Beyond my work as a wedding photographer in Salzburg, my heart also beats for documentary photography. This past February, I had the honor of traveling to Kamobo on behalf of Arbing meets Africa to document daily life at their school.
The Arbing School Kamobo was founded in 2015 in a small village in Western Kenya. Frustrated by the poor conditions of public schools and the high fees of private institutions, a group of local parents decided to take a new path. They pooled their money, hired a teacher, built a small mud structure, and founded a school for what was then 40 children.
Much has happened since those first steps. Edward Kitur, on whose land the school was established, made the initial contact with the Austrian team in late 2015. Inspired by this grassroots initiative and the parents‘ motivation to provide their children with a high-quality education, the NGO Arbing meets Africa was born. Today, the organization is supported by two dedicated teams in Kenya and Austria. Over the years, they have successfully expanded beyond the school to include the „Rafiki“ project and a „Social Unit,“ allowing them to better serve the specific needs of the community.
During my visit, I was welcomed with incredible warmth and had the privilege of living directly on the school grounds for two weeks. The moment you arrive, you feel the positive energy. There is an enormous amount of love, commitment, and hard work poured into this project—far more than one could imagine from the outside.
The children left a lasting impression on me. Despite facing difficult circumstances, they are happy, curious, and full of life. Their joy was truly contagious and enriched me on a personal level. As a father of a child who is just starting school himself, it is hard to fathom that education and two meals a day would not be a given for many of these children without this school.
You can clearly feel the life-changing impact this project has on the students and their families. Every child deserves access to education—and no child should have to suffer from hunger.
I invite you to view the full reportage below.
Password: MFe2x0m9