forgotten/forsaken

I thought I would continue in my--what--series? I suppose it is a series, although that sounds a bit official. Which this is not. Tonight I am writing about the "forgotten/forsaken" print. This particular print is really quite special to me. It was actually done the same evening as the "Forget Me Not." print. I had been looking through all of these photographs of children, mostly orphans, and I came across a photograph of a young girl. There was something about her that absolutely arrested me. It was mainly in her eyes. She was so small but had the look of someone that knew much more of the world than a child should. I looked and looked, and then I read the caption. It stated, very simply, that this girl -- I believe she was ten -- had been raped by a man who had been told that he could be cured of AIDS if he had sex with a virgin. It is still so upsetting to me to think about. This was something that I had heard about previously, and, quite honestly, sickens me as much now as it did then.

I began doing a sketch of a girl, quite similar to the one I saw. It came very quickly, and was really a quite emotional process. As I was inking the drawing, I was overcome with the idea that it didn't seem right that all of the profits from Project 8256 were going only to Katie and Michael's adoption fund. There was clearly something much bigger that needed to be done. There will certainly be one child whose life will be changed dramatically by joining our little family. But there are so many others. I spoke with Katie the next day about donating a percentage to a charity that was working with orphans in Africa. She had been having the same thoughts. And so it was settled.

This was, for me, the moment the entire project came alive. I know that, when this project ends, there will be those who have made much larger donations, and who have most certainly sacrificed far more than I could imagine. But I have certainly been changed through this process. In so many ways. For that I will always be grateful.