Journal: Oaxaca
Week 1: 2 June-7 June
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Although vastly different to Africa, the landscape, the people and their circumstances, sitting in the Zocalo in Oaxaca, I struggled to fight back tears. The Zocalo is filled with the hustles and bustles of locals selling their wares, trinkets and whatever else that will cost us an equivalent of $0.50 to 1, but that would mean a closer step for them to making ends meet. A little boy (about the age of 7) came up to me selling some motorised toy. Not knowing what to do with the toy, I gave him the "no gracias, perdon" which I've learnt to use through Cuba. Without much of a word, he turned away with his toys, leaving with me only the saddest eyes I've seen since Africa... 9 out of every 10 street stalls were minded by at least one child...there were many street stalls in Oaxaca...it's a school day...
Monday, 2 June 2008, Livewires!
Today started with a bang! Met our first bunch of kids who attend school in the morning. The kids are full of life, in fact a couple of them are complete livewires! Met 10 great kids today: Alma, Bryan, Savina, Porfirio, Diego, Elizabeth, Chrisanto, Esmeralda, Luis, Adrian and Jose, ranging from 10 to 18 years of age. The kids were ready to give anything a go! Most have never used a digital camera before, others have once or twice. However the pace at which they learnt, you would swear they have done it a million times before! We are looking forward to learning more about these little characters over the next 4 weeks!
Tuesday, 3 June 2008, Hidden talents.
Met a second bunch of kids today who attend school in the afternoon. We had Coral, Fredi, Ricardo and Paola. Much quieter group than yesterday's which I was thankful for since class started at 9am. Interesting compositions, different angles of looking at things all coming through in this group. There is a talking parrot (Frida) in Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots that tries to be louder than all the kids put together and who gets captured in the kids' images first without fail! I am hoping Frida will get in a lot less shots as we move through the workshop : ) Tomorrow's theme is 'People'.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008, Their eyes lid up and excitement filled the air.
The kids were waiting at the front door to Oaxaca Street Children today! All their eyes lid up and screams of excitement filled the air when they saw us from a distance. Had 2 'drop-ins' today, Salma and Luis Edwardo. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if Salma and Luis E are both joining us for the day or the entire course but I sure am hoping they'll be joining us for the course as they've both turned out to be amazingly talented. We had what I called a "talk and learn" session, where we went through and discussed all the photos that everyone has taken and how we can all improve. To my surprise, the kids really enjoyed this (probably also so they can give the other kids hell)! Today's theme is 'People'. Some very interesting results. I will continue to explore this with them further in the next workshop or so.
Thursday, 5 June 2008, Starting to learn the art form.
The kids are starting to see photography as more than just point and shoot...My more composed and quieter class (where they or Frida are not talking over me) I think are starting to grasp the art of photography. Still unsure about them focusing prior to shooting (in their constant excitement) but they are experimenting with lines, shapes, colours and story-telling which I am thrilled about. We're heading to the Zocalo (Plaza/Central Square) tomorrow. Fingers crossed I'll come back with the same head count that I leave with!
Friday, 6 June 2008, Who gave the kids red cordial before they came to class?!??!
We had both morning and afternoon session kids today, a full full day! The kids who attend the workshop in the mornings are always still waking up and so we had it easy compared to the ones who come in the afternoon! It was like someone put red cordial (straight) in their lunch! Today we took the kids out on a mini excursion around town. We went to the Santo Domingo Catedral (famous church in Oaxaca), Lambastida gardens (where locals sell their wares) and The El Llano Parque. As I was freaking out at every destination when the kids dispersed in all different directions, they who know the streets back to front, had the time of their lives and yes, we had the same number of kids as we'd left with (albeit with one less camera)! The most memorable part of the day was when Brian went up to an indigenous woman (with a baby bundled to her back and 2 younger children tugging at her dress), explained that he was taking photographs for cultural reasons etc etc, and asked if he could take her photo. The lady shook her head vehemently in protest. Some of the indigenous people dislike getting their photos taken as they believe that their souls will get captured in the cameras. "Por que?!" ("why"), little Brian asked accusingly and took a shot anyway... I nearly fainted whilst Sam was laughing his head off uncontrollably! The day finished with tacos and two completely pooped Maestros (teachers) who were sure they didn't want any kids for a while!
Saturday, 7 June 2008, Our first excursion to archaeological site...the morning session and afternoon session kids meet for the first time!
After our experience with super excited kids yesterday, I really was dreading our first excursion to Monte Alban today! All I can picture is kids getting lost in this great big archaelogical site, falling into one of the tombs and double the madness since the morning session kids will meet the afternoon session kids for the first time!
First we had to deal with the missing camera, which we discovered one of the cheekier kids had taken home with him! They must have figured by this stage that we're both complete push overs! And yes they're right. I didn't have the heart to punish Adrian and paid the price for it later in the afternoon when one of the other kids asked if he could bring a camera home too, was rejected, and this is the come back I got, "but Adrian got to bring one home with him!" (in Espanol of course).
Kids being kids, they wore themselves out mid way through the excursion. I had a couple of kids who came frowning, pointing at the LCD screens on the cameras which said, 'memory card full'. Hunger eventually got the better of them and they all voluntarily piled back on the bus back to Oaxaca!
Us? We are completely pooped!!
OTHER PROJECTS | Zambia | Uganda | Cameras for Kids
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