The Tea Pot

Child behind Bars

“Hear me God. Broken bodies, folded feet. Watery eyes. Limp knees. Tears, moans, shouts of pain, an ache I can hear, feel, and see. Whiteness glazed over blind eyes. The sting in my own. Stepping into a Vietnamese disabled orphanage.” -Journal entry

  “Those true eyes too pure and too honest in aught the sweet soul shining through them” -Owen Meredith

With the smell of overcooked rice and rain in the air, I walked into the orphanage where my eyes would soon be awakened. Brokenness was everywhere. Broken cement blocks I walked across and broken cracks in the walls the broken chairs would roll by. I could see broken hearts inside little confused blind eyes. Broken contorted bones and dis-figured bodies lay in tiny beds with mats while soupy rice was quickly shoved into little mouths. I could feel my heart physically shake when I could not force my head to turn from the worker spooning more and more rice into a small child’s mouth. Several of the children threw up their rice and it would quickly be shoved right back, waste not.

Location: Disabled Orphanage. Saigon, Vietnam

Date: July 2, 2011 4:23:08 PM

History: Many of these children in the orphanage suffer from mental and physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy, down-syndrome, hydrocephalus and polio. While in Saigon, we visited what used to be a Catholic orphanage for abandoned children with physical or mental handicaps. The orphanage is now non-religious for government reasons of which they did not go into great detail. The caregiver-to-child ratio was very high, with 400 children and only twenty caregivers. Given that many of the children at the orphanage have significant problems and all but 2 are permanently confined to bed, the orphanage could use a lot more staff.

Reason for taking photo: I found a sweet connection with this child. He looked at me as if he wanted me to see the depths of his soul. I don’t connect with people like that every day. This child would only smile if someone held his hand and would reach through the bars of the windows in hopes of a hand to capture his. In his pursuit, I captured his face.

Emotion Conveyed: “He is helpless to get out, you are helpless to get in” “abandonment” “He is not angry, he has accepted, but you see something about his soul” “Rejection” “Unloved”-All quotes are from several people’s responses to the photographs.

Quote:“For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.” -Psalms 107:1

“The eyes are the mirror of the soul” -Yiddish Proverb

 “Believers, look up – take courage. The angels are nearer than you think.” -Billy Graham

Location: Disabled Orphanage. Saigon, Vietnam

Date: July 2, 2011 4:57:34 PM

History: Many of these children in the orphanage suffer from mental and physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy, down-syndrome, hydrocephalus and polio. While in Saigon, we visited what used to be a Catholic orphanage for abandoned children with physical or mental handicaps. The orphanage is now non-religious for government reasons of which they did not go into great detail. The caregiver-to-child ratio was very high, with 400 children and only twenty caregivers. Given that many of the children at the orphanage have significant problems and all but 2 are permanently confined to bed, the orphanage could use a lot more staff.

Reason for taking photo: The happy faces painted in pastels along the hallways of the orphanage contradicted the painful moans coming from the beds below them. As I walked into one room, I saw a boy moving back and forth in his bed. His joints looked mis-placed and his legs and feet were terribly small. I walked up to his bed and put my hand gently on his chest. As soon as my hand hit him, he grabbed onto me and pulled on my other arm to pull himself up quickly moving towards me. His sudden movements scared me and I was afraid, I did not quite know what he was going to do. He started pulling on some of my hair and frantically scrambled around me. Just as I was about to pull him off of me in fear he might hurt me, he quickly wrapped his thin arms around my neck and became completely still. In this moment I could feel the edges of my heart begin to crack open and bleed. This poor child only desired to be held while my selfish mind was thinking “Oh no, what do I do? How do I get him off of me? He might hurt me.” As the boy squeezed his starving arms around my shoulders and now gently held my hair, I became angry. I was so confused. “What did this tiny child do? Why this damaged body? His white eyes and crippled feet trapped in a bed of iron gates, were they all deserved? Why is he here? Why is he so broken? God what are you doing?”Why does he seem like he has hope? Does he?

I wanted to capture the eyes of this child. It is like he was made for another world. I somehow felt like he could see more than I could. I feel that way every time I look at this picture.

Emotion Conveyed: “We are not made for this world. His eyes sing of the hazes of Heaven.” “Thirsting for a drop of light in Darkness”

Quote or Inspiration: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face.”

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up”

Feet

“Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?” -Frida Kahlo

Location: Disabled Orphanage. Saigon, Vietnam

Date: July 2, 2011 5:00:14 PM

History: Many of these children in the orphanage suffer from mental and physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy, down-syndrome, hydrocephalus and polio. While in Saigon, we visited what used to be a Catholic orphanage for abandoned children with physical or mental handicaps. The orphanage is now non-religious for government reasons of which they did not go into great detail. The caregiver-to-child ratio was very high, with 400 children and only twenty caregivers. Given that many of the children at the orphanage have significant problems and all but 2 are permanently confined to bed, the orphanage could use a lot more staff.

Reason for taking photo: I wanted to capture the brokenness, the inability, in every form possible. The helplessness. There was nothing I could do to help them. I had to trust God with their little broken bodies. This was such a picture of how I am without God, how we are. We are literally unable. We cannot do ANYTHING without Him. God slapped me in the face with the reality of this. I wanted to capture it.

Emotion Conveyed: When did “created in his image” become so brutal? “Helplessness, Confinement” “Helplessness”

Quote or Inspiration: “I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet.” –anon

“If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?” -1 Corinthians 12:15

  Unknown

“A child is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be lit.” -anon

Location: Sand Dunes Villages. Nah Trang, Vietnam

Date: July 7, 2011 12:07:06

History: The sand dunes were located in the middle of a surrounding village in Ninh Thuận Province, Vietnam. Also known as Phan Rang. The children in the Homes of Love did their service project here. They gave out food and books and witnessed the Lord to these children in the villages. They gave back to where they came from. The Homes of Love children used to be living lives just like the children in these villages, they can relate with them. It was amazing to watch them serve and give of themselves.

Reason for taking photo: I saw joy. I came across this young girl while I was walking back to the mini-bus in the village by myself. I heard laughter and I turn and she was behind me. They had just heard the gospel for the first time and were sharing their food and gifts that the Homes Of Love children had made and brought for them. I wanted to capture the light in her eyes. She seemed to have a hope that I connected with.

Emotion Conveyed: “However little hope there is, there is still hope.”

Quote or Inspiration: “Love comes to those who still hope even though they’ve been disappointed, to those who still believe even though they’ve been betrayed, to those who still love even though they’ve been hurt before.”-anon

 Rebellion

 “Open your eyes child, do not play with fire.”-anon

Location: Sand Dunes Villages. Nah Trang, Vietnam

Date: July 7, 2011 12:40:41

History:The sand dunes were located in the middle of a surrounding village in Ninh Thuận Province, Vietnam. Also known as Phan Rang. The children in the Homes of Love did their service project here. They gave out food and books and witnessed the Lord to these children in the villages. They gave back to where they came from. The Homes of Love children used to be living lives just like the children in these villages, they can relate with them. It was amazing to watch them serve and give of themselves.

Reason for taking photo: This picture, I had to take it. It is the ultimate view of a child growing up too fast, innocence taken, and onward with duties. This child was alone on a motorbike with rebellion and revenge in his eyes. He seemed angry, not just in the picture. Just as the young girls are burdened with babies on their backs and accepted it, this young boy seemed ready to be grown up. A maturity at too young of an age.

Emotion Conveyed: “Rebellion”

Quote or Inspiration: “I will be as harsh as truth, and uncompromising as justice… I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.” -William Lloyd Garrison 

 Give & Receive

“We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.” -Stacia Tauscher

Location: Sand Dunes Villages. Nah Trang, Vietnam

Date: July 7, 2011 1:16:03

History: The sand dunes were located in the middle of a surrounding village in Ninh Thuận Province, Vietnam. Also known as Phan Rang. The children in the Homes of Love did their service project here. They gave out food and books and witnessed the Lord to these children in the villages. They gave back to where they came from. The Homes of Love children used to be living lives just like the children in these villages, they can relate with them. It was amazing to watch them serve and give of themselves.

Reason for taking photo: These children were in such poverty. To see children who have been taken out of poverty and brought into homes of Christianity then go out and serve children in the very places of their pasts was truly amazing. I had to sit in awe of how God is using them. He used us, the Chesneys, the team, to empower these children to then empower the people around them in their own cities and villages. This is how we are to witness. We are only to be a match in the hands of God. I was constantly seeing Him set the world aflame through the lives of these children. They will be the leaders, they will be the teachers, they will guide their land one day. I got to witness that and I was truly in awe of God!

Emotion Conveyed: “Pyramid, give so that they may also give.”

Quote: “God gave us two hands, one to give with, and one to receive with.”-anon

 Abandonment

“I would love to turn away and pretend that it doesn’t exist, but it does, it is there staring silently from eyes that have seen too much. It is injustice, it is poverty, crime, sickness, loneliness and abuse. It is in eyes that have seen far more than they should, eyes that are forced to bear far more than they should, eyes that silently cry out for help.”-anon

Location: Sand Dunes Villages. Nah Trang, Vietnam

Date: July 7, 2011 1:16:03

History:The sand dunes were located in the middle of a surrounding village in Ninh Thuận Province, Vietnam. Also known as Phan Rang. The children in the Homes of Love did their service project here. They gave out food and books and witnessed the Lord to these children in the villages. They gave back to where they came from. The Homes of Love children used to be living lives just like the children in these villages, they can relate with them. It was amazing to watch them serve and give of themselves.

Reason for taking photo: This child had eyes that had seen far more than her little mind and heart ever should. Innocence was stripped from the layers in her eyes. The concern in the air about her, troubled me, and I wanted to capture it. Some children are not children, they are eyes and minds and hearts that have seen the world in a reality far beyond you and I.

Emotion Conveyed: “Too young for that kind of concern.” “Pain, abandonment, discontented questions.”

Quote or Inspiration: “Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light?” -Maurice Freehill

Village of Children

 “It takes a whole village to raise a child” -Victor Hugo

“Call it a clan, call it a community, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”-Jane Howard

Location: An unknown village in the mountains of Nah Trang

Date: July 10, 2011 11:29:32 AM

History: I am unaware of the history of this place. They could not tell me the exact location. I am unaware of it on a map. A village of people live in the mountains of Nah Trang, far outside the city. This was inside of the church walls.

Reason for taking photo: This was a church that took us hours and hours to find. We ended up missing the service, we were so late. When we walked into this room, a few children followed us in. Withing 3 minutes, the entire room was flooded with children. I have never seen that many children come out of nowhere and pour into a place so quickly. These children were ready, they were eager, and they wanted what we were there to offer, love. We sang with them, read to them, told them this story about Jesus, gave them food and books, and prayed with them. I wanted to capture the amount of children packed into this tiny room in this tiny village. I wanted to portray how eager they were to come, whether they had a seat or not, they were coming.

Emotion Conveyed: “Overwhelmed” “Alive” “Gathering to give thanks”

Quote or Inspiration: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.” -William Shakespeare

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” -Matthew 18:20

Burdened

 “Each of them is Jesus in disguise.” -Mother Teresa

Location: Sapa Mountains, Vietnam

Date: July 14, 2011 12:28:15

History: Sapa is a frontier town and capital of Sa Pa Districtin the Lao Cai province in northwest Vietnam. The Hmongare an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions. This is life for these children. This is how they live. Rarely would you find many children without other children on their backs. If you didn’t, you would at least find them looking after other children. This is how the villages here worked. They all looked after one another. They all took care of each other. They were a community, they were nurturers, they were family.

Reason for taking photo: To emphasize the responsibility of the children. The willingness they have to accept life as it is, humbles me. The responsibility they have to make a living. They needed my money, to live. They

Emotion Conveyed: “A load to carry. A burden to bare at such a young age.” “I trust my family, my community, but from you…I just need your

money.”

Quote or Inspiration: “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” -Mother Teresa

 Beast to Beast

“The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider… the riders contend for its possession.”- Martin Luther

Location: Sapa Mountains, Vietnam

Date: July 15, 2011 3:12:00 PM

History:Sapa is a frontier town and capital of Sa Pa Districtin the Lao Cai province in northwest Vietnam. The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions.

Reason for taking photo: These children were made for the wild. They speak to me,

“Who are you, on our land? Why are you hear? We were made for this. You try and climb our mountains and you fall and bruise your knee. You try and drink our water, you seek solace in our trees. What are we to you, are we puppets? Are we new? Just because we are different, just because we are few? You capture us to show the world but you will never see, the depths of you will never be, just like the depths of me.” I pray the depths of us be alike. Their honest looks catch me off guard yet inspire me also to be real.

Emotion Conveyed: “I am nothing more than a beast.” “A beast looking into the eyes of a beast.” “Is that, is she… Safe?” (Speaking of the one with the camera)

Quote or Inspiration: “And woven into the fabric of this harsh existence was music.” -Lesley Garett

 My Rock

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. -Matthew 7:24

 Location: Sapa Mountains, Vietnam

 Date: July 16, 2011 5:38:12

 History: Sapa is a frontier town and capital of Sa Pa Districtin the Lao Cai province in northwest Vietnam. The Hmong are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions.

Reason for taking photo: This child was leaning against this rock for a good five minutes that I was around. He just stared at me with this expression and I wanted to remember it. I wanted to remember the blunt reality in his face. I wanted to remember the peaceful approach to his day, seeking rest in the rock of the earth. What a picture of faith. I want to rest upon the rock of my salvation as this.

Emotion Conveyed: “Weariness” “Exhaustion” “Peace. Rest.” “One day…One day He will come…” “Come to me, all who are weary, all who are thirsty.”

Quote or Inspiration: “Cast all upon me.”-God 

“There is peace and rest and comfort in sorrow.” -Soren Kierkegaard