Photographic philanthropy from Vail to Uganda

Please consider funding this awesome cause as Trekker Photo heads off with Photographers Without Borders

Editor’s note: Vail Valley photographer Dan Davis, a very good friend of RealVail.com and an exceptional and award-winning photojournalist, is embarking on another volunteer assigment for Photographers Without Borders in Africa. Below, please find Dan’s latest letter of explanation and funding request, as well as a Real Vail re-post of his last trip with Photographers Without Borders. Here’s Dan’s latest letter:

I have once again been selected to volunteer with Photographers Without Borders.

I am seeking donations for my current photography assignment. 

https://www.grouprev.com/PWBFundraiser-KaseseUGANDA

During my last assignment in Kisumu, Kenya your donations gave me the ability to provide photo and video assets to a Kenyan organization called Tackle Africa that uses the power and popularity of soccer to provide HIV and AIDS education to young people. These media assets are still being used to promote the organization’s goals and have been used in dozens of fundraising projects.    

For my current assignment I will be traveling to Kasese, Uganda to work with Luhwahwa Youth Development Foundation (LUYODEFO)  www.luyodefo-ug.org

I will once again be creating photo and video assets to promote the organization’s goal of delivering support to marginalized children in communities across western Uganda by providing clean drinking water, food security and access to education. 

 I will be volunteering my time and expertise for this project, so I am reaching out to donor’s to help fund the costs associated with this assignment.   

 I know that my photos/video can bring LUYODEFO’s efforts into focus and create awareness. 

 Your donations will make a difference in a child’s life.  I will personally see your dollars at work at the grass roots level.  Creating change and opportunity for this population of underserved kids. 

As a Peace Corps Africa alumn, I have witnessed the power and success of grass roots development.

Your donations will once again allow me to be back on the front lines of development work where the seeds for community driven success can be planted.

Any amount helps.

Please click on the link below to read more about my project and to donate. 

https://www.grouprev.com/PWBFundraiser-KaseseUGANDA

On behalf of LUYODEFO and myself I thank you for your support.

Many thanks, Dan

Now here’s that re-post from October of 2015:

Tackle Africa: Using the football pitch as a platform to combat HIV/AIDS in Kenya

If there’s one thing that’s very apparent about the Vail Valley, it’s that it’s full of good people doing good things, both locally and internationally. I was glad to join that altruistic movement last month by volunteering my time through Photographers Without Borders to provide photo and video assets to a Kenyan organization called Tackle Africa.

Tackle Africa uses the power and popularity of football (soccer here in the States) to provide HIV/AIDS education to young people. These media assets will be used to promote the organization’s goals of educating young people about the best practices to prevent the contraction of the virus.

After 27 hours of flights, layovers and delays, I reached Kisumu, Kenya, and was greeted by Tackle Africa coach Anton Sensky, a football enthusiast from London on hiatus from his job as a television sports producer. Sensky is channeling his passion for sports and using it to spread the message of HIV/AIDS prevention to Kenya’s at-risk youth through football.

I hung on his coattails for the next 14 days as we bounced around Kisumu on the backs of boda bikes (moto taxis) to visit everyone from young adults on dirt pitches to premiere players in Kisumu’s top stadiums. The message was the same no matter the level of play: coach up the coaches to provide HIV/AIDS education to their players.

The highlight of the two weeks was when we attended a Tackle Africa football tournament in Mumias, Kenya, on Sept. 25. The tourney hosted 8 boy’s and 8 girl’s Tackle Africa-coached teams, and during the tournament free HIV/AIDS counseling and testing was offered to players and spectators. By the end of the day, 346 people had been tested.

After spending two weeks with Coach Anton, I was once again reminded how a sport like football can transcend culture and language, and that a football pitch can be both a place where kids learn teamwork and discipline and a place to spread HIV/AIDS education through sport.