Through Their Eyes.

Have you ever handed a child a camera and just let them carry it around for a day? Let them shoot some photos just to see what they are seeing?

I do this from time to time with my son, David. The more he uses the camera, the more his pictures change.  Last year, we went fishing and most of his pictures were of the ground. Or the sky. A few days ago I let him use one of the old point and shoots I have and this is what he shot:

Could you imagine, being able to view the world through a person’s eyes – in a third world country? Would you want to see those images?

The images I find most compelling is what people show of the aftermath – After the tsunami in Japan, I spent days looking at images people had posted, of the ruble, the people, the world left in wreckage. Why? Because it MOVED me.

There is an organization, called “The Leve Project“, put together by some very outstanding Christ Loving people. The  mission of the Leve Project is to empower Haitian families to stop the cycle of poverty. After the earthquakes in Haiti – my church planned a trip with some of the kids from our youth group to head down and visit. Not just to go and rebuild, but to go and LOVE… Love on those people who have been left with LESS than nothing. It was life changing, not only for those people in Haiti, but for the people who went on that trip – people came back transformed.  The images that Liz (yes, LIZ!) posted brought me to tears – and I know there was probably so much she wanted to take pictures of but couldn’t, because it she wasn’t sure if the time was right or if it was appropriate.

This image was shot by Liz last year (august) during her missions trip with our Church to Haiti. (this is Dillon, he is an amazing Man of God! An awesome drummer and one of our Pastors kids!)

The Leve Project is starting a new project called “Through Their Eyes”.   Through Their Eyes will give people, a look into the real in depth look into the daily life of Haiti though the eyes of the people who lives there.These images will give you a REAL glimpse into the eyes of peoples lives – through the eyes of a boy with no family, a mom living in a tent with 4 or 5 kids, a child going to school for the very first time.

The Leve Project will hand out digital cameras to different people throughout the village… they take pictures of their daily life, their home, their family. After a week they will collect the cameras, and pay each person  just for taking the pictures (giving back!). Then the folks at the LP will choose certain pictures to post online to sell. And YOU can choose to purchase simply the print or the photo transferred to canvas or wood. A picture and short bio of the person that took the photo will be on the back of each print. The BEST part of this is that AFTER selling a photo, the profit will then go to the person who took the photo and a small percentage going back into the program for supplies to help these people further.

What an AWESOME idea to show people the world around them AND help people at the same time. It’s changing the world, with a camera!

But, here’s where they need our help! They are collecting digital cameras to get the project going. If you have an old digital camera around and its collecting dust – donate it! I have a few older cameras, that I don’t use at all that I’m planning to send it doesn’t have to be super fancy, or expensive, as long as it still works – its good! Or maybe you’re just in a giving mood and want to help out by purchasing a cheap digital camera to donate – You can do that too! If you’d like to donate other supplies, They could also use: mod podge, acrylic gel, canvas or wood. Supplies and cameras can be shipped to the Leve Project here:

The Leve Project

7399 Oak Park Dr.

Newburgh, IN  47630

For the past year God has been stirring something in my heart. An urgency –  an aching to GO, DO and HELP people. My biggest hope is to be able to take a trip soon. But for now, I’m helping in other ways, because we’ve got to start somewhere.

For more info on the Leve Project click here!

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