All They Are Saying Is Give Peace a Chance

I've been on fire creatively this past week! Inauguration night left me completely exhilarated. I know it's a totally cliched sentiment,
but the possibilities feel endless with President Obama at the helm of the White House, and firmly ensconced in the hearts and minds of people around the world.
I mean, if global goodwill is any indication, my Soul Brother-in-Chief will be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

In fact, I was so inspired by the event that I finally got around to editing and posting a group of pictures I took on July 7, 2007. At the time, I wrote about the irony of touring refugee camps in Northern Uganda on a day the whole world considered "lucky (7-7-07). While people around the globe were partying, marrying and fornicating like crazed weasels, I was witnessing some of the most squalid, horrifying, heart-wrenching images of human suffering you could imagine, following 20years of brutal civil war.

Astonishingly, I wound up feeling exhilarated during that experience, too. That's because of the children I met, who reminded me that nothing is stronger than the human spirit and will to survive. Kids are kids whether they're at Disneyland or a refugee camp, and I found myself laughing and playing with them rather than crying and dreading the experience.

Still, one image from that day stands out in my memory. For weeks after taking the photo above this post, I was haunted by the baby in the center of the frame. All the other children are smiling, waving, or jockeying for a position in front of the camera. I reached out to coo and smile at the baby boy being held by his sister to try and get him to smile and look at me, but was startled by his complete lack of affect or response. Obviously, hunger, fear and tiredness had to be part of the reason, but that baby boy conveyed an exhaustion and sadness that seemed as ancient as the world itself. I'll never forget it as long as I live.

And when I think there are still tens of thousands of children in refugee camps here in Kenya, following the horrific post-election violence that scarred the country last year, I want to go out and capture their little faces, too. They are the ultimate innocent victims of the madness and hatred of adults, and they have an important message to share with the world.

All they are saying is "Give Peace a Chance." Check out the rest of my photos, in an album entitled "Fortunate Child," on my Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=83762&id=772031562