PeaceCorps volunteers have been venturing out in the world since 1961 when Sargent Shriver first organized the program to send Americans into the developing world with the mandate to “promote world peace and friendship”. In 1981 he said

The cure is care. Caring for others is the practice of peace. Caring becomes as important as curing. Caring produces the cure, not the reverse. Peace doesn’t not come through strength, strength comes through peace.

May Dog Meets World in it’s own small way, be a seed of peace. One PeaceCorp volunteer said “Thank you Dog Meets World for giving purpose to my Peace Corps service. Through DMW, I not only distributed photographs. I also brought a service to the people my communities. I showed them that I see them.”

Rob is a CPA from Los Angeles and volunteered on an international build for Habitat for Humanity in Kenya. Adding Dog Meets World was just another way to engage and connect cultures AND leave an indelible memory of this special time in their lives…..receiving one’s first home!

Rob’s said “throughout the entire process, the adults and kids alike were smiling, laughing and enjoying their/our time together as well as playing with Foto and watching the photos print. Once we began to hand out the photos, the enjoyment continued as they were excited and overjoyed to have a picture of themselves and/or family to keep and share with others.“

NEW Phodographer Paul Blair in Mombasa, Kenya November 2010

Paul is a Peace Corps volunteer. He says he’s “serving as a teacher in Mombasa, Kenya, a pretty big city near the equator along the coast of the Indian Ocean. I’ve been teaching for two years using Kenyan Sign Language in the subjects of Art, English, Math, and Computers. All of my students are Deaf, and range in age from 6 to 30. I’m happy to say that I’ve put Dog Meets World to use and boy I wish I had done it sooner, because the kids loved it!

I have taken many photos in my time here, and have become accustomed to the students always wanting printouts, which I cannot possibly accommodate myself, since I take so many pictures. The times that I do print some of my photos in town, the students who don’t get their own pictures become jealous, so the Dog Meets World project really made a difference for them, since it allowed me print out all their pictures instantly as they watched to make them all happy!“

Nothing like having a professional photographer as a Dog Meets World phoDOGrapher to get really cool pictures. Foto the dog was a big hit!

See Patrick’s latest video of his volunteer mission to Kenya with Global Roots here. Dog Meets World is thrilled that Patrick brought the Dog Meets World photo sharing project to HIV orphans as he believes “they more than any other children they need support”. Thanks Patrick for your compassion!

Patrick volunteers as a video-photographer for Global Roots. Their mission is to empower local humanitarians. In Mtito-Andey they were working with the head nurse of a hospital when Patrick met some of the children who came to take their medicine. Patrick said “Some were with their parents, some with adoptive parents. It was very emotional for all our volunteers to meet orphans, some deprived from motherly and fatherly love and fighting with a deadly disease. We could see in their eyes that they knew exactly which situation they were in. I took some photos of the children and the puppy as part of Dog Meets World. Most of the children had an instant smile, were so curious, looking at it, playing with its ears. Some children were more reserved, weaken by their struggle. We all left the hospital with a heavy heart, and the strongest motivation ever, to immediately return to continue building the orphanage headquarters“.

NEW Phodographer Rob Willet in Kisii, Kenya, June 2010

Rob is a CPA from Los Angeles and volunteered on an international build for Habitat for Humanity in Kenya. He heard about Dog Meets World and enthusiastically embraced the project and recruited his fellow team members.

Rob’s said throughout the entire process, the adults and kids alike were smiling, laughing and enjoying their/our time together as well as playing with Foto and watching the photos print. Once we began to hand out the photos, the enjoyment continued as they were excited and overjoyed to have a picture of themselves and/or family to keep and share with others.

The moment I remember the most involved the village matriarch. She wanted to have a photo of her and all of the children of her village so we had them stand together for a group photo. Once we handed her the photo, she smiled from ear to ear, held the photo to her head, she looked up into the sky and started singing and dancing – which continued for around 10 minutes.