3/19/02

Photographs express desperation, hardships

By Stephanie Bauerlein
Contributor

"The guerillas took my dad outside and smacked him with the blade of a machete and my mom was all worried; my mom cried, we did too ... My poor little brother, he came out like this because my mom took a lot of pills for her headaches and molars and all that. That's why my little brother came out like this."

This may sound like a line from a movie, but it's not. This is the narration that 12-year-old Jenny Mayerly Pardo Bolanos of El Progreso, Colombia, wrote to accompany a photo of her blind little brother sitting on a bed in a cluttered room shared by her family.

Her photo is one of many on display in the Cross Cultural Center for The AjA Project's traveling exhibition of student-documentary photography. About 10 people turned out for the event, which included a movie about the nonprofit organization, a slide show containing pictures of its students, project sites and a gallery of student work.

There are roughly 15 pictures on display until March 27. The photos were taken by the children of The AjA Project, ranging in age from 10 to 14 from Colombia and Thailand. Most of the pictures display family members in their everyday surroundings. The black and white photos convey the desperation and hardships that these refugee families are forced to face. Each picture is accompanied by a narration, hand-written by the student in their native language, that describes the story behind the image.

Classics junior Martha Estrada attended the event and said she likes what The AjA Project is doing. She said it's great for them to get the exposure.

"I have great respect for these children," Estrada said. "Their work shows such a sense of accomplishment, and to me, that's very inspiring."

The AjA Project was founded in 2000 by Warren Ogden, executive director, and Shinpei Takeda, president. After working with children in refugee camps in Thailand while a student at Duke University, Takeda wanted to continue helping children there and all over the world.

"I was in a very unique position to start something like this," Takeda said. "I had access to the resources and to the communities."

According to its Web site, the San Diego-based AjA Project is "an international charitable organization dedicated to providing educational support to young people living in areas of violent conflict and social upheaval."

"Aja," in Spanish, means "self-sustainability," and it is reflective of the organization itself, Ogden said.

"Our organization runs solely on donations from various companies and volunteer employees," he said. "Everybody that works here doesn't get paid."

There are currently three project sites in Thailand, Colombia and San Diego. These programs provide innovative, multimedia education for underprivileged and displaced youth in these regions, Ogden said.

The AjA Project works with the local youth in each of the three locations to teach them the art of photography and how to tell their stories through pictures. Ogden said the students are first taught about documentary-style photography then writing skills, word processing, basic computer functions and image manipulations.

Once the students have learned all the necessary skills, they are given a point-and-shoot camera to take pictures that depict their experiences. There are different assignments that each student must complete. They include "my dreams," "my journey," "my community" and "the future." Once the students complete their work, they combine their writing and images to create a Web site featuring all their work, Ogden said.

He said the curriculum includes mainly the use of computers and cameras because they are powerful catalysts for analytical and critical thinking.

When starting education programs at each of these sites, The AjA Project volunteers train local teachers so the students have qualified instructors year-round. There are currently five instructors in Thailand and Colombia who work with the students and keep in contact with the organization via e-mail. Local volunteers work with the students here in San Diego. Takeda said one of their goals is to eventually have the programs run on their own.

"There's not too many projects like this," he said. "That's why we're unique."

Takeda said the exhibition of the student photography is meant to bring a human perspective to war and conflict that Americans often don't get the opportunity to see. He said the combination of image and narrative is very powerful.

"We all tend to victimize them, but they're just like the little kid around the corner," he said. "They just happen to be living in horrible circumstances. That's the only difference."

The exhibition has already been to the University of San Diego and UC San Diego and will go to Washington, D.C. later this year, Ciela Hartanov, public relations manager for the organization, said.

For more information on The AjA Project and how to volunteer, visit the Web site at www.ajaproject.org.