Spending Thanksgiving Giving Back

Over Thanksgiving 2012, Sloane Davidson (@sloane) and I went to Guatemala to support She’s the First by visiting and volunteering at Starfish One by One, an education and mentorship program that supports girls education in 4 cities in the Lake Atitlian region. (Sloane explains the backstory on her blog.) We visited 3 locations and spent time visiting and talking with the girls about their lives, their dreams, and their incredible personal efforts to continue their education.

In addition, we spent 2 days working with one group of girls teaching a photography workshop and left 5 cameras with the school to allow the girls to continue their journey with photography and work the creative arts into their education. For most of the girls, it was their first time ever touching a camera, but they took to it immediately, and by the second day they were looking for pictures, laughing, and enjoying photography.

See more photos on Facebook and Flickr. And read a note in the main Guatemalan newspaper about the class.

To learn how to support these organizations, click through to Starfish One by One and She’s the First.