Throughout Africa, hundreds of millions live without access to electricity. For light, many use toxic and expensive kerosene lamps; simultaneously harming the environment while keeping families within the grips of poverty. SolarAid is aiming to disrupt this market by providing those in need with cheaper and safer solar lights. Solar lights are more safe for the environment as well, which is important when combating climate change. With more than one million lights sold, that change is becoming tangible.
VIDEO: Change Heroes and Free The Children Help the World in 3 Hours
Watch what 22-year-old Evan Mula, from Boston, did with just a bit of time. He and 32 of his friends raised $10,000 in three hours to build a school in Kenya through Change Heroes and Free The Children. This is his trip to see that vision emerge in reality. Evan is able to demonstrate that anyone can change the world with just a bit of hard work. He now sets a standard for activists who work in Kenya.
LEARN MORE AT CHANGE HEROES
VIDEO: Exploring America's Newest Frontiers with the Millennial Trains Project
All aboard the Millennial Train! This 10-day 7-city train journey is set to embark on its second voyage, from Portland to New York City. As an annual journey, the Millennial Train Project hosts a group of bright young minds who have crowd-funded their way onto the train as they aim to tackle America's newest frontiers and challenges. It's an ever-moving incubator, riding full speed ahead toward a brighter tomorrow.
CONNECT WITH MILLENNIAL TRAINS PROJECT
VIDEO: Explore the Spectacular Sights in Barcelona
In few other cities is it possible to walk from spectacular location to spectacular location. Barcelona is one city that holds every kind of tourist destination for travelers. Locations visited include but are not limited to: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Gran Teater del Liceu, Sagrada Familia, Museu D'Historia De Barcelona, Palau de la Música, and Santa Maria del Pi. Barcelona has so many wonderful areas to explore, including everything from soccer games for sports fans to art museums for creative minds. Consider taking a trip to Barcelona to explore these sights.
CONNECT WITH ROB WHITWORTH
VIDEO: Alex Berger Explains Why You Should Travel Solo
Solo travel is intimidating, but it’s one of Alex Berger's favorite ways to travel. In this five-minute Ignite talk, Alex discusses why people should embrace solo travel and shares a few stories from his trips which really drive home the benefits of solo backpack/hostel travel.
CONNECT WITH ALEX BERGER
VIDEO: Can You Live on Just £1 a Day?
Can you live off just £1 a day? For millions of people around the world, this is a reality. These people lived on £1 per day for five days and shifted below the poverty line. Shift UK was created to stand with those who live like that every day and raise money to support life-changing projects.
CONNECT WITH SHIFT
VIDEO: Explore the Scenic US on a Road Trip
A vivid exploration of American culture, this video shows different parts of the country from the perspective of a road trip. While it starts in New York City, it is hardly limited to urban environments and looks at many different parts of the country.
CONNECT WITH MENNASIER GABRIEL
VIDEO: The Kula Project Invests in Farmers to Help the People of Rwanda
The majority of farmers in developing nations like Rwanda are unable to generate enough income to feed and sustain their families. This is due to the lack of basic needs for success. The Kula Project invests in small-scale farmers in Rwanda to create sustainable communities.
CONNECT WITH KULA PROJECT
VIDEO: Jono Moehlig’s Spoken Poem on the Beauty of Rwanda
Jono Moehlig went on a trip to Rwanda and found that the people he encountered there were some of the most amazing people he has ever met. Watching wartorn killers that have been released and loved by the neighbors they once destroyed, he learned what peace really is.
CONNECT WITH KULA PROJECT
VIDEO: Changing Girls’s Lives at The More Than Me Academy in Liberia
The More Than Me Academy is on a mission to make sure education and opportunity, not exploitation and poverty, define the lives of the most vulnerable girls from the West Point Slum of Liberia. When she graduates, she will decide what comes next for her life.
CONNECT WITH MORE THAN ME
VIDEO: Facts That Will Make You Want To Travel
Fact: There is no time like the present. Fact: Studies have found that money spent on travel will make you happier than money spent on material goods. Not convinced yet? Watch the video.
VIDEO: Scuba Diving in the Heart of Yap
Julie Hartup, part of Manta Trust, a non-profit organization, recently went to Yap to begin a long-term monitoring and research program. This footage was complied over four days of scuba diving at a shallow cleaning station with help from the Manta Ray Bay Resort.
CONNECT WITH MANTA TRUST
Turning Tables: A Voice for the Voiceless
Turning Tables is an international NGO committed to establishing, and maintaining permanent musical production facilities for DJ’ing, rap, and beat making for marginalized youth in the Developing World. “The aim is to start a process of reflection and self-empowerment by giving youth a space where they can express their travesties, hopes, and dreams in a non-violent manner,” says Turning Tables Founder and Director Martin F. Jakobson.
In 2009, Martin was living in Beirut, and began working in several Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon. Since then, Turning Tables has expanded its work across the Middle East to Tunisia, Jordan, Libya and Cairo, alongside establishing a presence in Haiti and Cambodia.
Beyond merely conducting workshops to educate youth about musical production, the organization has branched into workshops video production and has collaborated with local music festivals to further enhance the youth’s experience, and empowerment. Turning Tables also commits itself to the training of local staff, to ensure their facilities remain operational with the intention of self-sufficiency down the road.
Currently, Turning Tables is conducting an international online fundraising campaign for Cambodian street youth, many of whom are former child prostitutes. “Our expectation is that, with the fundraising campaign, will be able to train about 800 vulnerable Cambodian kids for a year, and create a strong outreach program to reach more at-risk youth.” — Martin Jakobson (Founder + Director)
This photo essay takes you to Turning Tables on site locations of Tunisia, Haiti, Libya, Cambodia and Egypt, displaying the many areas, and countless youth who have been powered through their inspired mission. Connect with Turning Tables here, and check out their crowd funded effort for the Cambodian youth on indiegogo.
ANDREW BRIDGE is a global enthusiast with a passion for the road less traveled. As a frequent collaborator with World Hip Hop Market and Nomadic Wax, Andrew has worked with numerous socially conscious artists from around the world in the pursuit of inspiring cultural understanding and exchange through entertainment. This fascination with the world at large has taken him to over 20 countries (so far) through studying, volunteering, and writing about his travels, with no signs of slowing his globetrotting nature down. Connect with Andrew at @Bridgin_TheGap
What Took You So Long?
Certifiably nomadic.
This is just one of countless ways to describe the rag-tag, bootstrapped guerrilla filmmaking collective “What Took You So Long?” (WTSYL). On any given day, this small, yet powerful team may span the area of three, even four continents. From Ghana to Haiti, Qatar to Panama, the WTYSL clan is constantly on the move– capturing images, and telling the stories from wherever their feet land.
Whether they are spanning the globe in search of some illustrious camel milk (yes, camel milk), or organizing TEDx events for the masses, WTYSL are constantly in pursuit of personifying the stories of the unsung heroes our world has to offer.
As guerrilla filmmakers, the team operates under the philosophy of their medium being a way of life, as opposed to a simple means of production. This is why they choose to live with those of whom they are filming and working with, take public transportation, and seek locals to collaborate with in the pursuit of building lasting relationships.
To date, the team has filmed in over 60 countries, with no signs of slowing down. These photos provide a small glimpse into the lives of these digital nomads and their tales of misadventure across the globe; those of which will undoubtedly continue well into the future.
A Glimpse at Myanmar
The military junta has ruled Myanmar since 1962; challenges to the junta are quickly thwarted with a heavy hand. Information coming and going is monitored closely. Journalists cautiously sneak in and out, but many are blacklisted after reporting about the political situation.
The former capital city of Yangon, while not without its beauty, is developmentally stalled in the past with beat down cars cruising by crumbling buildings. No ATM’s can be found; a visitor must bring all the money they need with them.
It’s easy to forget the 2007 Saffron Rebellion. It’s easy to forget that the country’s beloved Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, was under house arrest for the better part of the past two decades before her release in November of 2011. But regardless of its troubled past, you will rarely have a smile unreturned wherever you go. It’s easy to have a look around and feel that everything is just fine and dandy.
JUSTIN MOTT @jmott78
Justin is an editorial and commercial photographer born in Rhode Island, USA. He is living in Hanoi, Vietnam and working throughout SE Asia on personal projects and assignments. In 2008 his work on Agent Orange orphans was recognized in the PDN Annual and was awarded the Morty Forscher Fellowship for humanistic photography given out by the Parson’s School of Design in NYC.
For more on Justin and his photography visit: Mott Visuals
PHOTO ESSAY CURATED BY: Nelida Mortensen
Morocco: The Color of Tough
It was the cemeteries that first spoke to me.
Read More
100cameras
100cameras is an NGO that empowers marginalized children around the world to document their lives through photography, and thereby create positive change in their communities. 100% of the photography sales go back to the children’s communities. Here’s how it works: 100cameras gives a camera to Jackson in South Sudan. Jackson snaps a photo. Then you buy his photo on the 100cameras website. 100% goes back to Jackson and Jackson is empowered.
In 2008, 100cameras launched its first project at St. Bartholomew’s Orphanage in Kajo Keji, South Sudan that serves as a home to 80 children who lost their families during the brutal 21-year civil war. The orphanage was founded by IWASSRU (International Widows Association for Southern Sudanese Refugees in Uganda), a group of Sudanese war widows that banded together to care for refugee orphans. 100cameras funds lifeline supplies, such as protection and access to food, water, and medicine.
To date, the sale of the children’s photography has raised $17,000 that was used to build a fence around the campus, protecting them from the rebel forces in Sudan, and has provided critical maintenance for the truck that transports all food and medicine for the children. $17,000 is four times the average annual income in Sudan!
You can purchase a child's photograph on the 100cameras website and 100% of your purchase will go directly to IWASSRU to provide lifeline supplies and shelter.
This photo essay is a small selection of the more than 200 photographs of South Sudan taken by South Sudanese kids, as well as projects in other countries around the world.
Connect with 100cameras and purchase images of their kid photographers here. Check out their crowdfunding campaign going on now here at WEDIDIT.
The Burning Man
For close to three decades now, Nevada’s desert landscape has been annually transformed into the phenomenon that has come to be known as Black Rock City, home to the Burning Man. While the essence of Burning Man is often mislabeled as a massive party with excessive drug use, it is best described as "pop up society." One, which after a years worth of work, dedication, and preparation is burnt down to the desert floor, leaving it just as it was before its temporary inhabitants arrived.
Regardless of the stereotypes about the “hippy subculture” that Burning Man has been built upon, the festival embodies a spirit of collective freedom that is seldom seen in our world today. It has evolved into a place of worship, innovation, radical self-reliance, and authentic freedom of expression; where anyone can reinvent themself into whomever they want, without the stresses of acceptance and judgment from the “real world”.
Amongst the plethora of art installations, participatory campsites, and whatever else Black Rock City births, Michael Marantz, Founder / Director of Already Alive, was inspired by one in particular, “The Temple”. In his mind, the installation of The Temple, “explores modern spirituality in a contemplative and personal manner; touching on ideas of self-discovery, letting go and meaningful human connection that transcends a simple party in the desert.”
Marantz’ inspiration led him to contribute to Burning Man’s consistent theme of a “gift economy” by producing a short film about it. Fortunately, Michael was able to capture the film in a series of still images, allowing those unable to participate in the experience of Burning Man, to have a taste of what it is like to reside in the world of Black Rock City.
Getting Lost in Slovenia
Photos & Text by, CRISTINA NEHRING
Photo Essay Curated by, NELIDA MORTENSEN
This is what Hansel and Gretel felt like, I mused as I erred through an opaque wood. Except that I had forgotten the breadcrumb trail; I had forgotten the bread. Just an hour ago, after all, my daughter and I had been at a café on the sea. A hundred-odd hairpin turns later in a tiny car and the world had changed, darkness was upon us, the trees were impassive.
Slovenia is a country of extremes. Extreme sports, extreme combat, extreme resilience, extreme beauty. Tucked away tightly between Italy, Austria and Croatia, Slovenia shares an opening onto the Mediterranean and a big chunk of the Alps. Only half the size of Switzerland--and with a population of just 2 million--it packs an abundance of micro-climates into a tiny space. When Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia (until 1991), it accounted for a mere 8% of the land and population of its mother country, but 60% of its industry. Once independence was declared (Slovenia was the first of Yugoslavia’s six republics to split off, and to do so essentially without bloodshed), its economy and industry only took off.
Today, it is The Little Country that Could. In the Soca River Valley where many hundreds of thousands lost their lives during World War I (as recounted, in part, by Hemingway in A Farewell to Arms), locals now receive tourists for river-rafting, canyoning and paragliding. And yet the ghosts have not gone. Gingerbread-houses feel like they are just around the corner, haunted-seeming castles emerge every few miles, and every rock and rabbit appears to have a story to tell.
My girl and I gripped each others hands tightly, and kept forging ahead until the light reappeared. Like the Slovenian people have done so many times. And there’s very little more radiant than Slovenia under the sun.
CRISTINA NEHRING
Cristina is an American author, journalist and photographer. Her work has appeared in Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Slate, The Nation and elsewhere.Her books are A Vindication of Love: Reclaiming Romance for the Twenty-First Century (HarperCollins) and Journey to the Edge of the Light: A Tale Of Love, Leukemia and Transformation (Amazon Kindle Singles).Her photo exhibits include “The Sky is Falling” and “Found Love” (Chico, California).She lives in Paris with her now 5-year-old daughter, Eurydice, who has Down Syndrome, and often serves as her model. For photo purchases and other inquiries visit her website at: www.cristinanehring.com
Hoops4Hope
There are few elements across the spectrum of humanity that bind and connect us as people, no matter our age, race, or cultural background. They validate our bond as humans and in many cases, drive the most profound change that is occurring across the globe, bringing us together as a global community. The sport’s friendly competition does exactly this.
This is where Hoops 4 Hope (H4H) comes into play. Since 1995, H4H is an international non-profit organization, which has utilized the “power of sport to create sustainable long-term positive impact for youth, equipping them with the tools to manage the social, health and economic related challenges they face.” — Mark Crandall, H4H Founder & Director More
As the sister organization for Soccer 4 Hope, Hoops 4 Hope utilizes the medium of basketball to provide empowering sports programing to youth across Zimbabwe and South Africa. The organization’s mission is to educate youth with life skills necessary to survive; it has flourished in communities that struggle with poverty, unemployment, HIV/AIDS, violence, crime, substance abuse, and gender inequality.
Over its 18 years of existence, H4H has seen many of its youngsters receive sports scholarships to high schools, coaches being chosen for overseas cultural exchanges, and even have a Zimbabwean athlete now playing professionally in the Euro League. Furthermore, various H4H courts have been graced with visits from German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, along with NBA Star and member of the Chicago Bulls, Luol Deng, amongst many others.
This photo essay highlights Hoops 4 Hope as our NGO of the Week, taking you to the on-site project locations throughout Zimbabwe and South Africa, many of which were made possible through collaborations with local schools, shelters, and community organizations.
Connect with Hoops 4 Hope here.
ANDREW BRIDGE is a global enthusiast with a passion for the road less traveled. As a frequent collaborator with World Hip Hop Market and Nomadic Wax, Andrew has worked with numerous socially conscious artists from around the world in the pursuit of inspiring cultural understanding and exchange through entertainment. This fascination with the world at large has taken him to over 20 countries (so far) through studying, volunteering, and writing about his travels, with no signs of slowing his globetrotting nature down. Connect with Andrew at @Bridgin_TheGap