July 2013
COMMUNITY NEWS
RenfrewCollingwoodCommunityNews.com
Passion for India: Talented young photographer raises money and awareness by Alexis Seto Tessa Tham is 22 years old and a resident of
Renfrew-Collingwood. Her family moved here from Singapore when she was in grade 6. Last year she started a charity called Thread of Hope to raise money to build a vocational centre for the Dalit women of India. The goal is to raise $10,000, and they are currently nearing the $7,000 mark. AS: Tessa, when did you become interested in photography? TT: I started in high school taking snapshots of everything here and there and I liked to compile little albums. My family loves keeping photo albums and we also have a huge box of black-and-white photos from the 1920s up to now. I discovered the box when we moved to Canada. I was really intrigued at how photography can tell a story, but at the same time it’s up to the each person to interpret that story. AS: How do you get such candid shots of people? TT: It’s how you approach people. I think if you approach people by being genuine they can sense that. For example, in India, people in the village didn’t know what a camera was, I started by showing them the camera and smiling. It’s just being sincere in how you approach them.
Photos by Tessa Tham
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Cambodia
AS: Tell us about your project Thread of Hope. TT: It was birthed from our [church] mission trip to India last year. Our purpose was to check on the school that we had built there. Prior to this our church [Basel Hakka Lutheran Church] went there wanting to help the kids break through oppression through education. Our timeline for the school was two years, but we raised $50,000 in about eight months. An anonymous donor was so impressed by our passion and drive that he offered to match the amount we raised by up to $50,000, for a total of $100,000. It was pretty awesome. Continued on Page 2
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