It is one thing to see people struggling to survive and feel empathy for them; it's quite another to take up their fight as your own. But after seeing first hand the poverty and squalor faced by the people who live in the slums of Africa and their desire to rise above it all, Kendal Martel has done just that.
In her photography exhibit, "Until the Last Seed Grows," Martel showcases the people of Kibera, Africa, with alternately haunting and joyful images that underscore the complexities of these resilient people.
Photo by Kendal Martel |
SFA student Kendal Martel's photography exhibit 'Until the Last Seed Grows' will showcase the people she met while in Kibera, Africa. Donations will be accepted on behalf of the Haki Self-Help Group, an organization dedicated to empowering the women of Kibera to become self-sufficient.
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While in Africa, Martel, a graduate of Diboll High School and student at Stephen F. Austin State University, spent time in Kibera, the largest slum in East Africa, which holds close to a million people in an area three-quarters the size of Central Park. There she met members of the Haki Self-Help Group, a grassroots organization dedicated to addressing some of the most pressing problems faced by the people of Kibera: poverty, HIV/AIDS awareness, at-risk children (including the approximately 100,000 children orphaned by parents who died of AIDS) and the unequal treatment of women.
Sitting in on organization meetings, Martel learned of the Women's Economic Empowerment Program, a branch of the Haki Self-Help Group in which women entrepreneurs give each other a hand up by donating a portion of their earnings into a micro-finance initiative to finance another's business. Once one woman becomes self-reliant, she is able to pay back the money she borrowed and the loan is paid forward to another woman.
Inspired by the hope and desire of these women entrepreneurs, who strive to become self-sufficient despite living in an area where they still cannot own land or get an education equal to that of men, Martel is dedicating donations from her exhibit to the cause.
Also detailed in her upcoming exhibit are the visual stories of the children of the slums, whose daily fight for survival bespeaks of their resilience and their hopes for a future free from the grips of poverty.
There will also be educational materials made available and a discussion about how the funds raised from the exhibit will fund micro-enterprise initiatives among women in Kibera, and about the impact that social entrepreneurship and micro-enterprise can have in Africa.
"Until the Last Seed Grows" will be open from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday in the Angelina Room of the Hotel Fredonia, in downtown Nacogdoches.
For more information, call Martel at (936) 671-3523 or e-mail her at kendalmartel@gmail.com.
