Their Vision is Valuable {5 of the most beautiful hours of our trip}

It all started with what if.

We had just returned from the first team trip to the orphanage last spring. Dreaming of the next trip seemed to help us emotionally as we reentered life at home. Knowing that our friends Ben Leaman, who is an incredible photographer and creative artist, and his wife Abbey would be on the next trip 6 months later, I sent them a text that simply started with what if.

What if you led a photography workshop with the older kids there? You could weave truth into the lessons, build them up as creative beings who can make an impact on the world. What do you think?

It was surreal months later to be witnessing this—Day 1 of the first ever orphan photography workshop in Shaanxi.

At 4pm everyday, there were 12 children between the ages of 8 and 12, ones we had not been invited to engage with before now, eagerly waiting for the Americans and the red cameras we had in hand for them in the lobby of the orphanage. Ben started each session with a short lesson, masterfully weaving in a deeper lesson into each one, which was followed by time for the children to take pictures, as many as they wanted, focusing on the topic of the day.

Day 1 {beauty} – what is beauty? there is beauty all around us, even in the seemingly mundane and ordinary.
Day 2 {shadows} – what makes a shadow? shadows are reminders that things—and you—make an impact on the world.
Day 3 {color} – what colors do you like? colors make us feel. it’s good to feel things. we are made to feel.
Day 4 {portraits} – who do you find beautiful? all people are beautiful, people are God’s masterpiece.

Every evening, after the rest of the team had collapsed into their beds, Ben and Abbey burned the midnight oil, sorting through literally thousands of images on memory cards and editing pictures that the children had taken that day.

The results were nothing sort of miraculous. Allow me to simply give you a sneak peek at a few of the pieces that took our breath away.

I confess that I didn’t expect this. I wanted to build them up as creators; I wanted to speak into their hearts that they were beautiful and that the world around them could be seen as beautiful. I confess that I didn’t expect their creations to actually be stunningly beautiful. And, they are. They are absolutely amazing. What they captured through their camera lenses of the ordinary around them is nothing short of extraordinary. 

Day 5 {celebration} – Come and see and celebrate what you have created. We celebrate you.

I had a hard time keeping my camera steady through my tears during our last photography workshop. We showed the children and the staff who gathered behind them the pictures the children had taken. We saw all of their eyes open wide as we showed them how there are elements of art and beauty that are universal despite how we don’t speak the same language and live on opposite sides of the world. We printed at least one picture for each child to keep as well as their portrait that Ben had taken of them, capturing personalities and inherent beauty in each one. And, then Ben and Abbey called out each child by name, invited them to the front of the crowd, and awarded them a certificate of completion, congratulating them as beauty makers and beauty holders.

One of the directors came to me after the ceremony and bowed her head to me as she spoke. Our translator told me she thanked me for the hard work and for the idea to do this class for the first time. I bowed to her and told her it was a dream come true.

There’ve been more what ifs over the last week or so. What if we hosted a photography exhibit featuring their art? What if we took it beyond our local town to show people the value of their vision and allow them to see these children—orphans with special needs—as beautiful beauty makers? What if we were able to fund the work, keep the work going, through an exhibit like this?

Anyone want to sponsor something like that?