Posted on by Krista Guenin · 1 Comment

GIVE: Nepal Earthquake

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I slept in on Saturday after shooting a wedding with CoCo the night before.  I had a leisurely morning and then hopped on facebook, like I do pretty much every morning.  And then I was shocked to see the news of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake outside Kathmandu pop up in my newsfeed.  It was like Haiti all over again…

My first reaction was panic –
are my friends OK?!  Are the girls OK?!

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The faces of people I’ve grown to love began flashing through my mind, and all I could do was pray for them.

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Oh God, please let them be OK, please let them be ALIVE!

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Lord, please be their strength, protect them from fear, from the horror of all that’s happening around them.

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Please help them to reach out and let us know what’s happening!

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And then the updates started rolling in…

“Strong earthquake here in Kathmandu we are fine outside the building but it’s still shaking. The strongest I’ve ever faced!”

“About to die due to earthquake”

“experience a big earthquake in life thanks God keeping us safe and praying for all”

“[Pastor] and family are safe and hostels in KTM are safe. Children are well and safe. However some of the families and villages of the children may have been lost. Please keep up the prayers!”

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OH, the RELIEF!!  To know so many of my friends are safe and have survived!  There are many people I’ve met along the way who I may never hear word about until I return to Nepal one day.  I will keep praying for them all.  But for now, I will REJOICE that my friends are safe and able to help others in need!

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Even as I rejoiced, more updates kept coming and the situation became a lot more real to me…

1,000 dead.

“Thank you for all your prayers words and love. It’s 2:25am now and the ground still shakes from time to time. Please pray for those that lost their loved ones and homes as its cold outside and many don’t have much.”

“It’s been continuing from yesterday and it give another shake in 5:03 am… Can’t sleep whole night…”

2,000 dead.

“Cracked in our Asha Nepal and walls collapsed…!! No drinking water,no electricity, no sufficient food. Very depressing…”

“Drinking water tent and some food supply are the biggest problem now”

3,000 dead.

“We can’t get anything to eat from stores today and just now our friends who is policeman they brought us some food and tent…”

“Now our country is facing another problem.. It was really not enough with the earthquake but the heavy rain fall give us big problems… Can’t sleep even we’ve got tent now… And our tents have filled with water too…”

5,000 dead, and it could rise to as many as 10,000 as more bodies are found, and as hunger, thirst, and disease continue to spread.  And the trafficking of vulnerable children increases drastically during natural disasters because so many more people become displaced.

My heart weeps for Nepal.

It’s too much, too terrible.  And I feel so helpless.

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 There is no denying that Nepal needs the help of any and everyone willing to give it – and there ARE ways we can help!

Please PRAY for the people of Nepal as they struggle for the most basic needs, deal with staggering losses, and begin the long journey of rebuilding their lives.

Please consider GIVING to organizations that are working on the ground to help, especially those that employ locals!

To give directly to my friends who participated in our documentary film:

Asha Nepal via Shared Hope International
Lighthouse Nepal via Out of Ashes

These organizations are also doing great work on the ground in Nepal:
MountainChild.org
CARE
World Vision (or text NEPAL to 44888‪)

Thank you for caring about this beautiful country, and these people who I love!

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 20 Comments

Only Four Days Left! Leave a Comment!!!!

Only FOUR days left to leave a comment to impact Zimbabwe!! For every comment received up until midnight on Christmas Eve, I will donate $1 to Forgotten Voices International – to help their efforts of partnering with local churches to provide care and provision to AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe.

Thanks so much to everyone who has left comments so far! You guys rock :) We’ve got 31 comments so far (plus a few more from Facebook). That’s enough to send these two kids to school for a year! How awesome is that?!


Now 31 comments is great and all but, I can donate $30 on my own. The point of this is for you to CHALLENGE me to give more than I normally would. And, so that YOU will be a part of what FVI is doing – and maybe that you would be moved and want to get more involved. So, get commenting! Got a question about my trip? Wanna share a story about someone you know who has been impacted by AIDS? Have you ever been to Africa? What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever given or received? Wanna talk about your cat? I don’t care, go ahead! :) You don’t have to compliment me, or my photographs – just leave me a comment to let me know you were here and that you care enough about AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe to take 1 minute out of your busy day to leave a comment! It won’t hurt, I promise ;-)

Posted on by Krista Guenin · 30 Comments

CASH for Comments!

So there’s been a bunch of blogging going on around the photography world in the last couple weeks about Cans for Comments. People have been offering to give one can of food to a local food pantry for every blog comment they received. I think that’s a great idea! And while I LOVE the local approach, my heart this Christmas is a bit further away…

I went to Zimbabwe last November (2007) to document the work of Forgotten Voices International. And I have truly not been the same since. My eyes see things differently now. It’s as if everything is filtered through a different lens – one that makes me see people, food, money, hunger, waste, AIDS, giving, joy, love, and God in a new way.

Last Christmas was incredibly difficult for me. Watching my niece & nephews plow through a MOUNTAIN of presents, having just met and fallen in love with kids who had barely enough to survive… Well, it was painful.

I recently spent some time teaching my sister’s kids about my friends in Zimbabwe – Shelton, Margaret & Concilia. These kids are orphans living on their own, with little more than weeds for food. Try explaining that to a 5, 4, and 2-year-old from America – it’s hard for them to wrap their cute little minds around. But my niece, Reilly, said to me – “Kiki, I know, why don’t we give them some of OUR food?!” It was so sweet and so sincere, it almost made me cry. I wish it was that easy. I wish it was as easy as dropping off some food at a food pantry. But, it’s not.

So, instead of Cans for Comments – I’m going to be giving CASH for Comments. For every blog comment you leave (on any post) between now and midnight on Christmas Eve, I will give $1.00 to an organization that is dedicated to empowering AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe – Forgotten Voices International. As little as $15 can send a child to school in Zimbabwe for a whole year! $65 can provide a person with HIV with a home care kit to help prevent the spread of the disease. A few dollars can make a big difference in a lot of lives!

So, I challenge YOU to help me make a difference in the life of a child in Zimbabwe! Leave a comment! And then leave another. And then ask your friends to do the same. And then go to Forgotten Voices International to find out what FVI is doing to partner with local churches in Southern Africa to provide care for vicitims and orphans of AIDS. And maybe this year, instead of spending a ton of money on presents that no one needs – give a gift on behalf of the ones you love to make a real difference in the life of a child in Zimbabwe!