Capturing beauty for charity
“We as citizens should stop waiting for the government to solve every problem in our society,” says Victoria Ashipala, a professional photographer operating as VtoriiPhotography, who has partnered with Anna Akweenda from Azo Photography and Nathan Chituti, from Moment in Pixels. The creative trio has embarked on an initiative named ‘Three lenses, one focus’, which they say will also give back to the community.
Ashipala said they plan on raising funds by committing to shoot 30 portrait or family shoots priced at N$500 each, which are discounted by more than 70%. The proceeds will go to buying blankets, clothes and food for ‘Help Me Children’s Home’ in Gibeon. The “Help Me Children’s Home” is an initiative by Lydia Kooper, who runs it by herself. The home currently supports 24 children comprising14 girls and 10 boys.
“We chose this orphanage because we found that a lot of charities outside Windhoek do not have the same access to funds and support as those based in the capital, therefore the benefits will be decentralized,” emphasised Nathan Chituti.
Akweenda encouraged the youth to start asking themselves how they as ordinary individuals can contribute and assist the government in reaching the common goal of equality and prosperity for all. “A small deed by every citizen makes a huge impact at the end of the day,” she added.
The entrepreneurs stated that they have not yet planned for this initiative to continue beyond this period, but they may certainly do it up to two times a year. “At the moment, the 30 bookings which are planed will amount to N$15,000 and Namsov will sponsor an additional N$7000, therefore at the end of the project we should have N$22,000 to spend on the orphanage,” they announced while challenging other corporates and entrepreneurs to contribute to the cause, or come up with their own schemes to raise funds for other orphanages and old-age homes.
The trio admits that as professional photographers they can not run all their work as a charity. “But we hope our messages is heard, which is that anyone, absolutely anyone can and should do something to improve our society and it does not matter how big or small the company,” they concluded.
The photo shoots are set to take place on the weekend of 11 and 12 June 2016 in Windhoek and Otjiwarongo. For those interested in taking part, there are still 17 spots left. For booking and more information, contact the photographers via email at [email protected].
