it’s been five years since i was in europe last. five years? really? how could it have taken me so long to indulge in this beautiful european way of life? i can hardly believe my first time here was my first time outside my american boundaries. how much i have seen and explored since then. how much more of the world has been opened and since altered my perspective. ah. it’s good to go back to where it all started.
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i recently spent a month in africa and am catching up my blog with stories from my journey.
to hear more about our projects and why i was there, see HERE
to see my photos from this trip, see HERE and HERE
to purchase photos from this trip, see HERE

i still remember the first time i met karena. she was telling me about all the great restaurants in berkeley, how she had lived close to them after she and emrys got married, and how fat that made her that first year. i knew instantly this was a girl i would get along with (and p.s. she’s anything but fat!)

she and em are moving to new haven, ct this fall for her to begin her masters in theater administration at yale. a last minute item on her list was head shots for her future famous productions and university use. i was thankful i got to do the honors and always a fun with this dear friend.

a day spent with sam and his mother in the beautiful city of san francisco. his blue eyes are pretty memorable and i enjoyed spending my morning trying to catch his movements!

we’ve spent the last week in the city of bor. desolate two years ago, the city is now one of the economic centers of southern sudan as the refugees return. everywhere we look, we see remnants of a displaced people - people who have survived a civil war but have been stripped of all of their possessions in the process. there is no waste for there is nothing to discard. there are no luxuries for the essentials are rarely provided. there is no permanence for everyone awaits what will happen next. but there is hope. there is a hope that the sudanese people will rise again out of the rubble and reclaim their culture. there is a hope that those displaced will return to empower their people to create a future for the next generation. and there is a hope that the past 50 years were not endured in vain but fueled a fire for freedom. in some ways, i feel completely out of touch with reality in this place so far away from the world i know. yet in other ways, i feel as if i’ve never known life to be more real.

we’ve updated our website so check out http://rebuildsudan.wordpress.org for more info on our trip!

michael kuany [rebuild sudan] and dave gerber [mosaic]

little ones [juba, sudan]

soccer game [juba, sudan]

ethiopian sunset [addis ababa, ethiopia]

waiting… lots of waiting [addis ababa, ethiopia]

i really cannot believe it… am i seriously going to africa? yes… four days of travel to get there, by sunday night i’ll be hearing the story of the lost boys of sudan while sitting in an african hut. wow. i am humbled at the chance to go. thank you all who have been apart of sending me there.

a quick recap of our schedule is as follows…

may 21-23 – team departs
San Francisco, CA to
Boston, MA to
Frankfurt, Germany to
Addis, Ethiopia to
finally… we arrive in Juba, Sudan

may 24 – drive to Bor, Sudan
visioning meeting with michael

may 25-30 – project
project programming/site investigation
site surveying
visit nearby schools
utility investigations
final design presentation

may 31 – transit to Uganda

june 1-3 – african safari

june 4 – review project with eMi Uganda office
kevin and dave depart

june 5, 6, 7 – sarah/aryn/jill in Uganda
aryn departs the 7th

june 8-12 – photography/graphic design workshop
sarah & jill teach workshop for school from 11-1 for high schoolers and 1-3 for elementary students

june 14-17 – Lyra project
sarah and jill travel to Lyra with eMi to design an orphanage in central Uganda

june 18 – sarah & jill leave for home

the scenery isn’t unique… drive anywhere away from the mountains, the ocean, the city and the scene will be the same. wide expanses of openness fill the horizon as far as the eye can see, fields of grain wave to the ever present wind, and the playful clouds hang suspended above my head. i’ve seen the same views around the world, but it feels different here. the kansas plains connect to a core of who i am and remind me i am home.

the kansas plains are unassuming and unpretentious. they host roads which don’t ask me to drive faster nor contain traffic which requires me to drive slower. they grant me to permission to weave between their boundaries and live within their presence without question. they simply exist in the stillness of those who’ve come before me and those who will follow. i am but a dot in their history and recognize my smallness in their humble expanse. no place else have i been given so much yet expected nothing in return. without intending to, the plains of kansas have taught me to be still… i’ve learned from them what it means to simply be and what it feels like to come home.

i’m selling my photos online to support our trip to sudan! it’s much easier this year to purchase a photograph… order anything you want online, pay with credit card and have it shipped to you directly!!

check out my online gallery here: 3see.zenfolio.com

if there are photos you’ve seen that aren’t online, just email me.
if you want a size that is not there, just email me.
if i can do anything else to help you out, you guessed it, just email me.

prices are cheaper this time as well, woot woot! economic times hit everyone and i want to be sure all of my work is affordable so you can purchase one and help us rebuild sudan. prices are as follows:
4×6 - $12
5×7 - $15
8×10 - $20
11×14 - $40
16×24 - $60
so please purchase a photograph at 3see.zenfolio.com to adorn your wall, give as a gift, or sit on your desk!

if you want to wait to buy one of my photographs after i return from sudan, i totally understand! just let me know by sending me an email (jsornson@gmail.com) so i can begin estimating how much funding i still need to raise!

thank you much!

an update on me from Jill Sornson on Vimeo.

when you’re a survivor, you see differently. you’ve been plagued by sideways glances and awkward questions. you’ve come to know the best and worst sides of what it means to be human. you cannot help but see people differently.

when you’re a survivor, you live differently. you’ve had a chance to look death in the face and turn the other way. you’ve stood on the edge of what could have been but will not be. you cannot help but live life differently.

when you’re a survivor, you smile differently. you’ve valued the color of a flower more than before and the taste of food. you’ve been stripped of beauty but given a chance to reclaim it. you cannot help but smile at each day differently.

to read maggie’s story, see HERE
to see the other photos i took of maggie, see HERE*

*note: more to come… just have to find the time to edit them and get them up!