No Mirrors in South Sudan: Neal Johnson

I was fortunate enough to travel to South Sudan with my three siblings. My younger brother is a missionary in the small town of Ibba. My job was to take photographs of the children, moms, dads and grandparents.

Of course, being a photographer, I was excited!. But I was not aware of the surprise that awaited me. Thanks to Prints For Prints, I went equipped with a small printer to print the images for the people of Ibba and the surrounding villages.

What I didn’t know was that there are no mirrors in that part of the world!! That was a surprise to me. But…..not the REAL surprise. The real and marvelous surprise was seeing the joy, the excitement, and the wonder on the faces of the people when they saw an image of themselves for the very first time ever!! I had no idea what joy the actual printed image would bring to the people of Ibba!

I probably will never know the full extent of how holding that photograph changed their lives but I know for sure how it changed mine! I will be forever motivated to travel the world spreading that joy to as many people as I can. This aspect of my experience in Sudan was all possible because of the generous support from Prints for Prints.

Neal Johnson, Portland, OR, USA