I would love to share with you the amazing people that came on this trip, and their stories. It is inspiring when 13 different people gather together for 2 weeks in a very remote country with one common goal: to experience; to learn; to help. Every single person brought something unique to the trip, and getting to know each other was part of the adventure.

First up is Candace: an incredibly creative and inspiring woman – our photographer and
director on this trip. What I enjoyed most about Candace was her unbelievable lightheartedness – she seriously seemed to enjoy and embrace all aspects of the trip. She laughed at every turn, even the hard ones, and is such an amazing traveler, with an open and accepting mind for everything she saw.

Candace captured the beauty of Africa, as I knew she would, through photos and video and it was so inspiring to see her work. She was in her element – jumping in to capture moments that were only there for a second. Our trip has been documented, and many lives have and will be touched as a result of her work. The upcoming Obakki Foundation campaigns will be a success because of her and I am very grateful for her involvement.

xo
T

Candace:
Before leaving for Cameroon, I heard many times, “This is going to be life changing!” I’m not sure I really believed it would be … and I was wrong.

While this may sound obvious, and I had always “known” it before, there are places in the world where life, just day-to-day life, barely resembles what we know here in Canada. Witnessing first hand someone walking 5 hours on a dirt road to fetch bananas (5 hours – seriously, think of it), seeing a 12-year-old girl start her own family with her new husband, and watching women simultaneously scrubbing laundry and plucking chickens in the river was truly a “reality check”. It never made me think, “Man, I am so lucky to be in Canada” it just made me think about different realities. And that’s what’s life changing – is our reality the definitive one?

And then photographing the people of Lewoh and the Valley. I was met with some skepticism, some trepidation. But once you turn the camera around and show your subjects their own image, you’ve got them! In almost every case, the women would snort with laughter and punch me in the arm, and the kids would shriek and laugh their heads off. There were a few times on the schoolyard where I was swarmed by so many kids wanting their photo taken that I had to hide the camera in my shirt and try in vain to just blend into the crowd for a moment for a breather.

It’s hard to take a bad shot. The people are so expressive and open. They are unguarded and direct – the challenge is to get anything candid. The second the kids saw their portraits, they would line up and stare at the lens. I would encourage them, “No, it’s cool, go play football!” They were having none of that. It seems they believe in one kind of successful “snap” and it involves a lot of direct eye contact and shoulders square to the camera. Thankfully, I like that too.

This was one of the absolute greatest experiences of my life.

Candace

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