Kid’s photos hang from the branches of a dogwood tree, while Foto and a child frolic beneath the branches…What a treat that Dog Meets World has been chosen The Cat’s Meow Village charity of choice for 2012! You can purchase your own DMW tree here. Cats and dogs can play well together to celebrate photo diplomacy.

Faline the creator and owner of Cat’s Meow designates a national charity to donate a portion of proceeds to each year. The collection is called the Charity Grove and each year she designs a new tree to be added to the collection that symbolizes the charity of choice for the year.

Cat’s Meow’s are two-dimensional wooden keepsakes. They are freestanding miniature replicas of buildings, places, and things from people’s lives. They consist of everything from Mount Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty to local tourist attractions and historical icons to people’s homes, churches, schools, etc.

They are lightweight, fit in the palm of your hand and can be easily displayed above windows and doorways, on windowsills, chair rails, and in any nook or cranny, which makes them a great accent for any home décor. Their black cat, Casper, trademarks each piece.

A newly released article in the Washington Quarterly, 2012 entitled “The 21st Century Force Multiplier: Public—Private Collaboration” written by Admiral James Stavridis (Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander, U.S. European Command) and Dr. Evelyn N. Farkas (Senior Advisor for Public-Private Partnerships) specifically mentions Dog Meets World.

On page 10, “New small NGOs with less compunction about teaming with militaries are emerging…Dog Meets World, a small non-profit focused on public diplomacy and empowerment by getting photographs from volunteer photographers to children in developing countries, was linked to special operations forces in Afghanistan, with the objective of garnering Afghan goodwill for the special operators.”

Dog Meets World is a proud collaborator.

A Birth Certificate shows that we were born,
A Death Certificate shows that we died,
Pictures show that we lived!

Dog Meets World introduces photo diplomacy. Photo diplomacy is a simple way for citizens to connect and share a moment and a meaningful exchange. A photo says you count, we are alike and its like giving out tangible joy. Join this all volunteer effort to bring the world closer through the power of acknowledgment and photography. It’s peacemaking 101.

Coleen had a blast with Foto and photo diplomacy while working in India. She saw how important the photo affirmation was for the children. On her way back to the USA where grad school applications await, she and friend Mimi DuVigneaud spent weeks traveling through SE Asia. Unfortunately she didn’t have her Dog Meets World printer supplies along as they got packed up by mistake by the movers when she was leaving India Nevertheless they took the lessons of photo diplomacy to heart and ran with it.

Coleen and Mimi reported they spent time in Cambodia with the children of the Angkor Orphan & Education Oganization. A side note… the little girl in the picture is missing her front teeth as they were rotting out and her adult teeth were growing in in an upwards direction! They were able to get volunteer dental help through a couple that lives here in the States.

There were about 20 children who had not begun school yet because they needed to wait until the start of the new school year, so we mainly worked with these children during the day hours when the others were attending school. One of the most exciting projects we did for the kids was an individual photo frame for each child. We weren’t able to do the traditional method of Dog Meets World photo processing with the kids as Foto and the printer were mistakenly packed up and sent by boat back home to the States from India. Given that we had an extended amount of time we were able to take photos of the 25 kids, send them off to get developed overnight and continue on with our project the next day. The kids loved seeing their picture on the digital camera but were even more enthused when we returned the next day with a hard copy of each of their individual pictures! The kids then placed their pictures on a brightly colored paper and decorated around the picture to create a frame which they could hang above their sleeping area or place in a special location. They loved the activity and couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces!

As a result Coleen and Mimi have established a non-profit, EduForward, with a goal of educating children around the world. Their first project is to raise funds to help the children of the AOEO Cambodia orphanage. Any funds raised will go directly to the children and will help towards their education and well being. They will be returning in June to work with the children once again and this time Foto will be making the journey across the world by plane in Coleen’s bag to visit the wonderful, loving children at AOEO!. Thanks Coleen and Mimi….Foto loves to help fetch photos!

Amy writes “While traveling throughout Nicaragua, and making stops at Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners of the Americas projects, it was great fun to spend time with the children and leave them with a photo of themselves. All the participants loved practicing photo diplomacy through Dog Meets World! Perhaps the most fun was watching the kids, their expressions, excitement and anticipation as the photo was printed right before their eyes. I’m fairly certain they had never seen anything like it, and were thrilled to walk away with a photo in hand. Also, we stopped at a center for individual special needs and made photos which they placed on their desks. We took and printed over 100 photos during our short time there.”

Tom Neuhauser attended the Learning Center Trek with Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners last summer. Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners of the Americas, Inc. is a not-for-profit, non-political organization working to enhance the quality of life in both Wisconsin and Nicaragua through people-to-people programs promoting cultural awareness and sustainable community development.

Tom visited Wisconsin’s Partner Country (Nicaragua) with team that taught workshops at the Learning Centers, or in Tom’s case – took and printed photos for Dog Meets World, which was very, very well received. What a great collaborations for people-to-people interactions.

Tom recounts: The children were very excited to have a picture of themselves to bring home and share with friends and family. They waited patiently in a long line to have their picture taken and were mesmerized watching the photo actually print on the portable printer. I enjoyed taking part in this project, it was a wonderful experience.

Ariane along with her husband Denis run Amman Imman “Water is Hope”. They have enthusiastically added photo diplomacy through Dog Meets Word to their projects. See photos of the printer in action as the children await the first photographs that they have ever owned of themselves.

A drought and the violence in Libya has further stressed this subsistence community. Yet in their latest newsletter they write they look forward to their return to Niger to “be welcomed by our dear friends and the smiling, laughing faces of the children we’ve grown to know and love in our Azawak communities. It will be refreshing to sip tea and share stories with our friends, eat fresh vegetables that they’ve been able to grow thanks to the borehole water and listen to songs the children have learned since they’ve begun attending the school that has opened now that water has become available.”

We look forward to more photos of the beautiful children of this remote region.

Barbara writes:

It was my 2nd journey to Jamaica as a DMW phodographer. Like last year the poor in the villages were very excited about the printing project. This year I did Dog Meets World at the site of my school on construction day, which has been a 3 year project in the works. Funding was completed a few weeks before my annual trip (my 8th) and Food For the Poor surprised me with the news when we arrived on the site that we were building my school this trip! Day 1, I met the children who were attending summer school (6 of them ages 2-6) and the picture taking began, but I did not have Max (Foto is called Max by the children in this project!) with me. We built the entire school that day! On Day 2 we returned to paint the school-yellow-the color of all my Jamaican projects.

On Day 2, I arrived with Max (Foto the dog) and the printer. We took individual school pictures of each student to print and take home. We took the class picture which the principal and teacher received copies of for the school office. The nicely dressed lady in the photo arrived at the school site and asked for me. She said she had been told we were taking pictures and she had never had her picture taken. She had dressed up for the event and was very excited. As she was walking to work, we only had time to snap the picture and I printed it up later, with the help of the kids to be given to her. The children and principal were fascinated with the printer and the kids enjoyed pushing the buttons. As the picture is printed in a series of colors the children called out the colors as it printed, thus it became a learning project. The children who attend this school all live in shacks with no electricity, bathroom or kitchen. It is an extremely poor community.

While in St. Lucia, Dog Meets World founder Carolyn Lane introduced photo diplomacy to Peace Corps Volunteer Lisa Kuk (posing with Foto, above left). Lisa is serving with her husband Thom in this southern village in St. Lucia that was the hardest hit by the hurricane of 2010. We “practiced” with two local school children who were thrilled to watch the printing process of their own photo. The Dog Meets World organization donated a printer and supplies so that Lisa may photograph many of the children and families in the area.

My name is Manar Sarie, I’m a master student at the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies in Israel studying low tech green technologies in the West Bank- Palestine. This summer I had a great opportunity to be part of a group called New Story Leadership for the Middle East, bring together young professional Israelis and Palestinians who are willing to talk and take action for peace.

During the summer in Washington, DC I interned at the World Bank and spoke in different embassies about my story as an Arab Israeli. Moreover, I heard about fascinating projects such as Dog Meets World- Photo Diplomacy. The first thing that came to my mind was flashes of kids who jumped and ran to me when I was taking photos in their village, and I never thought that actually the pictures I took for them can be the first picture they every had in their life. I am excited to start the project at home. There is almost nothing about photo diplomacy in the entire Middle East and I want to introduce it!!

Thank you Dog Meets World for your support and for opening the door to me to this world.