My African Adventures

This business, like any, has had its share of ups and downs.  Whether you're a photographer, musician or carpenter, the independent path is often an uncertain one and filled with mixed blessings.  Sure there's the freedom of being your own boss without the need to punch the clock, yet owning your own business often has you working away while your friends are quitting at six and there have been more than a couple of slow months when I wished I was on somebody else's payroll.  Let's not even begin to talk about medical insurance and the like.   Sarah and I often joke that "freelance" means "out of work".

Still, with a mix of blind persistence, dumb luck and a whole lot of help from our friends, we've managed to do more than just get by.   We've been fortunate and we believe it's essential to help out others as much as we can.

I'll be traveling to Kenya in a short while to document in video and photographs, the amazing children of the Rehema Home orphanage in the heart of Nairobi.  This will be my third visit to Kenya and I'm often asked  "Why Africa?"  The truth is that my first trip was initiated by my own arrogance.

We were watching a video presented on behalf of the orphanage, created by a congregation member that had recently returned from Kenya.  Even by amateur standards, the video was pretty awful.  It had all the best mistakes.  Filming with a bright window behind their subject, mega-shakey cam with tons of zooming and simply terrible audio. Of course, as a professional, you just cringe at that stuff, like chalk squealing on the blackboard.  "How did they expect to raise any money with a video like that?"

Ok.  Long story short, after $400 worth of vaccinations and 16 hours on a jet, Sarah and I are standing in Nairobi airport with a six others waiting for our ride.  Totally out of context and just a little bit anxious.

Our photography and video production company keeps us traveling quite a bit and we are used to packing our gear so that, if it arrives at all, it will arrive safely.  It's for this reason, that we never send our cameras through regular luggage, they always get carried on the plane with us, or at the least, we carry them up to be gate checked on the smaller jets.   Nairobi has the unfortunate nickname of "Nai-robbery" and we wanted to make sure the cameras never left our site.

We had checked in advance and we knew were allowed one carry-on each, so I packed a small roller case with a Sony PD-150 video camera, a Nikon D200 and a couple of  lenses.  Sarah carried a our mac book and our personal items in a back pack.  Finally, I disassembled a small Manfrotto 441 tripod and put that though with our bags.  I was relieved to see that it, and our clothing had mad the journey unscathed.

 Irv Shwandt, who runs Rehema Home with his wife Ruth, greeted us with a friendly voice, scooped us up into a small, Nissan min-bus and shuttled us down the bumpy roads into Nairobi.  It was now 10 pm, and we were jet lagged out of our minds.  The dark highway turned into a gravel road that now changed to a dirt road, filled with rocks and pot holes.  For awhile, our headlights were the only source of light, but eventually we pulled up to a small guest house with a bright lamp on the gate.  We were introduced to our hosts and our rooms, read the rules of the house and then hit the sack.  The accommodations were sparse, but it was "The Ritz" compared to what was around us.

Sunlight makes everything better.  After breakfast we walked down the dirt roads that had us fearing for our lives and they were now filled with light and color.  The homes and building around us were little more than loose wood and tin shacks, poorly thrown together.  Dozens of people walked briskly down the roads among the stray dogs and roosters in the dust of passing vehicles.  You could smell the poverty.

When I finally met the children of Rehema Home, all I could do was smile and sigh..  These kids, having faced horrific circumstance, many of them HIV positive, all abandoned for no reason of their own, greeted us with smiles and cheers.  Without hesitation they grabbed our hands and lead us over to the area they were playing in.  They were just kids, no different from my own.  And fortunately, due to the love and devotion of Irv and Ruth, they had shelter, food, clothing and and were getting an education.

Millions of others were not nearly as fortunate.  It was difficult to comprehend the conditions people live under in some of the places we visited.  Kibera has the distinct dishonor of being Africa's 2nd largest urban slum with as many as 2 million people living in an area under one square mile.  I've have traveled all over the world but I had never seen anything like this.  Sadly, after a few days, it's all quite numbing.

We spent the week working at the orphanage, repairing and painting the buildings and taking breaks to play with the kids.  In 10 days I shot 11 hours of video and took over 2,200 photographs.  There were over fifty kids to photograph and the combinations were endless.  The children loved seeing their own images and they would scream "Let me see me!"  so that we would turn the viewfinder around so they could see themselves.  Half of the fun was showing them their own images and watching them giggle.

When we left Nairobi airport for London, I felt like I had escaped, but I knew I would to return.

It really wasn't until I returned home that the full impact of our journey hit me.  Everyone around me seemed totally preoccupied with what appeared to be extremely trivial matters.  My first encounter was a woman who had been waiting at least five minutes for a taxi.  She was absolutely livid.  Had she witnessed the lifestyle in Nairobi, perhaps she might lighten up a bit.

Your camera has amazing potential locked up behind that lens and it can be used to do a lot of good.

I'm happy to say that my photos and videos have successfully been used to raise money and awareness for the orphanage.   I enjoy using the skills I've acquired to give help to others and it's rewarding to actually see the results of my efforts.

If each person would simply help one or two others, we might actually put a dent in some of the worlds problems.

www.rehemahome.com
www.duckyou.com
http://vimeo.com/crazyduck