3.01.2014

Visiting Beatrice : preview.



"I'm always surprised by the diversity of lifestyles on the planet, the way people dress, play, work. Yet at the end of the day, it's comforting to find people are all essentially human in their need for family, fun and curiosity of those different from them etc. I got to spend a few days with these Dogon hunters in the Bandiagara region of Mali. We didnt speak the same language but we hung out, shared water, food and a few laughs, and I got to meet their families that lives in Anasazi like dwellings in the nearby sandstone cliffs. We spent the evenings watching vultures circling slowly over the horizon instead of TV. In some ways, our lives couldnt have looked more different but on many levels, we had everything in common."  - National Geographic Photographer Jimmy Chin on his recent trip to Mali.

Yesterday I got to spend the day at a small village outside of town visiting one of our past beneficiaries, Akot Beatrice. I felt exactly what Jimmy Chin expressed in his quote and I am overwhelmed by the common humanity we all share and the opportunity I had to bear witness to the abundant life that Beatrice has made for herself and her family. 

Here are two of her children, Dominic and Tracy. I love the stories hidden behind their eyes, the power in each step they take with their bare feet, and the way they have grown to know this land so confidently. 

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