Last year I had the privilege of filming for a ministry called Lydia Circle in Kenya and Uganda. The ministry is focused on training and equipping women in remote areas of the world to share their faith and make disciples. I was hired to document two conferences, both with photography and video.
In America conference means +1,000 people, table decorations, and speakers flown in from corners of the country. Lydia Circle conferences are more like Sunday school, plastic chairs, and small notebooks. Some women attending the conferences will walk for 3 hours a day to sit on a bench and learn. Many have never received women centered training. Many women with babies younger than a year bring the babies along.
If you know me, you know that my camera takes photos of cute babies pretty much without my brain’s consent… I can’t help myself. In the first week of the conference in Kenya I took photos of the moms with their babies and was quick to show them the back of my camera so they could see themselves. Ladies would smile and grab their friends to see as well. Then the moment would pass.
However, as the photos accumulated of moms with their precious babies I grew more frustrated. Something was eating at me that had never bothered me that much before.
It wasn’t good enough to show them the photo for a second. Why should I keep this moment forever? This is not my child – my precious baby that I give life to everyday.
Near the end of the conference, I was riding in a car, being shepherded from our hotel to the small conference center, when I spotted a sign that said “photocopier”. It struck me suddenly that I might be a town that could print. I asked our driver to take me there the next day.
The following morning I went to the small shop. For a $1 USD per photo I walked out with 30 photos of moms with their babies, and portraits of amazing, strong women. Later that day I delivered them.
Women were stunned to see 8×11 photos of themselves and their babies. They covered their mouths as they laughed, and again grabbed their friends to see. After holding the paper for a minute, many tried to hand the paper back to me assuming I was just showing them. When I explained that the photos were theirs to keep, many were in disbelief.
During the second week of the conference we traveled to Uganda. There wasn’t any printer for probably 40 sq miles of village, called Gombe. Many women at this conference likewise brought small children. There was one mom and baby in particular who stuck out to me. The baby’s name is Medina. She rarely cried. She had light hair and discolored eyes, unfortunately signs of malnutrition.
Medina’s mom told me her husband was cruel, and that he didn’t respect her faith in Jesus, as their family had always been Muslim. She has 5 children whom she loved dearly, and she works tirelessly to provide for them, but money was very limited.
There have been so many days since that conference last year when I thought about Medina, and prayed for her and her mom to have all that they needed.
This year I had the privilege of returning to the same village in Uganda to shoot for Lydia Circle again. During the first few days, there was a conference for women who’d never attended a Lydia Circle conference before. The next three days were for returning women to receive a second training.
To my great pleasure Medina walked (but it’s the cute baby toddle, not like grown child strut) down the dirt road next her siblings. I remembered her instantly and nearly cried in front a whole bunch of ladies over this one child. On the last day of the conference, Medina’s mom gathered 4 of her children (her oldest lives in the city) and smiled proudly.
Last year I learned that there wasn’t a printer in Gombe. So I planned accordingly this year and asked the pastor that we lived with if we could print photos in the capital between conferences, and he agreed.
I printed 70 photos of brave women and their families. (for $12 USD, that’s it.) The pastor and his amazing wife would deliver the photos a week later after we finished our last conference in eastern Uganda.
You might be thinking, “ok cool, but a printed photo has never saved a life.” This is true, but all great works in the Kingdom start small.
“This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing.” Matthew 10:42.
This was a cup of cool water – a moment to tell someone that Jesus loves them, that the Lord sees them as beautiful new creations made in his image.
(This is a small soap box, but I have to say it. Printing a photo isn’t an opportunity to play savior either. If the cup of cool water is a metaphor, the point is to deliver a cool drink, not a cool cup. The cup – you and me as missionaries – are just a vehicle, the water – the message of Jesus’s sacrifice and love – is the the thing that quenches thirst. Sharing photos is about the conversation of God’s love, not your ability to pay $1 for a moment of happiness. The photo is a tangible reminder of eternally focused conversation.)
In 2015 I went on the World Race, and I took 200,000 photos (at least) during the 11 months. Less than 10 of photos were printed and given to people around the world who are actually in them. At the time I just didn’t think about printing them (I was worried about feedback, and getting to the next country if I’m honest) I don’t walk around shaming myself all day over the past.
But I do think about all the opportunity I had to sacrifice for just a second to print a photo instead of keep it on a hard drive forever, so that I could tell more people about how much Jesus loves them and saw them as beautiful, and to celebrate them, like I got to celebrate little Medina with her mom.
So to all World Racers traveling and stockpiling photos, I challenge you to see photos as cups of cool water. Moments to share, not to hoard. Images to give away, not get likes on instagram. Opportunities to say “You’re beautiful, and Jesus loves you. Can I show you?”.
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I have started a fund to sponsor children to go to school in Gombe, Uganda. If you’d like to sponsor a child or learn more, please email me at [email protected].
