I love photography.

I love capturing what I see and sharing it with others. I spent a big part of 2015 searching for opportunities outside my immediate community of ways to share my talent in order to better our world. The answer was CURA Brazil.

I signed up for the 2016 campaign as their photographer – to document the trip by taking photos of the doctors, staff and the patients they were serving. After I got to Brazil, I realized it was so much more. I connected with people and heard their stories. People that needed medical attention and sometimes, people that just needed to be heard.

I learned that ‘photos’ have no language. They are universal. People came with worries, concerns and in many cases, fear of the unknown. When I handed them a small 4×6 of themselves, their hurt turned to joy. For that week, and in some cases the year, we became friends. I was able to print and give photos to over 250 people for them to remember the blessings they received from CURA Brazil the summer of 2016.

I came home with so much more than the 4,000 plus photos I took. I now have the opportunity to share not only their beautiful smiles, but their stories. We are so blessed and giving part of our blessings through donations to this organization means so much. I saw firsthand the impact it made on over 600 patients in one week.

This ‘photo lady’ as they called me, plans to accompany CURA Brazil in 2017, and I look forward to seeing some of my Brazilian friends and making new ones!