In Guarani, ahecha means I see. As a part of Peace Corps Paraguay, there is a volunteer organized club that lends out cameras for two months at a time to a community. In the kit there are 5 digital cameras and a training manual with how to use it in your site. I signed up months ago, and wrapped up the project last week! I had 12 kids sign up, 10 showed up to the first meeting, and I had 5 who came on a regular basis. At first I was disappointed by the number drop, but it actually worked out better this way since no one had to share their camera.
We had class once a week and an additional one-on-one session every other week where I reviewed the photos with the students. I planned each week with a general theme such as landscapes, portraits, lighting, Paraguayan culture, etc. Sometimes the kids came back with exactly what I wanted, while other times I got pictures of pigs when I asked for landscapes… but hey, better than nothing, I guess! It was great to see the kids get creative, and I think that the regulars really enjoyed the class.
At the end of the 8-week course, we selected the 25 best pictures (5 from each student) to be submitted to Asuncion, where there is an exhibition amongst all the volunteers’ photos. Also, I got those 25 photos printed so I was able to put on a smaller exhibition here in site. We invited family and friends of the students, and I talked about the class and then each student presented their photos, picked their favorite, and said why they liked it. The family and friends liked the pics, and not gonna lie, I was pretty proud of my kids!
Here are my favorite pictures taken by each student:
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| 'Atardecer' by Silvia (16) |
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| 'Chulina' by Ramona (16) |
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| 'El Rayo del Sol' by Dulcina (12) |
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| 'La Rosa Rosada' by Auxi (12) |
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| 'Sandra' by Mica (12) |
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| 4 of my students after the exhibition with their favorite pictures |
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