Monday, March 18, 2013

What's your most prized possession?

Do you ever look at something, or have an experience that makes you think, "that is what I need to do"?

It sparks something inside of you. It ignites your passion. It makes you feel direction. It may not tell you exactly what you want to do with the rest of your life, but you can just feel something inside of yourself stirring because it spoke to you.

Today I saw this amazing photo shoot. It's a photo shoot of children from all over the world with their most prized possessions.

Keynor – Cahuita, Costa Rica
Watcharapom – Bangkok, Thailand
Tangawizi – Keekorok, Kenya
 Julia – Tirana, Albania
Chiwa – Mchinji, Malawi

I feel this innate need inside of myself to help people. Looking at these pictures of these children brought that all up again for me. Maybe that's why I want to be a doula? So I can help these mothers feel in control of their births, and educate them of their options. Maybe that's why I want to live abroad again?  

This weekend I heard about a school where a friend worked where they help refugees adjust, and learn to live in America. I want that job!

I'm not really sure what the point of this post is other than to say these photographs inspired me. Please check out the rest of the photos here.   What has inspired you lately? What's your most prized possession?

Once in Cambodia I asked some of my students, (who most of them were from wealthyish families in my town) what is your most prized possession? what would you try to save if you could only save one thing?   Lets just say they weren't very sentimental. Almost all of them said they'd save their cell phone, or their computer if they were lucky enough to have one. I think only one student gave a different answer. I wish I could remember what they would have saved. I would have loved to do this with children all over Cambodia.

11 comments:

Torrie said...

What a powerful photo shoot. I think I would cringe to ask this question in most of my classes because I would be afraid of those same types of answers: "my cell phone" or "my iPad."

I'm not saying that all people in the U.S. are like that, but I've found that more and more, people's most prized possessions don't really seem to have much sentimental value at all--most are just distractions from what's really valuable.

But I'll get off my soapbox :)

Angi said...

Those pictures are too cute!! I honestly don't know what my most prized possession is...

Rolled Up Pretty said...

Oh, I love seeing these kids with their cute little treasures. My mom was saying last night to just give Radcliff anything he wants to play with because their are so many No's in life, let's give him as many Yes's as we can. And then even though kids can be hard, that this is their now just like it's your now, so things are just as important to them as they are to us. I don't really know why I wrote this but it came to mind when I saw this post. You should totally help them adjust here. You would be so good at that and how rewarding would you feel?!

Rolled Up Pretty said...

PS Do you care if I use these pictures for a post and link back!? I just love them! :)

Ashley said...

My heart is melting right now. This is a fantastic idea, and I love seeing all their prized possessions. You have such a big heart, Sam and I love it.

Why Girls Are Weird said...

These pictures are AMAZING. And kind of make me feel like I need to stop complaining so much about the things I lack, you know?

Rachel said...

That really is an amazing photo shoot. Very enlightening. I too have the longing to someday go back overseas. What to do, specifically, I don't know, but I have a love for the multi-lingual, cross-cultural, international lifestyle, and the people that you meet all over the world. I don't know if I'll ever get that opportunity but I'll wait and see!

Summer said...

LOVE that photoshoot. REally makes you think! Children are so beautiful.

The Childlike Empress said...

these pictures are so great. it would be interesting to do the same photo and question with them in 20 years time.
when i was living in Egypt and had to evacuate during the heat of the revolution, i had a small amount of time to go back into my apartment which was in the city centre and grab some things i needed before flying out....and to be honest when put in a situation where i had to grab the most important things i needed i realised that i didnt need any of it, that nothing was really that important to put in my back pack.
I took some clean underwear and my laptop.
not very sentimental i know!!!! but i guess i wasnt really thinking sentimentally at the time!

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

Photos like these always get to me! I hate seeing poor children!

Ashley said...

These photos! Makes me realize the overabundance of toys I had as a kid, and the United States' excessiveness!

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