Connections

After our April Business of Storytelling workshop, I posted here about how deeply our workshop participants had inspired us, and how I hoped to share some of their stories with you. This one is about Annette Biggers of Triplecord in Laguna Beach, CA. Annette has one of the biggest hearts we have encountered, with wide-open arms eager to embrace new people and new ideas. One evening during our workshop, we all sat rapt as she shared the following story with us.

In late 2006, Annette and her husband Mike hosted a Ugandan boys choir at their home, while the group was performing in Southern California. They had about 15 boys spread all over their home, in beds, in sleeping bags. One night she struck up a conversation with the choir leader, Alex Mutagubya, and he mentioned that he would be getting married soon back home in Uganda. Annette knew that most Ugandans cannot afford to hire personal photographers for their weddings, so she immediately told him, "I am going to come to Uganda and photograph your wedding for you." The man's eyes welled up with tears as he told her he could not believe he was receiving such kindness from someone he barely knew. When she showed him some of her work, she said he cried in disbelief that someone was offering to make such beautiful photos for him, asking nothing in return.

So in late March, Annette made good on her promise by flying to Uganda on her own money, with her husband and their two youngest children, to photograph Alex's wedding to Faith. Annette and her family found themselves mesmerized by the astounding natural beauty of Uganda and the pure friendliness of its people.

The day of the wedding, a man she did not recognize approached her and said "Annette?" She was confused, and then she looked down and saw a camera hanging around his neck. A familiar camera. HER camera. She was completely bewildered and speechless, until it hit her.

Two years ago Annette had donated an old Nikon film camera to a Ugandan pastor who was visiting California. They were discussing photography, and the pastor, Peter Kasiviru, mentioned that most Africans still used primarily film cameras. So when he was leaving to return to Uganda, Annette gave him her camera and said to please give it to someone who would make good use of it.

And there she was, two years later, standing on Ugandan soil and face to face with the man who had received her old camera. The man was Godfrey - incidentally the bride's brother and a groomsman in the wedding. Godfrey told Annette that he used her camera to open a portrait studio. He also made some photos with it that he sent to the local newspaper, which began paying him for his work. He told her this camera had allowed him to make a good income to support his family. Annette and Godfrey hugged and hugged, and cried over the sheer improbability of this meeting. Annette says she remembers feeling bad that all she was sending was an old film camera, but when she got to Uganda she realized it was the nicest camera anyone had there. "It was nothing for me to send my camera over there," she says. "But it changed his life."

Annette came back home filled with new energy, and a new purpose. This story gets even better. We will post the second part of it tomorrow. But for now, to see more photos from Alex and Faith's wedding, go to Triplecord's blog.