Kenya Strong

I was driving on a dirt road outside of Nakuru Kenya on my way to an event I was to shoot when I saw these kids on the side of the road. I asked the driver to stop so I could talk to them and maybe take some of their pictures. This little girl is a street kid. She does not go to school as her family cannot afford the 200 K-Schillings per month for the local government school. When I asked to take her picture, her friends crowded around behind her, she said yes to the picture and proceeded to unsmile. The unsmile look is common in Kenyan photos for several cultural reasons. I keep this picture on the wall of my office next to my desk to remind me to never take for granted the moments that changed me. I have taken thousands of pictures of people on the street but very few sting with reality like this does me, every time I see it. I have visited the region where this little girl and her friends live several times as we are helping build village schools that are free to attend and locally run by qualified teachers from the local villages where these kids live and work.