different needs.

I want to thank the Interior adult fellowship at Ev Free Fullerton for providing the disposable cameras for this project....you have played an important role in a project that is still growing, here in this Rwandan community. Special thanks to Baraka who didn't think twice about doing all the translating necessary in order for the project to go forward. And thank you all for your continued prayers, that God would continue to use the young adults in this church to impact the world around them and make a positive difference in the lives of their neighbors. I feel certain that God smiles at this, as He sees these wonderful, motivated, and amazing young people being light to a dark world.

Here's a photo of the young adults at the first meeting:


Here are a few shots of some of the teams, with their cameras. Each of the groups had a team leader and they each had a team name (I don't have the list of team names with me, but they had names like "The Good Samaritans" and "The Five Brothers")







Here are a few shots of the teams presenting their photos to one another:







The needs that the young adults identified in their community ran the gamut. One group took this photo, explaining that this was an unmarried woman who had three children, by three different men. All she wanted out of life was to find another man and have more children. The group identified "family planning" as the need, stating that it wasn't good to birth children you couldn't care for, but they also understood that this woman was looking for love in all the wrong places. Understanding the love of God through Jesus' love for her could dramatically alter this woman's whole pursuit in life:



Another group identified the reaaaaaally dusty main road as a big community problem:



Still another saw that child labor was a big issue:


Other needs listed were: weeds everywhere, lack of care of grounds/property, drunkenness, young children taking care of even younger siblings, street children (b/c of single mothers), one-room home (for 7 children plus the goats), men over-eating while their hungry children stood behind and watched, two men fighting while others stand around to watch and clap, wasting food instead of giving it to others who are hungry, no graves for the poor -- just for the rich, too much food of bad quality, a local beggar who is dirty and eats anything, local people who have disabilities, smoking, no latrines, malnutrition, stagnant water that encourages the mosquitoes, cooking from dirty pots, inadequate facilities for pre-school, and mis-use of water by those who have too much of it.

The assets (smile, sigh) in the community were: kids in the community playing sports together, kids coming to church together, small businesses succeeding in the community, children washing themselves, and children working well together to solve problems.

Thanks again for your prayers of support....I am looking forward to seeing how God will be using the young adults at Baraka's church to address some of these needs that they have identified. During our last meeting, we talked about how God Himself, and His love and power, were HUGE assets(!)....much opportunity lies ahead to change the world around them for the better. :)