Kurdish Refugee Kids
I need your help. Rather, better put, these kids need your help.
From July 18th - July 25th, I will be heading back to Iraqi Kurdistan with my friends Huberto and Julian Fernandini, and Ben Schneilble, to help a group of kids in a desperate situation. We need your help to give these kids an opportunity of a lifetime.
[Children jump on a burnt-out ISIS vehicle - Photo by Younes Mohammed]
That opportunity is to leave the refugee camp and to join my friend Younes, an internationally acclaimed photojournalist and a refugee as a child himself, a few fellow photographers, some friends of mine, and me for a 5-day long photography and music recording training. 
*The kids on their first day of instruction
The group is lucky to have Philadelphia-based producer, music tech professor, and DJ, Ben ‘Arsenal’ Schneible. He is bringing a compact studio set up with the intention of exposing the students to basic music production concepts and technology. He will be recording with the kids and helping them broadcast their gifts far beyond the walls of the camps in which they live. 
Younes and I became friends while documenting the armed struggle of the US-allied Iranian Peshmergas.
If we raise the funds, we will get the permissions needed for the kids to leave the refugee camp, come to a gallery space in Erbil, and for 5 days learn photography and have food provided. For kids who complete the class, we will present them with their very own camera and we'll aim to put on an exhibition of their photos in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. To make this project happen, I need your help to raise $4,000 (was $3,000) in a very short time.
Why there?
Over the course of several trips to Northern Iraq, I have been focused on documenting the lives of the Iranian Peshmergas and their armed struggle against the Iranian government. However, this trip will be different. While visiting a military base there, I was introduced to a group of kids, living in extremely challenging circumstances in a refugee camp near the base.
The Situation
The kids, whose parents fled persecution and war, are living a refugee camp, stateless, and without citizenship or opportunity. Their children, who have no access to education and who sit in wait year after year for the situation in the region to change, have a bleak future.
The Goal
Through this project, we want to give these kids an opportunity they could not hope for. With your support, we will give them an opportunity to 10 kids to focus on something positive, to have a break from the daily challenges of their lives, to express themselves, to have an artistic outlet, to learn a skill, to have fun, and more. And, for some, to go home with a camera at the end of the 5 days. 
The Cost
$300 - Provides one child with an opportunity they could not even dream of, a camera, transportation from and to the camp, food while they are being taught, and related materials. 100% of the funds raised via my GoFundMe will cover cameras. My friends and I will cover transportation, food, and any other expenses. No funds raised will be used to cover our expenses. All flights, accommodations, food, etc for our team will be covered by the handful of us who are organizing and leading this. Any funds over the goal will go to buying additional cameras so we can have more kids participate.
Special Thanks
Long before our plane touched down in Erbil, these two men did the bulk of the work to gain the governmental permission to get the kids out of the camps, they setup the transportation, arranged for the Framing Photojournalism School to host the training and provide the tracher. Without their work, we could not have had the opportunity to help in the way that we have.
*A group of children gather for a photo after recently being moved as part of a refugee consolidation effort
*Humberto working with the kids / the man can find a way to connect with anyone and everyone 
*Reconnecting with our students at one of the refugee camp where many of them live
*Julian speak to the media about the project
