Economic Growth Kyrgyzstan Project #23006

Empower Disadvantaged Children through Photograph

by Taiwan Fund for Children and Families

Project Report | Sep 6, 2017
Time to say goodbye & see you soon!

By Wen Hung | Project Leader

Practiced taking pictures at sunset by Daniel.

Daniel, a 14-year-old teenager in the 9th grade, lives with his mother, grandmother and a younger sister and a younger brother. He joined our project in January 2017.

“Hello! My name is Daniel. My favorite subjects in school are mathematics and literature and my first dream is to become a dentist. However, I am unable to pursue my dream of becoming a dentist, because the education of dental students is very expensive. I’ve decided to go to the college after 9^th grade, and chosen the course of electrician training. Therefore, I may start to work and earn money to raise more household income as soon as possible.

Thank TFCF photography project for giving me the second dream. My second dream is to travel around the world. This course taught me a lot about photography, and has inspired me to learn more. Through my lens photography, I’ve explored the world and myself with my senses, and I found the beautiful world. When I attended the class at the first time, I got a good camera which was donated by Taiwan. I have never seen it before, and it only appeared on TV programs. I was so excited to take pictures with this cool camera, and imagined that I could be a professional photographer. I found my artistic talent and creativity through the project and also learned the importance and the power of team work. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to find myself and experience the life from a different perspective.”

- Message from Daniel, one of project participants

** Daniel is the fake name due to the privacy and safety of individuals is respected.

The biggest learning gain for children

It has been one and a half years to receive the project support through GlobalGiving. At the first year, we served children of orphanage house in Tokmok and TFCF assisted children in Bishkek. Children living in orphanages simply didn't get the secure care, so we paid more attention to listen and accompany them with more time. In the beginning of this year, we served children of TFCF assisted families in Tokmok and Bishkek while ending up the services of orphanage house. We developed their photography skills through lectures and practices. We also modified our course and provided more alternative education and inspirational & explorational programs, including communication skills and group exercises, and teambuilding games and tasks. As we described in the project purpose, we would give children more than photography but also the biggest learning gain.

Time to say goodbye & see you soon

I would like to sincerely thank you on behalf of the staff and the assisted children in Kyrgyzstan. We have had great success in working together with you, and we’ve received USD1485 dollars from 27 generous donors who dedicated to supporting our project. You may find that the project is of great worth and we achieved our mission to change and re-develop children who participated in our classes.

It’s time to say goodbye to the photography project and we know that it is not the end but another new starting. In order to serve more disadvantaged children in Kyrgyzstan, we will launch another project later to fit their needs specifically. We are truly grateful for your dedication to helping Kyrgyzstan children, and hope you will support all TFCF projects as you did before and we are continually looking forward to receiving your assistance.

With gratitude,

Wen Hung

Photo by Daniel

Children's photography exhibition

Group Photo

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Jun 12, 2017
Photography Challenges

By Wen Hung | Project Leader

Bermet was taking a photo of her favorite flower.

Bermet is 15 years old teenager in the 8th grade and has both parents and three siblings. They don’t have their own house, and live in a rental house without good living conditions. She joined our project in February 2017.

“Hello! My name is Bermet, I have started photography class in TFCF since this February. As a beginner, I really like it. My parents can’t afford to buy a camera for me, however, I am still dreaming about having my own camera. We moved house many times because we don't have our own house. So, I am familiar with different places in the Bishkek city. I hope I could take photos of interesting subjects anytime, anywhere. I joined TFCF volunteer team recently and I want to help people. I want to say thank you to people who support children like me! One day I will give my own helping hand to children! It is one of my dreams.”

- Message from Bermet

Sharing is caring!

In our team-building activity, we have a sharing moment and help participants get to know each other better and build a good fellowship. Through the activity, children often involve sharing personal information and experience, and learn to interact in relation to others with care, empathy and respect. In the beginning, children were too shy to interact with others, however, shy children can learn to be more confident and comfortable interacting with other people afterwards.

Photography challenge ideas

Currently, we have 9 on-going classes and there are 91 participants participating in our project. It’s time to demonstrate their skills and creative ideas. We’ve listed 10 different photography ideas, and every child could choose one of them to complete the task. For example, we may ask them find one spot and create 24 different and unique shots or take a photo of one object in different places with different angels. We are glad that most of children have done excellently and we have collected their feedback as below:

Regina said, “At the beginning, it was difficult to choose from the list, so I spent time reading through all 10 tasks and found my favorite finally. It was not easy for me, but I know it was good for me because I sit and think before I shoot.”

Bermet said, “My task was about the limit meaning to limit myself in any way. So, I decided to limit myself by shooting flowers only which I really like!”

Sanzhar said, “I misunderstood the task, so I did it in the wrong way firstly. However, I captured up and found my photos were good. My teacher told me that the photopraphy is an act of creativity.”

Summer camp soon!

We are preparing and getting ready for summer camp activity very soon. We would like to thank to all of our sponsors who have donated to this project and help children’s dreams come true. We believe that children will enjoy this summer camp to enhance their photographic skills which give children opportunities to broaden their minds.

With gratitude,

Wen Hung

A photo of Bermet

Bermet as a volunteer in the class

Bermet was photographing flowers.

Photo by Bermet

Sharing moment

Selection of photography ideas

Enjoyed the class!

Focused on my subject!

A group photo

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Mar 17, 2017
New Year & New participants!

By Wen Hung | Project Leader

Through my lens

Viktoria (Vika) is 15 years old in 8th grade and joined our class in February, 2017. Vika has an absent father who has left family since she was born. Both her mother and grandmother passed away. She was lived with great-grandmother, and now moves to her aunt’s home because her great-grandmother was paralyzed last year.

“I like TFCFphotograph program and enjoy in the class. My favor is to shoot landscapes and photograph people and it makes me happy and relaxed. I can make friends in the class and share my feeling through pictures with people. I always attend the class on time and I really like this program a lot. It changed my vision and life and I would like to keep learning and be a professional photographer in the future!”

- Message from Vika

New class in 2017

By the end of last year, we finished our program for Children Home in Chui and now we have all participants from our assisted children and youth at our branch office and service center. Therefore, we have opened two new classes and invite more children to join in Tokmok and Bishkek since the beginning of 2017. The total enrolled children and youth are 38 currently and we hope we could receive more support from you and assist more needy children to participate as more as we can.

We have run thephotograph program since 2015, and we saw our children’s world through their lens and perceived children as being very different from adults in photos. Our project encouraged needy children to think in a more challenging and creative manner, and we expect them to overcome their disadvantaged situation and grow with confidence.

People are often motivated by the ambition to win against another and achieve a more successful goal. We are planning to organize a photo contest for children this year, and give an opportunity for them to achieve their goals. However, cooperation is more important than competition in achieving a goal. I believe we will provide a good team work exercise and allow children to learn the team spirit at our programs.

Children’s dreams

Like all children, they have big dreams for their future, and we hope needy children have an opportunity to think about their dreams as well. We would like to cordially invite you to join us and empower disadvantaged children through photograph!

With gratitude,

Wen Hung

Vika's dream

Team photo

Team building game

In class

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