Today has been a great day. I was able to meet with the Womens Empowerment Center today, as well as the Delegate and directors of Sports and Physical Education, and I will be meeting with them next week to interview them on tape, and get a better understanding of the issues that face youth in Cameroon.

I was going to write a separate blog post, but instead I will share a letter that I wrote to those that I love.

Good morning

I hope you are doing well back at home.

I am well. Do not fear about that. I am busy with the things that seem to take forever while I am here. I didnt start the video series yet, but today I am meeting with the director of the Woman’s Empowerment Center to interview her on tape, and start to understand the issues that west African youth face on a daily basis. We will also be going to the jail, talking to teachers, ministers, and local business men,to understand the wide range of problems and successes that people
experience.

It is so insanely hot here. Nicaragua is hot, and humid, but I sit in the room, eat breakfast, and within minutes I have lost all the water that I have been drinking from the night before. Last night power was out for a few hours, but God is good, right as I was getting in bed,the power came back on and I was able to turn on a fan! I woke up with mosquito bites, but I think that was from the night before because we had a “dance” party with the kids in the compound. It was pretty funny. They were trying to teach me dance steps that I couldn’t do well, most likely even if i practiced for days. As soon as I would figure it out the beat would change and I looked like and epileptic dinosaur stumbling.

Today will be a good day. It has been a quiet time with lots of
reflection, about life, what is important, and I can see so clearly
the places that I want to improve, not just within my own life, but also within my photography. I need to be intentional. Images are only as powerful as the combined elements will allow. Just because I am in Africa, it does not guarantee beautiful images. I need to focus more on being out of my comfort zone, and not hiding behind my camera. This
means meeting people and building relationships so that I can then make images that are more telling. Things like eye contact, take an ok image, that compositionally may be good, and turns it into a portrait that is really telling. It helps you to meet that person even though they are thousands of miles away.

It is so hot here right now. and I think that I have finally stopped sweating. There is nothing left to sweat out. Our meeting is soon, so I must go. I hope that this makes your morning more exciting. I will try and call through magic jack today, so keep your phone near.

I pray that your day is filled with joy and laughter, through the love of our LORD.

Dan