Making Waves: photography project and exhibition with children who were affected by the tsunami in Sri Lanka (3-13 January 2006)

Summary: Save the Children have been working with PhotoVoice on Making Waves, a photography project and exhibition, with children who were affected by the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka. The project has enabled children who are usually the subject of photography to become the creators. The participatory photography course, has taught children how to take, develop and use photography to speak out about and document the recent disaster.

Making Waves has run for six weeks within Save the Children’s Community Centres in Matara, South Sri Lanka. As well as supporting community centres which provide child friendly play areas Save the Children has, amongst other things, reunified thousands of children with their parents or extended family, provided a sense of normality by getting children to return to school as soon as possible, rebuilt classrooms, trained teachers and through school based programmes of cooperative games and discussion helped children work through their fears.

PhotoVoice is an award-winning international charity and the only development organisation of its kind in Europe. Its projects empower some of the most disadvantaged groups in the world with photographic skills so that they can transform their lives. PhotoVoice establishes in-field photojournalism workshops, through photography these individuals find confidence in their voices and are enabled to speak out about their challenges, concerns, hopes and fears.

Anna Blackman the Co-Founder of PhotoVoice said ‘Having visited Sri Lanka in 2000 I have had an overwhelming urge to assist with the relief effort, I was unable to at the time but am so pleased that with the help of Save the Children we were able to start a PhotoVoice project in the region. I hope that the children who took part in the project gained knowledge and skills and that those who see the photos will gain understanding of what it is like, through the eyes of a child, to live on in the aftermath of a natural disaster.’

Andrew Hutchinson, Head of Education at Save the Children added ‘ Save the Children are delighted to be working with PhotoVoice on this project. Making Waves allows children to speak out about the disaster and the outside world to see how a natural disaster on this scale can affect children.’