It was such a blessing to work alongside such a talented, solid group of photographers. Before going on this trip I only knew two of the people on the team. I tell you what, you put 15+ crazy outgoing people in Africa together for ten days, and you’re bound to get comfortable very quickly. I’m looking forward to working with them all in the future. I wanted to throw up some photos of the team, so here they are.
Top left to right: Jason Thon, Ben Harrison, Mike Colón, Jeff LaPlante, Luke Edmondson, Melissa Jill, Shane Melenbacker, Andrew Bryant, Jim Hicks
Bottom left to right: Ray Santana, David Burke, Me, our new friend Stephen Machua, and David Edmondson
Not pictured, but equally as awesome as everyone in this picture: Laura Parker, Michelle Walker, Kennedy and JP Pierce
Shots from the field:
Shane working the camera
Father and son
Some of the guys attempting to spell “THIRST”
Posted by Melissa Jill
Get ready for some super-cuteness in this post. There’s a lot of it!
Our team was able to visit a second orphanage in Tanzania. This one was in a very poor village and there were a lot more kids there. I guess a lot of the orphans in Tanzania actually have parents; their parents are just unable to care for them. This particular orphanage didn’t have a lot of overnight accommodations so the kids mainly came there during the day to have their needs cared for and then went to be with their parents at night.
This orphanage experience was completely overwhelming. As soon as we got out of the bus we had kids running up to us, throwing their arms around us like we were long-lost relatives and they didn’t stop loving on us from that point on until we had to tear ourselves away and load back into the vehicles. We were able to give the kids some little treats like hard candy, stickers and pens. Here’s Shane handing out some candy. It was total chaos:
The kids absolutely loved seeing themselves on the back of our cameras:
So I spent most of my time shooting photos of them and then showing them their cuteness.
The orphanage had some resident goats:
I loved this little guy’s T-shirt:
Many of the young girls were caring for infants:
I snagged a few shots of Mike Colon giving out some free photo lessons:
This little cutie wanted to be held and she snuggled me until my arms gave out:
And this sweet girl held my hand as we walked around the nearby village (thanks to David Edmonson for these shots!):
While we were there two filters were delivered to the orphanage so it’s good to know that the health of these children will be greatly improved thanks to Thirst Relief!
posted by Ben Harrison
yes … you read that right … I shot about 18 rolls of 120/220 film when I was in Tanzania. I shot them with my Mamiya 645 medium format camera, which I am falling in LOVE with! Some of you may be wondering why I would shoot film in Africa (because of the somewhat inconvenient nature) … and it really just boils down to the fact that I love the intentionality and look of film. With our psychosomatic image laden, instant gratification culture, I have to admit that film was a nice release. It forces the photographer to slow down and become more intentional with each exposure (as each exposure translates to $). I’m not saying that film is better than digital … just that inherent in its nature it is different .. it renders color uniquely, skin tones uniquely, and has a somewhat softer feel. All in all I would have to say that I loved shooting film again … and will definitely be doing a lot more in the future! It was so funny to me how giddy I got with the whole process of shipping out the rolls and waiting in anticipation to see the shots!
The first image below (which I re-posted from a previous post) shows you the mamiya (the one on the left). I got all the film processed at Richard Photo Lab and let me tell you … they are AMAZING!! The images came back as you see them below … basically perfect … which is not something I can say about most labs! Anyways, below you will see a small selection of some of these images … I can’t show all the images right now for magazine publishing rights but I hope you enjoy the ones I can show! More to come soon!!!
it was incredibly touching to see how all these kids wanted was love, its amazing how we take ‘being loved’ for granted … shot courtesy of the amazing Phil Glickman!
here are some of the water filters (aka easter island statues) shot on a Holga camera … which is basically a plastic camera that shoots medium format
more holga-lisciousness
on to the mamiya 645 … don’t you just love the look of film!?!
these tikes as well as all the ones below will be a lot healthier thanks to the long term clean water solution they received thanks to the efforts of Thirst Relief International
the goats at the orphanage where we installed the filter
look closely 
Posted by Melissa Jill
Besides being able to work at the workshop where Thirst Relief bio-sand filters are made, we also had the chance to be a part of the delivery of a filter to a Tanzanian home. I really enjoyed this because it gave us the opportunity to see the inside of a Tanzanian home and to meet even more people who will benefit from the work that Thirst Relief is doing.
This was the home where we delivered a filter:
From what I saw, it was a fairly nice home. Here’s a photo of a home that was more typical of what we encountered in the poor villages:
The owner of the home where we delivered the filter is an amazing artist. We were just in awe of these intricate wood carvings he created that stood in his front room:
We set up the filter in the back hallway of the home. It was a very tight space so Ben Harrison helped while one of the Tanzanians from the workshop who typically does deliveries led the way:
Once the filter is set up they time how long it takes to fill up a liter water bottle in order to see if it is functioning correctly:
The man on the left is the artist and owner of the home. He seemed very happy to be the owner of the new filter:
The artist shares his home with his 8 year old daughter and his brother who all now benefit from access to clean drinking water:
What a cool thing to witness.
by phillip g
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