Photography Programs

The Muskoka Foundation's Photography program encourages children to photograph their world as they see it through their eyes. The program helps them to sell these images through their own small businesses, generating new funds for their education and living expenses.

For our first village, we have partnered with the wonderful Eyes of Hope Project, which is already operating with a group of Rwandan Orphan children at the Kagugu School in Kigali, Rwanda and in Uganda. All photographs with the Eyes of Hope Project are taken by the children and are regularly on exhibition with the United Nations & at various galleries around the world and have been made into calendars and postcards.

You can see the group's photographs on display in the June 2009 issue of The Overland Journal here, as well as purchase your own calendar for $20, all net proceeds go directly to the children and funding ink & printing supplies for them.

Overland travelers who have a strong interest in photography, (though not necessarily formal training), are passionate about development and enjoy working with children can partner with The Muskoka Foundation to expand our photography programs.

Travelers find a Muskoka Village that suits their travel route and arrange to teach a photography workshop to the local school children.

The Muskoka Foundation will provide:

• “kit” for each village complete with several digital cameras, portable printer, inks and paper
  
  
• a detailed curriculum tailored for a 1 week photography workshop in a developing community
  
  
• reliable, on-the-ground partnership with a local school/community to set up the workshop, follow-up with the children and upload photographs to our online gallery for display
  
  
• exhibition outlets and sales outlets for the resulting photographs
  

Overland travelers who participate in the Muskoka Photography programs will bring significant and sustainable improvements to communities by:

• Providing photography classes and exhibitions as a means of building self-confidence and providing an outlet for the children in difficult situations to have creative expression.
  
  
• Help develop a small business that helps the children pay for their school fees, food and clothes through selling their own work – empowering them to help themselves with a sense of dignity.
  
  
• Bring the world closer through awareness of different cultures through the children's eyes
  
  
• Building relationships by keeping in touch with children from the workshop, helping find display/exhibitions for children's photographs and possibly building mentoring relationships
  
  

In June 2010, Muskoka Traveler Eric Ibarra ran our Photography Workshop with a group of 8 Latina Girls at the Para Los Ninos Youth center in Downtown Los Angeles. While the girls learned the basics of Photography, they also taught us to look at this massive city in a very different way...

If you have an interest in Photography, and would like to connect with a group of children somewhere on your travels please contact us, and we'll help set you up!