Uniting Kids with Cameras

June 6, 2008

At the end of 1998 my friend Jill Mott left her job as a photographer at the Fort Collins Coloradoan to become a volunteer in Zimbabwe. She was placed as a photographer with an organization producing a feature film in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. During this time she also worked with local arts organizations and out of theses contacts the idea for Kids with Cameras was born.

Kids with Cameras is a volunteer run non-profit program that teaches disadvantaged children in Zimbabwe about photography, communications and art. I first heard about the program in January 2000 when I received an e-mail from Jill, part of which said: I have been trying to set up my kids and Cameras project, which I will go into more detail later. The basic idea is that I have 20 disposable cameras that I am going to show kids from 8-12 how to use along with a little workshop and then they will go out and photograph their environment. I hope to have gallery shows and sell the prints to raise money for their school fees. School fees are one of the biggest problems facing children here. School was supposed to be free according to the government after independence but guess what there is no money, where did it go?? Misappropriation of funds. I could probably use some help from a few of you on this project more later! It looks like that will take up every weekend in Feb.

Towards the end of February Jill wrote again:

“I am going to spend this weekend teaching 10 kids, from Mbare, (the highest density suburb, the poorest ghetto) of Harare ages 8 to 13 to use disposable cameras I brought over. We will have an all day workshop this Saturday to talk about photography, creativity, communications, and composition interspersed with a lot of games. I have two friends who will assist in the teaching and the Shona, some of the younger kids have limited English and my Shona although it has improved is nowhere at the level it should be.

I have managed to get a bit of funding and donations, which wasn’t easy considering the state of affairs here. Coca-Cola has donated drinks and a fast food place has donated pies (chicken, beef, Englishy style pies). We have also received free processing and printing for the cameras. We are still searching for a few more bucks. I have had to put a few of the bucks in myself but it is well worth it. We will have a small, small exhibition for the parents and friends of the kids after they see their pictures. More than anything I hope that this gives kids self-confidence and pride in their abilities. They would never have this opportunity in school or elsewhere, many of them have never even seen a camera before.

This is a multi-faceted project in that I hope to bring back the pictures and have exhibitions at home and sell the photos to raise money for the participating children’s school fees. Another thing Mugabe promised the people but didn’t follow through on, free education. $50US could pay for a whole year of a child’s education, I hope to be able to sell these prints for at least that. Of course that is where you all come in. I need help with finding locations for exhibitions, more donors for more processing and framing etc. I welcome any suggestions not only for donations but anything regarding this project. For those that have ideas I can send you a copy of my proposal. This is a pilot project and I hope to try it again with more specific groups of children i.e. street kids, (very much on the increase, and all sniffing glue) refugee kids, AIDS orphans, etc. etc. and eventually put together a book. Of course all donations are accepted, but more on that later when I am home and don’t have to worry about lost or stolen money.