For my final photo of #weekofhope series this is me and the team I was part of, incredible people with a heart to help others. I made amazing friends on this trip, friends for life. When you go on a 2 week trip to an extreme remote area like this you get to REALLY know people, you share a special bond. One person likened it to going to the moon with a team of people. It was very special and I hope to get back with these people very soon. I hope you have enjoyed this series of #weekofhope showing the beautiful Pokot people and those who feel called to help them. My suggestion for you is to help someone, anyone, how ever close or far they may seem. However big or small the need is, our world has a lot of good but it can always use more. Thanks for looking and listening. @hopewaterproject @kensingtonchurch #pokot #hopewaterproject #waterchangeseverything #missions #helpothers
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Look at that crystal clear water! Not only is it visually clear but it’s also clear of disease and harmful things that make people so sick. This is from a well at the Kauriong orphanage in the remote Pokot region of Kenya. Over the past few years the @hopewaterproject and #NoChild.org folks have seen a drastic change in the health of these kids all do to clean water and food. #weekofHope #waterchangeseverything #cleanwater #hopewaterproject #4PureWater
#weekofhope @hopewaterproject just another morning in Kenya. Time to get your villages water for the day/week. I actually got to help fill this round of jerry cans. I can say that I am a man who has done lots of weight training in my day and I was wiped out after filling 2 of these. Those hand pumps are no joke, but to them its a welcomed method over hand digging bore holes (pictured yesterday). Much respect for the kids and women who fetch water every day. That also couldn’t stop laughing when Darby (another friend on the trip) and I were helping pump water, this is something that grown men NEVER do in their culture. Fun memories of them all giggling at us Mazungas trying to hang with them. 😄 #cleanwater #Workout #jerrycan #hopewaterproject #thankful @kensingtonchurch
I often hear the phrase “we give people a hand up not a handout”. And we believe that local empowerment is key to any program like this. Here a tribe leader from the Pokot region of Kenya shakes the hand of Jay who is partially responsible for this village getting water, a much needed basic necessity for life. In the foreground is a pile of thorny twigs that marks the spot a water surveyor said would be the best spot to drill for a new water well. The team gathered some information from him about schools in the area as well as churches and how many people live there. This well would serve anywhere between 2000 and 4000 people. Amazing! One well at a time.. #waterchangeseverything #cleanwater #cleanwaterwednesday @hopewaterproject #weekofhope #hopewaterproject
One benefit to having clean water is that now you get to do the dishes after meal time. I don’t know if the kids were as excited about that. 😄 This is sweet little Dorkus who did her chores with pride, but this is a luxury most in the area don’t have and it’s helping with their health and sanitation. #cleanwater @hopewaterproject #hopewaterproject #kenya #chores #dishes #green
One word that summed up my Kenya experience was “surreal”. This image was taken while we were out with the @hopewaterproject team surveying the land for potential new well sites. Standing in the foreground is the tribe leader who is there to discuss the amazing impact a #cleanwater well would have on his village. Education, disease, livestock and crops to name a few. It was unreal to be a fly on the wall at these meetings out in the bush. This was a totally remote area and out of nowhere somebody would come walking up to greet us and share stories. #waterchangeseverything #hopewaterproject #kenya #waterislife #pokot @kensingtonchurch
Continuing with my @hopewaterproject photo week. Every morning the kids who are lucky enough to go to school in remote Kenya have to first get water for the day. For some of them that may be a walk down the short path, for others that may be a five or 10 mile walk in extreme conditions. This also takes away from time they could be learning (which they LOVE). Water isn’t just water to them, it’s Life! #cleanwater #Pokot #waterislife #hopewaterproject #kenya #kids #smiles #grateful
7+ years of shooting at Kensington Church has given me a front row seat to some of the most memorable and life changing events of my career. Enjoy this look back…
And that’s a wrap. 9 hours and 140+gigabytes of footage later. Time for a marathon editing session. @hopewaterproject @freepmarathon thanks @emilypopchock for being my second shooter! #hopewaterproject
Run a Marathon so someone else can have clean water!
Had the great fortune of shooting The Detroit Free Press Marathon this past Sunday. I was shooting for Hope Water Project. A charity who’s goal is to bring clean water to the entire West Pokot area of Kenya and beyond. (You may remember I traveled there on a photo assignment earlier this year). Kensington Church had 1200+ runners raise near $1,000,000 for clean water wells in Kenya. Amazing people, amazing event! They trained for and ran a marathon so that someone else they have never met could have clean water. Very humbling. you can still donate here! They are at $921,566. So close! https://www.socialply.com/campaigns/hope-water-project-help-us-build-wells-for-the-pokot-people
Run for Clean Water in Kenya.
There are 1400 people signed up and training to run the The Detroit Free Press Marathon to raise funds for Hope Water Project. If you think everyone in the world should have the very basic of necessities; Clean Water, then you can donate here. even $1 helps. the goal is $1,000,000 and they are well on their way to reaching that goal. Click the link to donate. share it with your friends too! http://www.hopewaterproject.org/fundraisers?&campaign_id=10&page=7
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Over the past few months I have been consumed (in a good way) with a project that will probably be the most memorable thing I ever do photographically. The short term missions trip to Kenya. West Pokot deep in the bush. Here is a slideshow featuring the images I captured and some songs from the children there. Enjoy and share
People of West Pokot, Kenya
This month I had the amazing opportunity to travel with a missions team to a VERY remote region in Kenya called West Pokot. After landing in Nairobi we drove 16 hrs into the “bush”. We were way out there, but it was an amazing adventure. One that will alter your mind and perception on everything going forward.
I was there to take photographs of all the children(700+) in 3 orphanages that we (Kensington Church) work with. These photos will be used to update the sponsor program Kensington runs, www.Nochild.org
I also had the amazing chance to ride along into some of the local villages to look at a few proposed water well sites in the area. This was amazing in that it gave me a chance to see life outside the walls of the orphanage. Life was devastating as we know it but was life as usual for the Pokot. The big issue every where we went was water… CLEAN water. Working with http://www.hopewaterproject.org they are able to raise money to drill wells for these people, giving them access to clean water that will not make them sick. Its simple but so basic.
I will be posting more when I edit through my thousands of images captured of life in this remote region Kenya. Please follow along if you like and share with your friends to help raise awareness.