(2019 series) Fine art print on 1.5” gallery wrap canvas, black border edges.

Amour’s story:

Amour’s wide and gracious smile, his honest eyes, his gentle and slightly mischievous spirit would draw you in immediately. Amour is a fourteen year old boy who lives with his grandmother, his “Mémé” who has cared for him since childhood, currently at the Mwana Refuge in Nkayi. But life before Mwana was difficult.

We walked together down the dirt streets of a rural village, Amour learning how to capture  moments on the camera he held. As we walked, he told me of life before and life now: Amour told of the days when they would dig through the trash for broken sandals, fixing them with string. His grandmother took in street children, fostering them in a 2 meter by 3 meter “house” with no mattresses. Amour’s first day of school was not until he was eleven years old.

It was clear that in this young man, there is undeniable strength and beauty of the human spirit. It was also clear that simple opportunity has profound, transformative effects.

Amour is now in school. Alongside his grandmother, Amour brings water filters, sacks of rice and clothing to some of the neediest families this world knows. He is his Mémé’s helper and treasure, quick to obey with whatever task she asks of him without complaint or hesitation. There’s an unassuming quality with which Amour goes about this quiet, humble life. His life may never involve “big” things…but perhaps big things are the usually unnoticed, selfless actions in service to another?

“…who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb;

even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and I will save.”

Isaiah 46:4