Photogrpahy Workshop

Last week we gave the neighborhood Burmese refugee and hill tribes children cameras and sent them home with the assignment to tell the story of their life in photographs. A big project for little tykes, yes? Some of them came back with cameras full of unused film and others fully used and reluctant to give back their new toy. After developing the roles of film, the REAL fun began! As I opened each folder I got to peek into their lives, to see the faces of their mother, father, sisters and brothers. I got to see little girls playing dress up in princess clothes and where they sleep on the floor at night. Below is the pieced together story of 11 children's lives. 11 children whose families came to Chiang Mai to escape poverty, cruelty and abuse and who started a new life in this city. These series of photographs give us a rare peek into their personal lives from the perspective of a child. Enjoy!

"Front yard Salsa"

Art workshops that turn into impromptu salsa dancing in the front yard have got to be close to my favorit-est things ever! We all bumped into each other randomly at Sizzling Salsa night in Chiang Mai and decided to share that crazy dancing experience with the Burmese refugee kids who come to our Young Lions workshops every Thursday. Well really, this little charmer was all over the girl volunteers and spent the hour terrorizing us with his fancy little eye lid flipping technique *shivers*. So to distract him, Laura decided to teach him some Salsa dancing moves that she'd learned the night before. It was such a hit we might just make a whole Salsa dancing workshop out of it! :)

King of my Heart

Today I went in search for the littlest of our Young Lion kiddos, (Young Lions is an a art workshop we hold in our front yard for the local Burmese refugee kids) and back a short, trash strewn soi I found dozens of families crammed into a tiny, broken down house. Once you understand the life these children lead you also start to realize how small projects like the one we hold in our front yard, can mean so much to them. This little guy held my hand on the way back to the office and we skipped and jumped and chased our shadows all the way home. He stole my heart with his beautiful long lashes and stunning smile.

This big old house is starting to settle in around me and the jungle noises that emanate from the overgrown pond area and backyard, are starting to sound more like greetings rather than threats, as I walk home through the gate at night. Some of my favorite things in the whole world can be found here...loads and loads of delicious fruit, cozy little cafes to hide from the rainy season and sip a hot cup of coffee, fresh food markets whose loud bartering noises and jumble of people and fruits and veggies always bring a smile to my face and make me feel terribly lucky to be livign and breathing and experiencing all this. Burmese refugee children come play on my front porch in the evenings and we sneak around with my camera, surprising volunteers with our stealthy picture taking abilities. These kids adore using my camera, anyone keen on doing a photography workshop with Burmese refugee children sorta patterned after Listen to my Pictures? This is a photo workshop I've been dying to do for years!!