The Memory Project

Ben Schumaker tốt nghiệp Đại Học Wisconsin năm 2003. Sau đó anh đi đến Guatemala. Anh làm việc trong ngôi nhà giành cho trẻ em không cha không mẹ. Điều kiện ở trại trẻ mồ côi đó rất nghèo nàn. Schumaker muốn làm điều gì đó để giúp đỡ nhưng anh không biết phải làm gì.

Sau khi trở về nhà, anh nhớ lại câu chuyện một người thanh niên Guatemala đã kể với anh. Người đó đã nói với Schumaker về một điều anh ta đã bỏ lỡ trong cuộc đời. Anh ta không có một bức ảnh nào của mình trong thời thơ ấu. Người thanh niên nói anh ta không nhớ về bề ngoài của mình khi còn là một đứa trẻ.

Câu chuyện của người thanh niên đó đã đem đến cho Ben Schumaker một ý tưởng. Schumaker bắt đầu chụp hình nhiều em trong các trại trẻ mồ côi trên khắp thế giới. Sau đó anh mang những bức ảnh đó đến những trường trung học ở Mỹ. Ở đó, những học sinh nghệ thuật giỏi nhất sẽ vẽ các bức chân dung gương mặt của các em bé đó. Những bức họa hoàn chỉnh sẽ được gửi lại cho các em bé đó cất giữ. Những sinh viên vẽ những bức tranh đó cũng gửi kèm theo một bức ảnh của họ.

Kế Hoạch Ký Ức bắt đầu tháng 10 năm 2004. Từ đó nó đã bắt đầu lan tỏa ra hàng trăm trường trên khắp nước Mỹ. Kế hoạch của Ben Schumaker đã vươn tới hàng ngàn trẻ em và bây giờ chúng đã có những bức chân dung tuyệt đẹfp của chúng. Schumaker hy vọng Kế Hoạch Ký Ức sẽ tác động đến cuộc sống của nhiều học sinh trung học Mỹ. Anh nói, anh hy vọng kế hoạch sẽ giúp những học sinh này tiếp xúc với trẻ em ở những nước nghèo. Anh cũng hy vọng những học viên này sẽ hiểu rõ hơn về cuộc sống túng thiếu của nhiều người trên thế giới và sẽ muốn hành động để thay đổi.

Hiện nay những bức chân dung đã được gửi đến những đứa trẻ trên 25 quốc gia như Ấn Độ, Môdămbic, Libăng, Haiti, Honduras và Rumani. Ben Schumaker ước tính rằng trong năm nay sẽ có khoảng 4000 học sinh trung học tham gia vào chương trình này.

The Memory Project: Ben Schumaker graduated from the University of Wisconsin in two thousand three. Then he traveled to Guatemala. He worked in a home for children who do not have parents. The conditions at the orphanage were poor. Schumaker wanted to do something to help. But he did not know what he could do.

After returning home, he remembered a story that a young Guatemalan man told him. He told Schumaker about one thing that was missing from his life. He had no pictures of himself during his childhood. The man said he had no memories of what he looked like as a child. The man told Schumaker that he wished he could remember more about what he was like as a boy.

The man?s story gave Ben Schumaker an idea. Schumaker began taking photographs of young people in orphanages all over the world. Then he brought the photographs back to high schools in America. There, the best art students used the photographs as models to draw or paint pictures of the children?s faces. The finished portraits were then sent back to the children for them to keep. The students who created the pictures also included a photograph of themselves.

The Memory Project began in October of two thousand four. Since then, it has spread to hundreds of schools across the United States. Ben Schumaker?s project has touched the lives of thousands of children who now have beautiful portraits of themselves. Schumaker hopes the Memory Project will also affect the lives of the American high school students. He says he hopes the project will help the students connect with children in poor countries. He also hopes the students will better understand the lives of people in need around the world and will want to work for change.

So far, portraits have been given to children in twenty-five countries. They include India, Mozambique, Lebanon, Haiti, Honduras and Romania.Ben Schumaker estimates that four thousand high school students will take part in the program this year.

The Memory Project: History and Philosophy

"I want to say thank you on behalf of all the children for your wonderful project. I grew up at a children's home in Mexico; I was one of those children whose memories were not captured. I am very sure that the children will always remember everyone in the Memory Project who is helping them keep a memory of their childhood with a portrait." - Betty Flores

http://www.thememoryproject.org

What is the Memory Project?

The Memory Project is a unique initiative in which advanced high school art students create original portraits for children who have been abandoned, orphaned, abused, or neglected. To do this, the art students receive pictures of children who are waiting for portraits, and then work in their art classrooms to create the portraits. Once finished, the portraits are delivered to the children, and the children are then invited to create drawings or write letters to send back to the art students.

What is the purpose of the project?

There are three fundamental purposes of the Memory Project.
First, given that children who have been abandoned, orphaned, abused, or neglected usually have few personal keepsakes, the purpose of the portraits is to provide them with a special memory of their youth, to honor their heritage and identity, and to help them build a positive self-image.
Second, regarding the high school students who make the portraits, this is an opportunity to open their hearts to children who have endured many hardships, and to promote the value of sharing kindness with others.
Third, by also inviting the children who receive portraits to make drawings for the art students, we intend to create a meaningful exchange of artistic expression between young people across international boundaries. Considering the world today, it is hopeful to watch young people reach out to one another.

How did the project start?

The Memory Project was developed by Ben Schumaker, from Madison, Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Ben worked as a volunteer for one month at an orphanage in Guatemala. Having traveled there hoping to make a difference, Ben quickly felt helpless by the situation, realizing how significant the challenges truly were. Then, one day, a young Guatemalan man stopped by the orphanage. He introduced himself as someone who had grown up in a different orphanage years earlier. He explained that he did not have any personal belongings from his youth: no photographs, no keepsakes, and no parents to help him look back on his own development. His advice was simple: try to help the kids collect special items that will contribute to their sense of identity and personal self-worth.
This man, whose name was not even recorded that day, is the true founder of the Memory Project. Ben was struck by his message, and thought about it frequently after returning to Wisconsin. It was not until nine months later, while thinking of Guatemala, that Ben began to envision portraiture as a powerful method of honoring the immeasurable worth of children in orphanages. Moreover, having the portraits made by high school art students would be a way to connect American youth with kids from other countries in a meaningful exchange of friendship. The Memory Project was born shortly afterwards, in the fall of 2004, thanks to a group of 15 high school art teachers who responded to Ben’s invitation to become involved. As more art teachers continued to show interest, more orphanages were contacted, and the project has grown continuously ever since.

How many art students are involved?

During the first year of the project, school year 2004-05, approximately 500 portraits were produced for children in Guatemala, Mexico, Haiti, and Nepal by high school students speckled throughout the United States. The next school year, 2005-06, the project continued to spread, and nearly 3,000 portraits were produced by high school students across the country. Then, in September 2006, CBS aired a feature story about the Memory Project on the first night that Katie Couric took over the Evening News (click here to watch). That publicity fueled the project even more, and 8,000 portraits were produced during the 2006-07 school year by students in almost every state.

Who are the children that receive portraits?

The infants, children, and teenagers for whom we make portraits all live in the homes of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH). In total, NPH cares for more than 3,000 young individuals who have been abandoned, orphaned, abused, or neglected. The homes, each housing hundreds of children, are located in nine different countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, and Haiti.
The children of NPH are remarkable in their character, warmth, and resiliency. Once one meets them, it is impossible to think of them as "poor orphans," since it is so obvious that they deserve the highest amount of respect for facing such substantial challenges and still having the strength of spirit to strive for happiness. We therefore do our best to avoid pitying them, because the children themselves do not want to be pitied. Instead, we see them as heroes for their courage, and as friends!

How many portraits does each child receive?

Rather than having just one portrait made for each child in the program, we are working to provide the children with a collection of portraits that celebrate their personal development throughout their youth. To do this, we have portraits made for the same children every year to capture their growth. Moreover, we have learned that it is essential for the integrity of the program to have two separate portraits made for each child every year. This helps to ensure that the kids receive portraits that truly compliment their sense of self. Also, given that no two works of art are alike, the children are twice as happy to receive two different portraits.

How do the kids react to the portraits?

The children's immediate reactions to the portraits tend to vary by age. Young children are most noticeably thrilled to receive them. They giggle, laugh, hold their portraits proudly, and show them to everyone around. Teenagers, on the other hand, usually prefer to receive their portraits privately in a place where their peers are not crowded around to see. While their immediate reactions are not as easy to assess as the younger children's, their thoughts and feelings often come out in the letters and drawings they send back to the art students who made the portraits (see our image gallery for examples).

Do the kids also get to make something for the art students?

It is very important to us that the kids who receive portraits also have a chance to create drawings or write letters to send back to the art students who made their portraits. This type of exchange helps to create a more meaningful experience for all involved. Additionally, many of the kids find just as much pleasure in giving as receiving, and they are therefore proud to give something of themselves to the art students who made their portraits (see our image gallery for examples).

How do I sign up? http://www.thememoryproject.org/register.html

For questions or comments: Ben Schumaker, Director ben@thememoryproject.org  608.268.5721  The Memory Project  4013 Hegg Avenue Madison, WI 53716

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