Documenting Dreams

Year: 2010
Country: Dominican Republic
Project Status: Funded
Impact Sector: Education
Project Investment: $500.00

Project Launch:

Documenting Dreams is a project that incorporated digital photography into the elementary and high schools in a poor, rural community in the Dominican Republic. Students from pre-kindergarten to seniors in high school used the cameras and other materials and equipment provided through a grant from World Connect’s Kids to Kids Program for creative learning project and to document their academic successes. The students formed a journalism club, where they learned photography and video skills as well as concepts like community news and education through the media. The club taught youths about journalism, photography, and community building through the sharing of information. The equipment provided was also made available for general use by the schools to document school activities and celebrate school achievements and the computer lab was made available for afterschool classes on photography and photo editing which were opened to the whole community. This project benefitted the kids who participated by making classes more interactive and more interesting. Creating photo and video project not only taught kids the skills necessary to take photos and video and edit them, but also important life lessons of critical-thinking, planning, working as a team, and the satisfaction of having achieved a goal. Home computers are extremely rare in this community and with few supplies, overcrowded classrooms, and under-trained teachers, schools in the community are limited in what they can provide and teach students. The project had a lasting, positive impact on kids in community because through the journalism club and in computer classes, the cameras allowed students, who rarely had the chance to take pictures or use cameras in the past, to learn about the importance of recording history and the power of communication as well as providing kids with practical new skills.