From Northeast Washington, DC, to Nairobi, Kenya, too many children face bleak futures because of poverty and neglect. It doesn’t have to be that way. PhotoTour Excursions wants to help children see a world of opportunities through the lenses of art and education. Help us inspire disadvantaged children to reach new horizons through our own program, Picture a World, and through our signature charity, the Tumaini Foundation.
A Picture of Self Expression
Using photography to create art can be transformational for children who are learning to dream. It gives them the vision to see their way out of poverty. This year’s project, Seeing our City, helps disadvantaged children in the Washington, DC, area learn photography as a means of expressing themselves and building self esteem.
PhotoTour Excursions provides free photo instruction and mentorship to needy children identified by local nonprofit organizations. Instruction happens on two half-day tours – one of the Washington, DC, monuments and the other in their own neighborhoods.
In the first half-day session, children learn the steps of taking great pictures during the Washington, DC Icons Signature Excursion. That photo instruction is paired with a narrated tour experience that exposes children to little-known historical facts and background on each location.
In the second session, children take photographs of their own neighborhoods and use their newfound skill to tell stories of their surroundings.
Through both excursions, children develop their own voice and a body of work with which to express it. The work is culminated with a Seeing our City exhibit and silent auction.
A Picture of Hope
The Tumaini Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to educating AIDS orphans in the East African country of Kenya. The Swahili word, Tumaini, means "hope," and your support of Tumaini Foundation gives disadvantaged children in the small town of Kitui, Kenya, reason to hope.
Tumaini Foundation was founded when eight friends from Kenya pooled their resources to provide food, clothing, and reading material for underprivileged children in the small Kenyan community of Kitui. Word of the efforts spread quickly and, within six months, the friends built a temporary shelter made out of corrugated sheets and wooden poles. Children gathered for daily meals and sessions of basic learning.
Today the temporary shelter for a handful of children has grown to 75 students in a one-room permanent schoolhouse. Donations made on the PhotoTour Excursions web site and a portion of our profits will help complete a second classroom on the structure and eventually build a second school.