Coordinator of the Bill Gates Private School in Peru Mariela Fernandez Leon and her students: Her contagious passion of education and learning shines through her vibrant personality. From left: Christian, Lucero, Mariela, Victoria, and Daniel.

After a month into being in Peru I happened to stumble across a private school funded by the Bill Gates Foundation in a place called Santa Barbara. A small community located in the foothills of the Andes, I started teaching 5 kids photography and it has been such a joy to visit the school and spend time with the kids who are all so enthusiastic about learning.

One of the challenges of working with the kids here is that they speak Spanish, and they have accepted me even though I can’t communicate with them very well. We have bonded through the art of photography and being creative, and it has been such a rewarding experience as I have learned so much, and the exchange of information has become invaluable.

Their excitement for life, learning and photography is easy to distinguish and one of my most memorable moments was teaching them English one evening in their dark classroom, while Victor my assistant held up a flashlight for everyone to see. (The school is in the midst of construction and has no electricity yet.)

Keeping up with all the batteries they go through and the organizing the thousands of photos they take each week has been challenging. It’s interesting and exciting to see what they capture every time we go out into the field, and everyone has a different approach and different results.

Our weekly excursions included walking through the village taking in the beauty of the rolling green landscape, watching the villagers going about their daily lives; selling food in the streets, women weaving clothing on their porches, and ranchers shuttling their cattle down winding dirt lanes. Do they know how lucky they are to be able to photograph this, I ask myself?

In the next post we will see their “Eyes on Life” and learn more about the Bill Gates Foundation.

This week I am off to Iquitos, deep into the jungle for a look into the Amazon and it’s wonders.

Photographing in the field in Santa Barbara: The beauty and wonder of a world that surrounds them.

Angie and her friend having fun taking photos.

The gang takes a break and poses for a snap after a long trek up the hills.

Teaching and sharing my vision in Peru has become an obsession. There is so much to discover and learn from the Andean culture.