from Progreso Weekly

Photographer David Whitman's portrait of two barefooted boys playing marbles has been selected by the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin-Madison for the cover of their award-winning International Calendar.

Whitman's photograph, titled “Jefinho and Darlei,” underwent a rigorous screening process, rising to the top of nearly 400 entries from active and returned Peace Corps volunteers to become the 2005 cover shot. The photo coordinator for the calendar project, Jo Thomson, observed that the composition is striking for its “spontaneity and beautiful balance.”

The calendar photo was taken on Ilha de Maré, a small island in the Bay of All Saints near Brazil’s colonial capital Salvador, that “seems to be in a time warp,” says Whitman. “Although a major city looms on the horizon, Maré is an island of traditional fishing villages. It has no paved roads, no cars, and, until recently, had no running water or electricity. The people I met there were proud, friendly, and seemed to be living in harmony with their natural environment.”

From classrooms to boardrooms around the world, the 2005 calendar represents communities where Peace Corps volunteers have served. More than 170,000 volunteers have worked in 136 countries on such issues as health education, information technology, and environmental preservation. Whitman worked as a Peace Corps forester and teacher for three years in the eastern Caribbean. He now coordinates an environmental education outreach program at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami.

Whitman first received artistic recognition a decade ago from National Geographic Traveler when another photo of his was one of just 35 selected from 20,000 competing images on the theme of travel. Since then, his work has been exhibited and published in the U.S. and Brazil. Previewing an exhibition in Oakland, California, critic Sarah Cahill wrote: “Whitman's intimate scenes of street and beach are painterly in their vibrant colors and artful compositions. Amid tropical light and color and shadow, his compassionate images of human beauty and warmth stay with us.”

The calendar project is a volunteer effort by the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin-Madison. About 40,000 calendars are printed each year, with proceeds going to grassroots projects around the world. The calendars are sold at universities, bookstores, and by Peace Corps groups throughout the country. Six thousand are given annually as an educational tool to teachers in the Peace Corps’ World Wise Schools program.

“The Peace Corps is the most powerful symbol of non-military service in our history,” says Senator John Kerry. “If there was ever a time when everyday people in the most deprived countries, cities and villages of the world need to see idealistic Americans working to help them, it is today, when we are engaged in a struggle to win the hearts and minds of people everywhere.”

Jefinho in 2006

(upper right player on
the calendar cover at top)