Mission Statement
EPHAS’ mission is to train people in developing nations
in digital photography, adding video as funding permits,
enabling them to document their lives and communities.
We will help present daily life, both advancement and
triumph as well as difficult and sometimes unsightly
realities, problems often unknown to those fortunate
enough to be able to help. We want every organization
that works with EPHAS to have resources to teach its
clients photography and video, so they can tell their own
stories. Their photos will also show how well each project
meets its goals, helping successful organizations tell their
story.
Description
EPHAS, an acronym for Every Person has a Story, implements photography workshops in developing nations to educate, enable, and empower participants at in-patient medical centers, orphanages and schools. Every day journalists and photographers do their best to help various organizations by promoting their positive work, but this is not the best way to do so. Instead of the magazines and newspapers being filled with photographs taken by paid staff, what if the photographs were taken by the subjects, of the subjects? We, at EPHAS, are more interested in the perspective and realities of those people who are generally in front of the lens instead of behind it.
By running three-day workshops in countries such as Cambodia, Rwanda, Haiti, Peru, Israel and dozens more, we are able to educate thousands of participants in the art of photography to the point where they can express themselves and take photographs that are representative of how they feel. Each location will have a topic of interest whether it is the geographical area or the people involved. In Cambodia, we worked in rehabilitation centers so focused on the aid given through prosthetics and rehab. In Rwanda we will work with an organization delivering clean water to over 250,000 people. Our participants will photograph the change in their level of health and cultural differences over time. There will be similar projects in each location.
Once per year an EPHAS staff member from the U.S. will visit each center, leaving the cameras, printers and supplies behind. In each area (or country depending on the size), a local EPHAS representative will teach one three-day workshop per location. With ten to twenty participants per workshop, the number of peoples' lives that are changed will grow by the thousands annually.
Back in the United States, we are connecting each "hosting organization," such as the rehabilitation centers, water purification centers, schools and orphanages with elementary schools, high schools and photography clubs to coordinate an exchange of photographs, stories and ideas. This will open the eyes and minds of America's youth as well as introduce philanthropy into their lives at an early age.
