#FOTOFORKONGO
CONGO KIDS INITIATIVE ANNOUNCES OUR FIRST INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION:
NKH FOR CKI - PHOTOGRAPHY FOR CONGO
A PHOTOGRAPHY-PROJECT BY STUDENTS AT NORWEGIAN SCHOOL OF CREATIVE STUDIES IN COLLABORATION WITH THE RENOWNED DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER MARCUS BLEASDALE (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC / VII AGENCY) AND CONGO KIDS INITIATIVE.
THE PROJECT "NKH FOR CKI - PHOTO FOR CONGO" IS NOW UNDERWAY!
After an inspiring meeting with documentary photographer Marcus Bleasdale in May 2014, we decided to start a project that would financially benefit people in need in the area and we chose to collaborate with The Congo Kids Initiative. The organization is gathering funds for the orphanage, St Kizito, in Eastern Congo.
We decided that through photographic work and activities related to photography as a communication and medium, we would endure a project that would help raise money to this organization and the orphanage as such.
First and foremost it was important for us as photography-students to use the knowledge we have and produce photo-related work in order to contribute to this project. The project supplies both funds for the orphanage, but also it provides us with a deep understanding of running and managing the project, work experience as photographers and a valuable insight in both the history of, and the challenges of The Democratic republic of Congo.
An important part of the project is to raise awareness and knowledge of the project it self and what Congo Kids Initiative is working on.
In addition we need to communicate how people can donate and contribute into this project. The general idea is to swap our knowledge of photography and our service as photographers with donations from the people we photograph or teach. We have created various accounts on multiple channels in social medias like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This way we can reach out to as many people as possible and it gives everyone an opportunity to show their commitment. We have also created a hash tag: #fotoforkongo, which we hope can contribute to getting the audience to feel included in this important project. We are campaigning both verbally and socially in addition to the channels online in order to create as much awareness as possible on this project.
We are using Facebook and Twitter to post important information about events we organize to collect money, document the work we do along the way and regularly remind the audience what the money goes to by linking to www.congokidsinitiative.org.
The first week resulted in 259 people liking our Facebook page and we aim to double this by the second week of the project. We have sent press releases to several Norwegian newspapers and are lobbying to get them to spread the word even further on our project. We have obtained sponsors for a sales exhibition that also marks the end of the project (for now) and so far (the first week) we have raised almost 30 000, - Nkr (4 000 USD) and this is before we have started swapping pictures for donations.
Marcus Bleasdale has been supporting us and have on several occasions shared his images, knowledge and experiences from working in Congo as a documentary photographer and this has given us a even greater motivation to do everything we can to help the best we can! We look forward to addressing all challenges in the coming weeks and hope to reach as many people as possible to provide Congo Kids Initiative the attention they deserve!
When the project is finished, we have a plan to challenge departments to NKH in Bergen and Trondheim to follow up the work and take the baton so that Congo Kids Initiative will get further support and attention in the future.
DO YOU FEEL CHALLENGED?
Kind Regards
2nd Year graduates (Photography)
Norwegian School of Creative Arts (NKH)
Oslo, Norway