Education is a gift

A couple hours everyday I borrow a classroom at a high school to teach students in an after school program how photography can be used to express statements that inspire and informs. Recently, I've asked the students to dig deeper and explore opinions that they never knew they had, opinions that touch on social issues like child sex trafficking and the lack of mentorship for impoverished communities across the globe. My students have the leisure of engaging in these sorts of conversations, because of the guidance set up by our program and by teachers who care.

In places like West Papua, Indonesia there is a failing education system with scattered support not good enough to protect the children from living a life of given hardship. The lack of programming there can only take away a future of unlimited opportunities for the children. While I'm here in Los Angeles wondering why there aren't more students taking advantage of my free class, there are Papuan children forced to survive on their own without proper schooling. An earlier report this year claims that Indonesia's national budget failed to fund free education for the poorer inhabitants of West Papua, and the illiteracy rate is nearly double the national average due to the severe underdevelopment of education. Poor education results in poor chances for the Papuan children to survive.

Currently, there is a solution. In the city of Wamena a young model school is providing a place for children ranging from kindergarten to 2nd grade to receive good, quality education. It is their goal to add on classes every year with hopes to build a school that covers K-12. This is a start to a new beginning. In my own classroom, the solution we came up with is to speak out against injustice such as this through our art. Our intention is to not just continue raising awareness, but gathering community so that others will be led to help in their own way.

Live to Love,
Jen May