[Leica] Guatemala photography project....

["Birkey, Duane" <dbirkey@hcjb.org.ec>]

Tina, 

The Guatemala photography project is for kids who live in the dump???  

I can understand  why the director is discouraged...  People in different
countries have tried to give 3rd world dump people sustainable life through
normal practical skills like farming or carpentry and usually fail miserably
as it is easier to scavenge through garbage to find things that can be sold
than to work a plot of land...   I have friends who work regularly with
people at the Quito dump.  In my visits I've seen people at the dump who
have a better income, clothing and lifestyle than some I've seen who farm in
the highlands... (where many of them came from originally)  I have photos I
can e-mail or post somewhere  if people are interested.  They also are
pretty transient people..

In Ecuador we have lots of professional photographers and many more
professional web designers....  Universities continue to crank out lots of
people with these skills.  ..... few to none are making any money, and
virtually all end up working elsewhere as there are no jobs.......   I would
question how one will sustain a program like that for people in the dump...
People in the dump don't have money for film, let alone for equipment...  In
addition, there are a lot of other skills that have to be taught for them to
survive in a world they have only seen from a distance.

I've met seemingly thousands of people who are interested in my cameras and
they all want to know what they are worth..... but as you talk you discover
that the interest is not about photography but really in the value of the
cameras... They all want you to give them one of your cameras.... but not to
take pictures, they just think about what they could buy if they sold your
camera...  Some like looking through the camera.... but they all know how
much a photo costs and they have a hard time taking pictures as they think
about the cost of everything...  With total family income of $20 to $40 a
month with too much of that going to the local distillery, they have a good
reason to think about costs.  In order for them to have sustainable income
they need equipment and a job..... If you give them equipment without a
decent source of income .... it will be sold as soon as the novelty wears
off.. And if it is too much work they will give up as well.
 
I don't want to tell you that the program is waste of time as I've not been
to Guatemala nor know the people working there... There may hopefully be
side benefits from the effort, whether it is literacy, basic health,
management of money skills, business skills or spiritual needs etc.... and
if one never fails it means that one has not attempted enough.  But people
who live in the dump have a different outlook on work and life than those
who are just as poor yet live elsewhere. 

If it were me, I would try the program with a different group of
underprivileged people in Guatemala who truly have a sincere desire to learn
what you want to teach first before attempting it with those who live in the
dump who may not.  

Duane