What do you get when you mix Iraqi students and volunteers from four continents with donated digital cameras, classes and photo walks? You get a set of remarkable images, three months of fun, and a lifetime of memories.

The ONE-SHOT Project staged it's first workshop in the fall of 2011, in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq. The volunteers brought instruction in photography. The students brought an incredible eagerness to learn. And together they all learned a different way to see the world.
theoneshotproject.com

Credits:
Photography: Heber Vega and ONE-SHOT Students.
Production: Oscar Leon.
Music:
Ukelele Smile
By Robert Critchley and Brent Robitaille
Copyright 2011
Used by permission.

The power of small initiatives.

A devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake and a resulting tsunami struck Chile in 2010. Because of this, a group of friends traveled to iLoca, a fishing town, which was the epicenter of this major catastrophe.
They went with the idea of helping the locals. That simple initiative has become a major project of both reconstruction and hope for the people in iLoca.

This production was recorded a year after the tragedy.

"This initiative has provided and built more than 30 houses while dozens others have been repaired and made ready for the cold winter.
The houses built by this initiative are bigger and better than any emergency house given by the chilean government to this date.
This group has created an NGO to continue to help the people affected by this earthquake."

Durante mi tiempo en Chile, me propuse indagar mas sobre las experiencias vividas por parte de un grupo de damnificados por el terremoto 8.8 que afecto a gran parte de Chile en febrero de 2010, y que tuvo un posterior tsunami aun mas devastador.

Para mi sorpresa, un grupo de amigos, particulares, sin lazos con el gobierno u otra organizacion, han llevado a cabo una labor increible con algunas de las familias en la localidad de iLoca. Este grupo se propuso ayudar desde los primeros dias despues del terremoto, y hoy un año despues, han seguido ayudando a esta comunidad. Y sus esfuerzos han dado fruto, con mas de 30 casas (grandes y dignas) construidas, y mas de 70 media-aguas han sido tambien forradas contra viento y lluvia.

Este es solo un ejemplo, una muestra, de lo que nosotros, los seres humanos, podemos llegar a hacer cuando nos proponemos ayudar a nuestro projimo. En fin, estas son historias de reconstruccion.

Este video estara prontamente en Ingles.

During the last weekend I finished a multimedia work about the Remedy Mission that I worked for in last August. These Remedy Missions are lifesaving campaigns done by Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq. Their goal is to bring pediatric heart surgery teams, to perform surgeries on Iraqi children and at the same time to train Iraqi doctors and nurses.

This is what PLC wrote about this story:
"Deeya's mom used to stay at home for fear that her daughter's heart could give out at any moment. Her daughter was born with a life-threatening heart defect... and her daughter was born in Iraq. The combination virtually guaranteed that her daughter would never get the lifesaving heart surgery she needed inside the country; after all, the waiting list for kids needing lifesaving heart surgeries is estimated at 30,000.

In August 2010 the Preemptive Love Coalition (PLC) worked with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and local non-governmental organizations to bring a surgical team to northern Iraq to begin a robust multi-year training mission for the doctors and nurses of Iraq. In the course of training, we served 25 families and raised the hopes and expectations of medical professionals nationwide; more families than were sent outside the country by PLC in any 12 month period to date.

In the process, Deeya received her lifesaving heart surgery. She now has a healthy, happy heart thanks to the support of everyone who donated to bring the surgical team to Iraq and thanks to the cooperation of the KRG. And, in her mother's words, the "are not afraid anymore!"

The Family Center in Rapareen exists to provide knowledge and opportunities to Iraqi women and their families. They provide continuing education to those who want to help their own families, thus giving them a better future. Through programs and innovative ideas, the people of Rapareen, Iraq finally have a chance for a hopeful future.