Changing worlds with photography.

Dreams for Kachra Kundi - Pakistan - Kelly Wenzel

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I have always wanted to use photography as a tool to help give a voice to people who may not have one. There is to much to know about the world to only stop and look at your backyard.

I was honored to learn that I had been selected for an opportunity to work with Photographers Without Borders, the Thaakat Foundation, along with Dreams for Kachra Kundi in Pakistan this upcoming December. The Thaakat Foundation is working closely with Dreams for Kachra Kundi to provide free schooling to 500 children (40% of which are female) and help building schools, which includes 15 classrooms in three campuses in Kachra Kundi (waste village). Kachra Kundi is a large garbage dump community located 50 miles outside of Karachi, Pakistan and is home to thousands of families that earn their livelihood from collecting waste and selling it to recycling centers. Residents of this community have been deprived of basic necessities such as clean water, electricity, and previously there had been zero access to education. 

It is my privilege to work with such amazing organizations and be able to document the inspiring work they are doing. As a photographer, I use my camera to capture the narratives of people's lives cultures, struggles, and successes all over the world. 

I have been able to work with some incredible people while preparing for this project, one of them being Uzma Bawany, the Founder and Executive Director of the Thaakat Foundation. Through my conversations with Uzma I have been able to see how vital getting education to remote, underprivileged areas of the world is. One of the areas the Thaakat Foundation is focused on is educating the women and girls in Pakistan. There is a stigma against educating girls; many of them will get married and have their first child at 16 or 17 years old. This leaves them vulnerable to a life of violence, struggles, and poverty, the Thaakat Foundation is trying to change this. 

The Thaakat Foundation adopts project sites because no one else is wiling to help the people in that area. In this case, the people living in Kachra Kundi are outcasts because of their living conditions and status. The people living in these communities are the untouchables, no one thought to invest in providing them with an education, they didn't think it would make a difference. This is one of the many reasons why I think documenting this community and the work the Thaakat Foundation is doing is so incredibly important. It is easy to overlook something or someone when you have the excuse that you were not aware of the situation. I want to help bring the faces and stories of Kachra Kundi to the forefront of people's mind through captivating photographs. My photographs will be used to raise awareness and promote education. 

The people living in Kachra Kundi are relying on the Thaakat Foundation because they are the only people supporting and helping them to thrive, if they exit, they don't have anyone else. It is important to understand that donors are directly impacting the lives of these communities in need. The donors are so much a part of the success story and some people might not realize that.

I am looking forward to take part in this project, but I would greatly appreciate your help! This is a 100% volunteer trip and is completely self-funded. The estimated cost is to cover program fees, airfare, visas, health coverage, travel insurance, and transportation. All donations are tax-deductible and any overage of funds goes directly to the Thaakat Foundation and PWB. I am forever grateful for any support you are able to provide and thank you for all your support on this project, it is an incredibly inspiring cause. 

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Each of our photographers/videographers is assigned a GroupRev fundraising page by PWB upon acceptance. These pages are a privilege, that are intended to make our programs accessible to all and enable our volunteer photographers/videographers to subsidize or cover their necessary project-related expenses. 

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Please Note: All funds are donated in US dollars.

Photographers Without Borders® (PWB) envisions a world where we all put ourselves in each others' shoes and work together. Our mission is to inform and inspire positive change by visually communicating the ways that grassroots initiatives are addressing problems in their communities. PWB is registered as a charity in the United States with 501(c)(3) status and is registered as a not-for-profit organization in Canada. All donations are calculated in US Dollars and are tax-deductible for Americans and Canadians with US income.

Any overage amounts raised on GroupRev will be donated with the photographers direction, 100% to the Organization, 100% to PWB or split 50/50, between the photographer's/videographer's assigned cause and PWB, which is also a volunteer-run organization.

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