30/30: Malawi

I hope you all got a chance to check out the 30/30 Project, if you haven’t yet, I encourage you to take the time to read Teresa's post from yesterday about her family’s incredible story- how her mom, Julie, has been HIV+ for 30 years and the project that’s come out of wanting to commemorate her survival. Obviously, it’s a cause very close to Teresa’s heart, and mine as well and something we will be continuing to post about this month.

Jason and I just returned from visiting the area in Malawi where the 30/30 Project’s first clinic will be built. We got to meet and photograph some of the many women, men and children that this clinic will serve.

Malawi's Neno District is one of the most beautiful places I’ve visited, with small villages of thatched roof huts on scattered about on picturesque hills. They look like something out of a storybook. However, the downside to living on beautiful hilltops- health care is at least a 2 hour drive away on incredibly bumpy and sometimes very muddy dirt roads and cars are few and far between out in these parts.

 Once it's complete, this new clinic will be run by Partners in Health in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and will bridge the gap in health care by providing services and medicine within walking distance for the many residents in this remote area.

PS. This morning Julie and Teresa's brother Ryan were interviewed on CBS's Morning Show, you can watch that online here. 

Photos all shot by Jason and via @jkoephoto

Back to Africa...

Jason and I are on our way to Malawi for the week. We left on Monday and don't get there until Wednesday, there never really are good direct ways to get from Seattle to Africa. This is our annual trip to do photography for Construction for Change, this year they are teaming up with Partners in Health to build a medical clinic that will service a large rural area.

See other posts I've written about our work with Construction for Change here. 

Photo: Zimbabwe, 2008, when we rode elephants on Jason's birthday. I feel like I look the same, but Jason looks so young here! 

Karama

Greetings from Nebraska! It seems fitting that while I'm on my current adventure across the U.S., I FINALLY find the time to properly tell you about my trip to Ethiopia and Tanzania with Karama last spring. I promise I'll be back later this week to tell you about life on a tour bus with 9 other people!

For now, Karama...

^^some of the seamstresses posing with a pennant banner they made in Dar es Salaam^^

When Jason and I heard the story of Karama, we immediately fell in love and knew it was an organization we wanted to support. Here's the origin story according to Dyan Larmey, the founder of Karama:

While living in Ethiopia, I developed friendships with many women who seemed to have no way out of the poverty they were in. Many were selling local food, their own clothes, or even their bodies just to be able to send their children to school or to provide food for their elderly loved ones. They seldom thought about their own needs. These women were natural entrepreneurs and creators. We would brainstorm a little idea...give them a small skill to use and POOF they were off to try it...always creating and working hard to sell what they had made. They taught me so much about graciousness, value and dignity. I wanted to help them sell their products. I realized that every dollar spent on these products was a vote for these women to be successful. Karama was born. (Read more here...)

^^sunset off the coast of Zanzibar^^

Karama is run entirely by volunteers, mostly women, the Karama Mamas. They invited Jason and I to join them and photograph their trip to buy product from their different vendors in Ethiopia and Tanzania. We were THRILLED to get to go with and document the trip, meet, thank and encourage the women and men making the jewelry and scarvesI love.

^^my first time on a private plane!^^

This trip was a whirlwind of interesting things, wonderful people and beautiful places. This little summary will hardly do it justice, but I have to start somewhere...

^^amazing beaded metal jewelry made from melted down shrapnel^^

In Ethiopia, we visited HIV+ women making beautiful jewelry out of melted down shrapnel, and I watched silk worms spin silk at a fair trade organization. Then weavers in the slums of Addis Ababa invited us into their homes to watch as they worked, turning the silk into beautiful scarves. 

^^Ethiopian jewelry makers^^

Next we flew to Tanzania's capitol, Dar Es Salaam, where we visited an organization teaching  women how to sew, offering them jobs there and skills to take back to their own villages. We took a charter flight to what seemed like the middle of nowhere to stay in a guest house run mostly by deaf and disabled people where we learned how to sign and bought beautiful glass beaded necklaces, carved picture frames and paper made from elephant dung, all made in the onsite workshop. 

^^walking to the weavers' homes in Addis Ababa^^

 Another charter flight took us to Zanzibar. We stayed in Stone Town where the streets are too narrow for cars, so we took mopeds to our hotel instead.  We visited sights that left our hearts heavy like Zanzibar's former slave market and it's dark underground cells where slaves were crammed for days, awaiting transport to Europe or the Middle East. Then we saw hope, in the form of blind men weaving baskets. Simple, yet beautiful baskets. And a sewing school where Christian and Muslim learn a skill side by side, becoming friends.

^^sewing class in Zanzibar^^

The word Karama, means dignity in Arabic and that's the perfect word to describe overall what I saw on this trip. We saw people, who were given the freedom to create, people who were loved and encouraged and given a chance to take care of themselves.

I'll be posting more about Karama this fall, highlighting some of their amazing products and the people who make them. 

Mandela Day

Happy Mandela Day!

In 2009 the United Nations ratified July 18th (Nelson Mandela's Birthday) as Mandela Day. The idea was for it to be a day to encourage people to take action to make the world a better place.  In honor of Mandela's 67 years of service, that you would give 67 minutes of your day today. 

From making a new friend with a different cultural background or volunteering at a school to donating things you don't need anymore or just recycling- the cause is really open-ended. 

Here are 67 ideas of things big and small you could do... 

Today, in Pretoria, South Africa, Nelson Mandela is spending his 95th birthday in  the hospital, while people all over the country celebrate his long life and good works.

So go, make the world a better place today!

I dreamed of Mandela's Africa, by tsevis, in celebration of Mandela's 95th birthday today.  

There's No Place Like Home

We're back! The trip was amazing and I promise you'll be hearing all about it in posts over the coming weeks. From me telling you that you MUST go to Zanzibar (really, you must) to stories about the amazing artisans I met; weavers, jewelry makers, basket makers (who were blind!). Lots of stuff to tell.

Getting home was a exhaustive, to say the least. We went from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam to Nairobi to Zurich to San Francisco and finally made it home to Seattle 36 hours later.

So catching up on life and trying to get over jet lag is the goal of the day. Good thing I brought back some wonderfully aromatic Ethiopian coffee beans.

Photo of us about to leave Zanzibar on a private plane! via @jkoephoto

Karama Africa

Jason and I are in Africa! We're currently in Ethiopia, then headed to Tanzania's mainland and then the island of Zanzibar to shoot for Karama. I hosted a party selling Karama and Noonday fair trade gifts before Christmas last year and really fell in love with their products and the way they are produced. Karama offers a variety of jewelry, scarves and other gifts made by artisans from all over Africa. Naturally I was thrilled when they asked us to come take pictures for them. 

Karama is the Arabic word for dignity. Learn more about Karama's mission here.  

I've scheduled posts for this week including a couple of guest posts! We'll be traveling around a bunch and I'm not sure how much internet access I'll have. Of course you'll be inundated with photos and stories from the trip when I return. 

Image Neema's Crafts via Karama

Wanderlust: Giraffe Centre Nairobi

If you ever find yourself in Nairobi, you simply must visit the Giraffe Centre in Karen.

Jason and I spent our last few hours here before heading to the airport at the end of our trip in February. After being on safari and spending days looking at animals that you can't touch, getting to pet and feed giraffes was heaven for me. Jason, of course, loved getting super close for photos.

The Giraffe Centre is all about conservation, taking in injured giraffes who can no longer survive in the wild and educating the public about these beautiful creatures.

An added bonus, if you go there at the end of the trip like we did, they have an awesome gift shop for any last minute gift needs. A little higher priced than what you find in markets, but a beautiful selection to be sure and all made by local women (who are paid fair prices for their goods). The proceeds go to helping the giraffes.

Just to show you how awesome it is, here's a very short clip for you today of me and my friend Laura the Giraffe.




Photo JKoe Photography

Fair Trade from the Source

While in Kenya, Jason and I got to visit a fair trade soapstone art center outside of Kisii. They sell a bunch of their products in US stores. Here is the globe Jason got, for sale at World Market!

There are huge pockets of soapstone in the hills of the Kisii Provence, so soapstone carving has always been part of the culture of the Kisii people and techniques have been passed from generation to generation.

This was the perfect stop for me combining of my love for supporting fair trade, a childhood obsession with seeing how things were made thanks to Mr. Rodgers and my continual need to buy excessive amounts of gifts for friends while traveling. 

We were taken station by station to see how the soapstone art is created and it was super interesting to see these large hunks of rock slowly take shape- being carved, buffed, smoothed and painted into beautiful candlestick holders, platters, bowls and miniature animals.

I was most surprised to see the soapstone actually being broken down from the large chunks. As you can see in the picture, the stone is soft enough to be cut through with a regular saw!

Jason and I ended up coming back with an extra suitcase filled with soapstone carvings. My favorite purchase? Two white elephants. I now have the perfect thing for next white elephant gift exchange we're invited too!

Seriously though, I often purchase fair trade products and wonder about who's making it and if it really is a good working environment. It was so interesting to see that in this fair trade co-op, that was truly the case. 

Why buy fair trade? Read more about fair trade here. 

Heading Home

Today is our last day in Kenya. By the time you read this, I will be on a plane, soaring over the continent. I've heard about a place where you can feed giraffes and INSISTED that we go there today before our flight.

For now, here is our trip summed up in numbers.

3...Flights to get here.
2...Number of movies staring Ryan Gosling I watched on the plane.
10...Mosquito bites on me.
A TON...The best way to quantify the number of mosquito bites on Jason. He's my personal mosquito magnet. A quality I definitely recommend looking for in choosing a husband.
465 GB...Of pictures and video captured and there is still more to download.
64...Instagram pictures posted by Jason. Follow us on instagram! @jkoephoto and @jennykoekoe
80...approx. amount of Kenya Shillings that equal $1 USD.
2...Drivers we had named Edward.
13...Number of times my hair was braided by girls at Cura Orphanage.
2...Times we drove across the equator.
1...Huge cockroach, that I discovered hitching a ride IN MY BAG at the airport in Kisumu. I (calmly) flung him out and he scurried towards the departure gates only to be stomped on by a Kenyan who seemed unfazed by this giant bug running at him.
50ish...Soapstone carvings purchased from a fair trade shop that sells to places like World Market. I will be writing a full post on this place later.
30%...  Of the population that is HIV positive in Mbita, where Construction for Change is partnering with MED 25 to build a new clinic.
4...Recipes for things I've eaten here that will be tried at home and blogged about.
100,000...approximate number of farmers that will be served by One Acre Fund this year.
5...Clothing items that I lugged half way around the world only to carry in my suitcase and not wear once the entire time we were here. To be fair, one was a raincoat, something I would have been glad to have if the rainy season had started early.
83F...Temperature in Nairobi today. Perfect for us to enjoy our last day here!

(Giraffes on the mara photo taken by Jason. Picture of us taken at the soapstone place by our second driver named Edward, who was awesome.)

Summer!

We crossed the Equator yesterday. We were just driving down a road headed to Kissii and our driver pointed out this sign. We had crossed into the southern hemisphere. Its not like the weather changed or anything. It was above 85 and scorching when we were above the equator Kenya doesn't reslly have seasons the same way we do in the states. Nonetheless, I still felt a bit giddy as we crossed, as if I'd officially escaped winter. It is officially summer in my head and my heart is light and free and suddenly the hot dusty air blowing on me from the open window felt different, it was a summer breeze.

PS This marker was in the middle of someone's front yard! I wonder what it is like to live in a home where half of it is in the northern hemisphere and half the southern? If I lived here, I know I would say things like, "Jason, will you go to the northern hemisphere and do the dishes?" Also, if would be funny have your bedroom right at the equator so you could say, "My husband and I sleep in separate hemispheres". Hehehe! 

The Big Five

As a child I always wondered why Big 5 Sporting Goods was named Big 5. I thought it referred to the 5 "biggest" sports, but then, I didn't know which 5 that would be: baseball, football, soccer, basketball and...yoga? My local Big 5 stocked a lot of yoga mats. Anyway, somewhere along the way I learned that "The Big Five"is a term coined by big game hunters back in the day referring to the five animals in Africa hardest to hunt on foot: lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros. In 2 days, Jason and I have seen all five, not to mention a cheetah, plenty of warthogs, crazy looking birds, zebra, giraffe, hippos and a porcupine! The elephant shot was taken on my iPhone.

Jambo!

Hello from Kenya! Jason and I have been staying out in a village the last few days without any sort of  plumbing, minimal electricity, and would you believe that the thing I missed most was internet! We are back in Nairobi for the night before heading out to Masai Mara for safari, currently sitting at a Nairobi Java House and I am having a great iced latte and LOVING the wi-fi.

We spent the last few days shooting at Cura Orphanage. We headed there with every intention of being the only photographers, but from the moment we arrived, the kids were super excited try our cameras and learn how to take pictures. They also really enjoyed taking pictures and video on our iPhones, until they discovered Angry Birds and season 1 of Modern Family, then that became more exciting than taking pictures on the iPhones. We are looking through our iPhone pictures now and discovering some gems. Jason's phone has over 70 images of one kid making funny faces, my phone has a ton of odd blurry close ups of pigs and cows on it from the afternoon we went to visit a neighboring farm. There are some really good ones too.

Henry, the youngest at Cura Orphanage, using Jason's camera

Construction for Change,  the organization we are shooting for while we are in Kenya,  is building a secondary school here that will not only benefit the 50 kids at the Cura Orphanage, but the rest of the kids in the community as well.

Taken by Margret, age 12.

We are headed to Masai Mara tomorrow to take lots of pictures of animals and relax for a few days before heading to our next project. We're staying at Sarova Mara. It looks pretty amazing. I'm excited. More to come!