When I was volunteering last year in Nicaragua, I looked for opportunities to work with other organizations to provide them with imagery that they could use to enhance their image for social media. There were so many different ministries and organizations that were all deserving of more awareness and financial support. Coming back to Canada, I knew that using my photography to benefit these types of organizations would be more difficult. I hadn’t been back for long before I was invited to join a team from church as they partnered with Mission San Quintin to construct a school building so that an additional 40+ children could receive an education. My role on the team was to gather imagery and interviews (stills and video) to represent the work they do in the communities in the San Quintin Valley of Mexico. 

In addition to constructing school buildings and houses with teams that come down, MSQ also partners with other ministries in the area, such as a women’s transition home, school for children with special needs, a breakfast program, and working with at risk youth (including providing opportunities for them to participate in athletics). It was really cool going around and seeing and hearing about all of these different beacons of hope and how receptive the communities were to them.

Please find below the building project and fun the team had with the kids in the area. We also visited a campo (like a very low income housing complex) and played with the kids and gave their families some staples, and had our eyes opened when we gave similar bags of staples to some of the people who live in the dump.

It really is crazy what we have here in North America. ..but how do we live and behave in such a way that respects and loves those in other areas who have so much less (and don’t forget… live in so much love and joy!)…? It’s for thoughts and questions like this that I always aim to give back to international organizations that work to alleviate poverty. But really… the question continues.