The Story 2009

One evening, in February 2008 while I was walking around the old colonial city of Grenada in Nicaragua I spotted a sign for a photography exhibit. When I went to the show I was very impressed by the quality of the photographs….and then I met the photographers. They were children, many of them looking younger than their years, all of them proud and excited to be part of the show. These children were making a difference in their own lives and the lives of their fellow students. All the profits from the show were going to an organization called Empowerment International (EI). EI is dedicated to helping Nicaraguan children stay in school through financial aid, emotional and practical support and enrichment programs including photography. This was not charity, this was the children sharing their world through their art and helping themselves and others.

That night in February, I met with Kathy Adams, the founder of EI and suggested we do a show in Toronto. Since then, many people in Toronto have been involved in putting the show together, all enthusiastic volunteers. The children in Nicaragua are thrilled to have people in Canada coming out to see their work and the opportunity to expand the EI program to more students. On September 27th 2009, we had the photography show at the Edward Day Gallery. It was a huge success. Fantastic food was served, wine was drunk, all the photos were sold and the kids in Nicaragua were able to see the show via a Skype camera. The show was about more than raising money, it was a true connection between Toronto and Nicaragua

We are decided to do the show again this year. Sarah Lichter and Roberto Caruso went to Nicaragua in July with generously donated photography equipment. They spent 10 days working with the kids and came back with fantastic images. Narrowing the selection down to 50 images has been a difficult task. We are all looking forward to November 14th to show you all the beauty of another part of the world, to see how others live through their own eyes.

- Christine Hutchings