Photo Calendar from the Children of Salem

I am very happy to say that the children of Salem's photos have been made into a calendar! It's a 12 month calendar for 2011 and Jonas just emailed me about it yesterday. Here are some of the details from the email he sent:

Dear Amy,

The reason to write you is, that we have designed the SALEM Ecuador children's photo calender with photos taken mostly by our children. Attached, I send you pdf with the preview and I hope you like it. The calender will have the size of app. 29 by 40 cm (11.5 by 15.5'').

I definitely send you some as soon as they are printed. Furthermore I am wondering if there is a possibility to sell some of the calenders within your circle of friends. All the sales revenue of the calendar goes to SALEM Ecuador. We will sell it in Germany for 12 € (15 $) plus packing an shipping. That means we have about 6 € revenue per calendar.

If so, what do you think how many calendars you would be able to sell?

Many thanks for your help. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards,

Jonas

Jonas Lange
Projekt Koordinator | Project Coordinator

Jonas has been in Ecuador for about a year running Salem, he is from Germany and has much compassion for the children. It was a pleasure working with him while I was there.

Calendars will be on sale September 8th, email me if you would like one.

The cameras I brought to Mindo in January 2010 are still going strong, with Alvaro overseeing the organization and loaning of them. I will be returning there in December and am hoping to bring more donated cameras to the children. This time I would prefer cameras with a dedicated rechargable battery, and charger, the recharging of double A batteries was very cumbersome last time, some didn't hold their charge and we didn't have enough plugs or battery chargers to keep them all charged all the time. So that's what I'd prefer, but if you have a good working digital camera with double or triple A batteries I will take that as well.

Thanks for considering a donation of your photographic equipment.

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Do you have an unused digital camera? As the organizer of the Plymouth Digital Photographers club, I am looking for donations of used digital cameras for the Cameras for Kids in Ecuador project. Working with the non profit German group, Salem, http://www.saleminternational.org/english/en_worldwide/en_ecuador.htm

I will be teaching children with very few resourses how to use photography as an artistic expression while developing skills and making them feel valued.

Please drop off or mail any working digital cameras to the

Yankee Book & Art Gallery,

10 North St., Plymouth, MA 02360 before December 1st. I will be volunteering in Mindo, Ecuador in December/January 2011.

Any digital camera with more than 4 megapixels in working order is appreciated. Memory card, cord, battery charger and instruction manual would be great extras if you have them.

Alvaro's Photography

Alvaro lives at Salem International in Mindo, and goes home to his mother's house on Friday and Saturday. His family used to live in Quito and he went to the best school, had a nice house, but everything changed when his dad up and left one day, plunging the family into poverty. His mother brought them to Mindo, but wasn't able to cope when Alvaro became depressed and she asked Salem to take him in. He loved using the camera, specifically the Nikon 5700 that Mary Ann L. from my photo club in Plymouth donated. Always asking lots of questions, wanting to know when I was coming back and using the camera until he understood it well. Jonas has put him in charge of the cameras after I left, at Alvaro's request, and he's set up a sign out sheet and organized the lot of them. It is so heartening to see him blossom and create images of his own choosing, he took the camera everywhere and here are some of my favorites. I think he has a great eye and has captured some wonderful expressions and moments of his everyday life. What do you think?

Alvaro's self portrait. He is 13 years old.

I'm not sure who all the people are he photographed, I wasn't there. I believe this is his primo, cousin.

Sister and half brother.

Current father figure and half brother.

Self portrait in a bathroom mirror at Salem.

His mother and step brother.

His mother and her boyfriend.

I love how he posed these family members against the blue wall!

At school. I think the girl on the right is his sister.

Friends.

Jonas at school with Alvaro's professor.

His mother and sisters.

Family.

At Salem.

A meal at Salem. Jonas kindly invited me to lunch when I was there, a great place to eat, all open to the outdoors. And never cold!

I took these last 3 shots of Alvaro.

He's really into photography!

Victor's Photos

Ugo took this photo of Victor, me and Yulissa.

Victor, 11 years old, captured some wonderful images of life around Salem in Mindo, all on his own with his first access to a camera donated by one of you! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

I have lessened the resolution on these photos as I have had some complaints that it's taking too long to download this blog, let me know what you think.

Jonas, the very capable leader of Salem Mindo with his children.

Not sure how Victor took this shot, I didn't rotate it. Turned the camera upside down?? Who does that??? Good photo!

Doing homework.

Karen, also from Germany, takes good care of the children along with Jonas.

He's not feeling too well.

Janet, my friend from CT, taking the children to the plaza for photos.

An innocent passerby that Victor asked to pose for him.

Paula works at Salem, too, and is from Mindo.

Victor popped into this store to take her photo.

Not sure who these people are, but a part of Mindo life that I don't have access to.

Another happy child!