SCHOOL PHOTO DAY IN HLUHLUWE

Wild Tomorrow Fund was delighted to host a school photo day for two local creches that we support in our community. Leaning on the photography skills of our April volunteers and NYC photographer Charles Chessler, we were able to give professional school photos of children and their mothers to sixty families!

On the morning of April 10th, Wild Tomorrow Fund’s April 2019 volunteers visited the Silethukukhanya Crèche - a local preschool attended by approximately 35 children, ages 6 months to five years old. Wild Tomorrow Fund has supported this crèche since 2017, by supplying daily food, clothing, furniture, school supplies, and repairing the floors and doors to make the school house structure safe. 

The volunteers were tasked with running the school’s first ever school photo day, creating a take-home photograph package for each family, including an individual portrait of each child and one with their mother. The portable studio allowed for the portraits to be given to the children and their mothers that same day. As this was their first school photo day, it was the first time these community mothers were able to have a framed photo of their children to take home and cherish.

Charles Chessler, one of the volunteers and a NYC-based professional photographer, spearheaded the school photo day operation. It was definitely the most portraits he’d taken in a single day! As he photographed each child, another volunteer wrote down the child’s name along with the number of their photo. After approximately five children had been photographed on Charles’ SD camera card, it was swapped out and brought to two volunteers who managed the instant printer. Using a portable Canon photo printer, we were able to print a physical copy of each photograph almost immediately, straight off the camera card. Then, another volunteer placed the photograph in a photo frame card that had the name of the crèche and the child’s name on the cover. The volunteers had to move quickly, as there were a lot of children, but were able to finish and watch the children and their mother’s faces light up as they received the portraits. 

Later that afternoon, the volunteers visited the Thelelulwazi Crèche, where school photo day was repeated. This brought the number of children photographed to approximately sixty! The volunteers also brought clothing, school supplies, and many children’s books with them that were donated to the crèche. 

Another very special project that Wild Tomorrow Fund is in the process of completing is building a new classroom for the Thelelulwazi Crèche. Funded by a generous donor, the building will consist of a classroom and environmental toilets. Construction is anticipated to be finished in the fall, and the students will be able to move in to their new and improved classroom! 

See more of Charles Chessler’s beautiful photos below. We are so grateful for his time, passion, and wonderful gift of photography that touched so many hearts in the community.