14th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Sustainable Travel
Runway

I volunteered at a school in Uganda for the month of January. One day while walking through the village, a friend and I noticed this girl. Most of the children in the village go to school, and she seemed a bit old to still be home. My Ugandan friend spoke to her grandmother (in Lugandan) and asked why she was not in school. It turned out that her father had passed away, and the girl was forced to live with her grandmother who could not afford the school fees for this girl and all of her siblings, so being the oldest, she had to drop out. Upon hearing this, my friend and I offered to pay for her tuition. She and her grandmother were overjoyed. She spent a while bathing in a bucket outside. She then put on this lovely dress and we walked her to school to pay the fees for her. As I watched her transformation, I was stunned. As she walked out all dressed and ready, with her stunning features and svelte frame, she looked like a model walking down the runway. I had to get a shot.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 07.2016
Date Uploaded: 08.2016
Photo Location: mpigi, Uganda
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Copyright: © Jennifer Azano