Volunteer: Carrie Brown
Program Site: Volta Region, Ghana
Initial Year: 2002
From the International Volunteer Programs Association
Carrie Brown is passionate about photography. She is also passionate about working with the people of Ghana, West Africa. Combining these two passions has inspired her to start a photography school.
Carrie first traveled to Ghana in 2002 when, as a candidate for a degree in Fine Arts, she completed an internship through a six-month volunteer experience with Cross-Cultural Solutions. The task assigned was to use her photography to document life in the fishing village of Woe in the Volta Region. Along with the photos, she collected essays about the area written by Ghanaians and assembled a small book, Born on a Monday. The name stems from the Ghanaian tradition of naming babies according to the day of the week they were born. Proceeds from the book along with other donations went towards building two kindergarten classrooms in Ghana. But a love for Ghana and its people that impelled her to return.
Carrie completed graduate school, worked to save money, and returned to Ghana in 2005. People she had met during her first stay encouraged her to teach photography to students. For fifteen months, Carrie worked with students ranging from age 13-25 in three different areas of the Volta Region. Many local people were excited about the project; yet the project also had some critics. Ghana is a developing nation with many economic challenges. During an exhibition of the work of Carrie’s students, one woman voiced a logical objection when she asked, “If we can’t feed our children, why would we need photography?” In response, the Paramount Chief of the area spoke up, saying that when he was growing up he learned to use a pinhole camera and photographed his mother. This was his only photograph of her and because of this photograph, his grandchildren could now see their great grandmother. In addition, Carrie witnessed the work of a few photographers in the country and encouraged her students to try to sell their work, which they have with some success. She began to see a potential for a way people could make money. Local chiefs began to ask Carrie about the possibility of expanding her work and create a school of photography.
After eight months of working and raising starter funds at home, Carrie returned to Ghana on July 7, 2007 to begin the Kekeli School of Photography (Kekeli means daylight in Ewe, the local language.) She started a non-profit organization, Kekeli, Inc., in the U.S. and is working in conjunction with another non-profit organization, Street to School to Work. Because so many families are economically disadvantaged, children often have to sell goods on the street or work in hazardous jobs. Carrie hopes her school will offer an additional option of vocational training for these young people. She has begun the process of starting the Kekeli school while she continues to seek funding. Carrie is working in partnership with local people who encourage her in the attempt to bring more “daylight” to the young people of Ghana.
