GRACIAS!

onehundred faces

The Purpose

Children can do the smallest gestures and to the parents a photograph of that moment is priceless. Most of the children that we personally know have albums and walls filled with photographs because a camera is such a mundane object to everyone and they have a family that cares and loves them. Yet there are also those children that most of us are not familiar with; the ones who do not have parents to follow them around to capture every milestone of their lives. These abondoned orphan faces are the ones that I want to record with my camera.

I want to give each child a framed portrait of themselves so when the time comes for them to leave the orphanage they can look back at a time in their life when someone stepped in and thought they were special enough to be photographed. I want to give them a memory they can look back at with their future family as they share with them their story.

The Proposal

Besides giving a framed print to the children, I want to take my journey a step further and bring back to HMC the photographs of each child along with a few quick facts about them. As I researched different orphanages I noticed that they all listed shoes in their most needed donations, therefore my hope is that HMC employees will find a face that they connect with and sponsor a child with a one time gift of a pair of shoes. After reaching this goal I plan to personally deliver the shoes and fly back to Guadalajara, Mexico about a month after my first visit.

The Process

fly to Guadalajara visit the orphanage photograph the children gift them a framed portrait

fly back to the U.S. set up a gallery sponsor a child fly back to mexico

deliver the goods see them smile fly back to the U.S.GRACIAS!

gift them a framed portrait

fly back to mexico

follow my journey online

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GRACIAS!

Visit the orphanage: My first day at the orphanage will be spent getting to know the children, the workers, and the facility. Casa Hogar encourages visitors to teach the children any special skills one might have, and in my case I will be holding a basic art class so that the children can get to know me.

Arrive at Mexico

Photograph the children: My second and third day will be spent photographing the children and editing photos at night. Guadalajara Global Print will print them and have them ready for pick up the same day.

Day 1

Day 1

Day 2 & 3

The Schedule

GRACIAS!

GRACIAS!

GRACIAS!

Fly back to the US: Explore Mexico before coming back home.

Gift them with a framed print: After picking up the photographs I will frame them and deliver them to the children.

Day 4

Day 5

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Part Two

Put up a gallery: Share with HMC my journey and introduce them to the children who I photographed.

Sponsor a child: Allow HMC to be part of the experience by sponsering a child with a pair of new shoes. The goal: A sponser for every child!

Fly back to Mexico: Arrange to go back with the orphanage about a month after the first visit.

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GRACIAS!

GRACIAS!

Deliver the goods

See them smile: I will make sure to photograph and share back on the blog with everyone their reactions.

Fly back to the U.S.

GRACIAS!

GRACIAS!

GRACIAS!

Documentation

What I will bring back to HMC is a gallery of the one hundred faces of children that I will meet. Behind each photograph I will have a few written facts about the child. Each HMC employee will have the opportunity to read about the children and take part in sponsoring a child with a one time donation of 25-35 dollars that will go towards the purchase of shoes.

The gallery will be an active gallery meaning that as each child is sponsored their photograph will be taken down by the person that sponsors them. This will allow everyone to see the progress and ultimately reach our goal of having a blank wall once again which will announce that every child has been taken care of.

Before leaving to Guadalajara I will have a blog set up so that everyone can follow my journey. I will update it and post photographs of my experience. Once back I will also include in the blog the gallery that I will set up at HMC and show the process of each child being sponsored and taken off the wall. I will also write and document my journey as I go back to Guadalajara once more to deliver the shoes to the children.

The Orphanage

Casa HogarNacidos para Triunfar Guadalajara, Mexico

Casa Hogar is a safe haven for abandoned children. They care for them physically by providing medication and food, and socially by giving them a family, education, and an opportunity to thrive.

Casa Hogar was founded in 1992 when a small orphanage shut down because of the death of its director. One of the workers named Veronica Tejeda did not want to abandon the children and the need for a new orphanage arose. In a matter of two months she was caring for 32 children and now they currently have one hundred children. Casa Hogar is dedicated to assist and protect the homeless children of Guadalajara.

Actual photos of the Orphanage

Even though I have only been to Guadalajara a few times before the age of five, and do not have clear memories of the city, Guadalajara holds a special place in my life. Guadalajara is the place where my mother and grandmother were born. Even though my grandma, “Mama Maria” is no longer with us she left a legacy to her family of love and care. I remember going to the mercados with her, which are very similar to our outdoor swap meets. The little money that she earned she would take with her and buy clothes and shoes for us and children in the neighborhood that did not have a family. Mama Maria was also known for her cooking, she would cook amazing dinners and everyone in the neighborhood would stop by to chit chat with her and if they were hungry she would feed them.

I remember children my age playing around me when I would visit my grandma, and even though I was a very shy girl I enjoyed having them around. I don’t think I fully understood what it meant not to have a family when I was young, but as I got older I realized that what my grandma was doing for these orphan children was showing them love. I know that the strong foundation that I was raised with has always given me a desire to help children in need. In the past I have helped at an Orphanage in Tecate, right across the border in Mexico when I was in High school. I have also taken part in local outreach programs here in California creating fun “fair like” days for children and supplying them with backpacks and all the essentials for a new school year, but my desire is to go back to Guadalajara and help the children in the city that my grandmother once helped.

Why Guadalajara?

Flag of Guadalajara

Plaza de Guadalajara

GRACIAS!

onehundred faces