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The Silent Children
Giving back was always something that Paul and Mercedes Kline aspired to do. They weren’t sure when or how, but even before they were married they talked about making a difference. In the fall of 2006, Paul took a trip to see his mother in Israel, where he ended up visiting a few orphanages. These few would turn out to be the first of many Paul would photograph.
He did some research and ran into an astonishing number. 150 million children around the world are currently orphans – that’s equivalent to half the population of the United States. A child is orphaned every two seconds – a staggering frequency to fathom. Every time you blink two more children are orphaned. Remembers Paul: “It was hard for us to wrap our brains around that.”
Paul is a professional photographer, with a successful studio in a suburb of Washington DC, and Mercedes is a Registered Nurse working for a private practice in the city. Mercedes also volunteers for Montgomery Hospice and treats uninsured patients with Mobile Medical Care. The pair decided to embark on a journey that would take them around the world to expose poverty, suffering and abuse. It started as a photo essay documenting at-risk children from around the world. They called it, “The Silent Children Project.”
“These kids don’t have a voice, and we want to lend them one,” Mercedes explains. The couple set a goal to raise awareness of the prodigious number of orphaned children around the world. Paul observes that, “There is a lot of photography work done in places such as Africa, Eastern Europe and India, but we decided to take a broader look…a global look.” In fact, the Klines want to show the good and the bad; the differences and the commonalities.
“We found that the most important factor wasn’t social-economic. It was the caregivers. We saw wonderful caregivers raising wonderful children with very little. We also saw awful caregivers effectuate neglect with relatively plentiful means,” Paul insists. To date they have visited Mozambique, South Africa, India, the Ukraine, Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Brazil, Panama, Columbia and Vietnam.
As the project progressed and word started getting out, they were frequently asked if they accept donations. “In the beginning, we said that we are working on a documentary and we don’t accept donations. But as time went on we asked why not?” recalls Mercedes. They decided to set up a not-for-profit charity that accepts donations and raises money from the project’s photography. They distribute 100% of the proceeds to orphanages at need from around the world. “Mercedes always reminds me of a certain orphanage in South Africa where 30 kids sleep in 4 beds. Or the Vietnamese orphanage for disabled children where the kids are warehoused. That is what drives us,” Paul explains.
The Klines are proud that it has become a family affair; all of their three children are now involved with the project. Matan, the younger of their two sons at 15, designed the project’s website. At 17, their son Gil writes and performs the music for the website, and their daughter Coral, age 19, helps to write the project’s literature and traveled with them this summer to visit orphanages in Brazil.
The Klines hope to finish the project in 2010 after they visit a few more countries. They plan to include children from the Aborigines in Australia and children living in the US. In addition to the project’s already established press coverage, they aim to have a “media blitz” after they are finished in order to increase awareness and raise money. Paul is also working on a “traveling gallery exhibit” and a photo book. “I’m not sure we will ever really finish this project. I think that this is just the first phase of it,” admits Mercedes.
It may be the first phase, but they have put together a wonderful exhibit and have raised a considerable amount of money for orphaned children. The duo is already talking about a followup project that helps integrate youths that graduate from orphanages or the foster-care system into society. “I will never forget when I heard that one of the orphanages in the Ukraine graduates children at the age of 16. They drive the kids to the center of town and say goodbye,” Paul somberly discloses. According to the MiraMed Institute in Moscow, approximately 40% of orphans in the Ukraine are recruited into crime and prostitution within one year of leaving an orphanage. Mercedes points out that, “Even in the US, children leaving fostercare at the age of 18 need help.”
The Klines believe it will be more difficult to raise money for such a project, but they are determined to help the cause. Paul sums it up with, “Everyone can help. Donating money certainly helps. But even talking about these kids to friends and family raises awareness. I believe that once people are aware of these kids, they listen to these kids. Then people realize that these are our kids, and they are no longer silent.” 
http://kids.paulkline.com/