You took a gazillion photos at your cousin’s wedding but they’re still trapped on your camera, and the pic you just posted to Facebook is riddled with red eye. Bottom line, you’re not changing the world with your photography, so it’s a good thing that The Snap Project is!

At this very moment, the inaugural class of Snap Project photographers—15 middle and secondary school children in Mathare, Kenya—are out in their neighborhoods documenting life in one of Africa’s oldest and largest slums. The Snap Project has distributed cameras to each kid and project coordinator Charles Kigotho is teaching them to harness the power of imagery as a catalyst for change.

Meanwhile, Snap Project founder and college student Maddie Brandenburger is raising funds for future Snap classes through the sale of her own arresting images of life in the Mathare slums. Brandenburger first visited East Africa in 2008 and was inspired to blend her passion for photography with her interest in microfinance to create a program that would empower young people. Snap Project students will use their photos to build support for policies that will address the economic issues that have locked them in a cycle of poverty.

We can’t wait to see how this develops.