“It was just like seeds that grew into a miracle.”

That’s how Aurelia Blake describes the recent Project Jericho effort, “As Seen Under One Sun.”

Through Project Jericho’s first international photography exhibit, 12 teenagers from Kigali, Rwanda, took pictures of everyday scenes there and 11 students did the same thing here in Springfield.

The exhibit opened at the Springfield Museum of Art last Thursday and will remain there through Nov. 15.

The museum is closed on Mondays and is open Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Blake, who is a creative writing teacher in Yellow Springs, said it shows what can happen when you “take the arts and give people freedom and a little direction, and turn them loose.”

Project Jericho’s Community Outreach and Education Director Beth Dixon told those on hand for the ceremony that the agency has served hundreds of children through dozens of projects, but “this one is close to my heart.”

The idea came from Dixon’s daughter, Molly, about a year ago when the two of them traveled to Rwanda. Blake also related she knew someone from Rwanda, Thierry Tuyishmire, who is now in college in Oklahoma.

Tuyishmire, a member of the Isaro Foundation in Kigali, came to Springfield for the ceremony and talked about the various writing and reading projects they’re doing in his country, as part of the larger effort to improve literacy there. The foundation also collaborated with Project Jericho on the photography project.

George Brose, who works in the local court mediation program, has traveled to Rwanda five times, and has trained mediators and helped establish mediation programs there and in the Western Congo. He says mediation “has mushroomed” as the legal system had to be rebuilt following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. However, the rape of women continues to be “a huge problem,” and victims are frequently shunned.

The ceremony also featured a performance by Project Jericho’s Positive Repercussions African Drum Circle.

The local students — Joshua Wright, Tory Campbell, Tiffany White, Dallas McCormick, Jacob Hawk, Arianna Sprinkle, Brittany Rothgeb, Charles Mitchell, Cystal Graves, Evelyn Shinn and Derrick Hull — were recognized for the work, which graphically demonstrates how similar life can be, even when it’s on the other side of the world.

And their pictures remind us that we truly all are under one sun.

Sunday is Veterans Day and Clark County Veterans Service Office Director Cathy Ater tells me their annual ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. that day in Veterans Park, just off of North Fountain Avenue in Springfield.

Tomorrow, Springfield City Schools will celebrate Veterans Day and the U.S. Marine Corps’ Birthday with a ceremony at 3:30 p.m. at Springfield High School, 701 E. Home Road. Snowhill Elementary’s Veterans Day program starts at 1:45 p.m. Monday.

Contact me at Darryl.Bauer@cmg.com or (937) 328-0341.