© Heber Vega | www.prosperitycandle.com

You don’t believe in social media? Don’t value having a Flickr account, per se?
No, today I’m NOT going to talk about the power of networking on the Internet, but I AM going to tell you the story behind my last assignment. How is that related to social media? Well, the way I met the client in my last assignment, a wonderful organization, was through my Flickr stream. Yes! That same account that many pros dislike or don’t put any effort into! My clients told me, “We Googled ‘Photographs Iraq’ and your stream came up. What a great way to motivate my efforts in social media!

So, I worked for a couple of days for this social enterprise call Prosperity Candle, an organization that has been working very hard to establish their work in Iraq. They have set up a program to help female entrepreneurs in Baghdad, one of the most affected areas in this country. They have created a wonderful business based on manufacturing candles that are, of course, hand made by hard working Iraqi women with the desire to assist their own families in these hard economic times.

Right now they have 50 women already making an income for their families, which is really encouraging in places like Baghdad. They have been able to bring necessary funds for families in needed places. These families have been affected by war, dictatorship, terrorism, divisionism, etc. Now they have to work hard just to have food in their tables and send their children to school, one of the few assets that’s remaining after all that they’ve been through. I feel really humbled by these women, because they have suffered a lot but they keep trying, they keep working hard, because they believe there’s still hope for this country and especially for their families.

The assignment was in conjunction with Jeremy Courtney, a talented videographer who’s also a great humanitarian worker with a foundation created by him called the Preemptive Love Coalition. The plan was to create a video and photographs based on 5 of the women of this organization. From my side, the mission was to portray these women in their environment, plus shoot some other more “commercial” and “editorial” type of photographs for their website and all kinds of publications that they may have in the near future.

Let me tell you the biggest challenge in this assignment. First of all, after trying to go to Baghdad to photograph these women in their own houses, we were told by the locals that it was not a good idea, and that it could compromise their own safety. So, because the subject is what matters, and their lives comes first, we decided, along with the guys from Prosperity Candle, to send them to a safer place where we could shoot and record their stories. You may be wondering, how can we take environmental photographs, without their real environment? Well, we did our best to reproduce their lives, but in another part of Iraq. My opinion? I don’t know if I would do this again. You see, for someone who loves documenting realities, it’s difficult trying to mimic them. Then again, it was that or nothing, letting down this impressive initiative, without a voice and images to be represented on the Internet.

Now about the stories…

I want to start by telling you the story of Waffa. She is a widow that has a candle business and also has a small shop that is the main income for her household. She has four children, and she has become the father and mother for them. In 2007 a mortar felt on her house, killing her husband and injuring two of her children. Every day she wakes up very early to prepare the wax for the candles, plus take care of the groceries that she will try to sell in her shop. She told us, among other things, that she had been in love with her husband; that theirs wasn’t an arranged marriage as normally would be in this culture, but that they decided to be together. She told us that she had to clean the wounds of her kids while she maintained their shop all by her self, and how doctors admired how well she did this…

I could go on and on with her narratives, but I’m going to let the coming materials, her video, explain more…

One thing that she told me, and it stroked me the most was,

“I don’t like it when the people treat me like a hero. I don’t like it when people feel pity for my story and me. I want to show the world that I’m still happy, that I enjoy my life with my kids, that the best way of remembering my husband is by being grateful…”

She asked me to not portray her as sad, because she wasn’t, even though she would cry at memories of her stories, or reading love letters from her husband. She still has joy in her heart for life. What a great life lesson right here, isn’t it?

Before I sign off, I want to encourage you to take steps to support this project and buy a candle. Do it this week! Give one to your wife or husband; do as Waffa would do to her beloved husband. Each candle sold is bringing a little bit of hope to these women, but especially to Waffa. She is still happy because, among other things, she still believes in love. Buy a candle and give her confirmation of that!

She said:

“In each of the candles that I make, part of my story goes there”…

(Buy that candle and keep her in mind. People like you and I are needed.)

Now, let me show you some of the photographs that are the result of this two-day-project.

© Heber Vega | www.prosperitycandle.com

© Heber Vega | www.prosperitycandle.com

© Heber Vega | www.prosperitycandle.com

© Heber Vega | www.prosperitycandle.com

© Heber Vega | www.prosperitycandle.com

For more photographs on this assignment go to: http://www.hebervega.com/2010/06/23/photographs-from-prosperity-candle-slideshow/