Nº 30

«Barack Obama was one of these disposed kids»

It all started here, at the funeral in the photo above, but it actually comes from long ago. Since the beginning of his career as a photographer in 1967, Steven Shames has shown a clear interest: the lives of disadvantaged, abandoned and poor children. His images are stunning documents which speak for themselves, and are part of permanent collections of institutions like the International Center of Photography in New York, or the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, to name a few. Nine years ago, Shames was in Uganda, working on a story of AIDS orphans, and photographed the funeral of a woman, who left five orphaned children behind. The youngest, just a few months old, was called Sarah. Steven Shames decided to take over the education of the little Sarah, her family, and later also of a dozen orphans from the village. He wanted them to attend the best schools in Africa. In 2004, his interest had grown to an unprecedented educational project: LEAD Uganda. Today, the lives of more than 70 children, including Sarah, have been transformed. Steven Shames tells us the details of this fascinating adventure in this interview.

Versión en español

KINDSEIN: What is your task in your Foundation? Do you go often to Uganda? How could anyone help without money? Do you receive the help and volunteers you need? Has the financial crisis affected your project?

STEVEN SHAMES: The Stephen Shames Foundation raises money for the LEAD Uganda program. We also raise awareness. We use photography and video to do this. Pictures speak directly to the soul. I think people see how incredible our kids are in the photos.

LEAD Uganda is the name of the program. LEAD Uganda is a joint project of the Stephen Shames Foundation and Concern for the Future (CFTF), an indigenous Ugandan non-profit, that looks after the children. I started this but three years ago turned it over to the Ugandans. The formed CFTF. They run it. I am not even on the board of directors. That is how it should be. The Ugandan staff has to do it. We do not want to perpetuate colonial attitudes.

We have volunteers who work with us. We partner with churches and schools. One partner, Forefront Church in New York City has been particularly helpful. Not only does the church give us 5% of their collections, but volunteers from the church are organizing two fund raising concerts for us. The church traveled to Uganda to meet the staff and students last August. They are taking a larger group this August. They will run workshops for the children. One workshop will be on how to apply to college.

We also have teachers who work with us. One, Marsha Vernon, designed a school curriculum to teach how AIDS, war, and poverty affect children in Africa. We put it on our website free for anyone to use.

Many of the Ugandan guardians volunteer also.  We could not do this without volunteers. They are our heart and soul. We have an incredible staff in Uganda. They are also vital to our program.