Got in Saturday night. Two years, almost exactly, since I was here – March 2007, on a follow up trip from my time here during the Israeli/Hezbollah conflict in 2006. Spent the day yesterday doing a photo training for 360 teenagers taking part in a program supported by the US State Department. Through the program, kids in Lebanon get access to a range of educational and language-learning experiences. They brought in four groups each of 90 kids per class, and we did two hours for each group on the basics of photography – framing, lighting, composition, and what to think about as you take photos. The program then provided a disposable print camera to each student, and we sent them home with an assignment to document, in the next week, whatever the theme “Your Future” means to them. They’ll take the cameras around with them – to their homes, to their schools and neighborhoods - and shoot 27 photos each, one full roll. Next week, they drop the cameras off to their teachers in the program, who will develop the film, and on the 20th and 21st I’ll go back over and we’ll critique the images they took. Looking forward to it. I’ve done lots of photo trainings, but mostly for adult NGO staff and partners. It’ll be fascinating to see what kids of pictures these kids capture. Most live in pretty rough areas in and around Beirut. Not an easy life for a teenager.
With as much damage as has been done to the US image abroad in the last eight years – I’ve personally seen so much if it in that time - it’s nice to know that we have programs like this to provide some direct and positive connection for youth abroad, especially in Muslim countries, to get to know America. I was here in Lebanon three summers ago as Israel pounded the same areas of Beirut where many of these kids live with American-made fighter jets and bombs. It’s the sad and frustrating reality of much of our policies in the Middle East – policies so little understood by most Americans I’m afraid. The anger and hatred among many here feel is evident. But among these kids yesterday, all 16 or 17 years old, they were just teenagers, young and energetic, and they completely embraced the chance to learn something new, and interact directly with anyone willing to take some time to teach them something. I’m a firm believer that education is the key to just about all positive change in the world – I’ve seen too often places and policies where ignorance is the root cause of poverty and conflict. So I hope for at least these kids they have a chance to cultivate some broader understanding, both of themselves and America, through something like this. I’ll keep you posted on how the next training goes when they bring their pictures back in…
February 9th, 2009 | by David in Travel
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