A Foggy Day at Lake Willastein

January/February 2017
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Let me introduce myself; My
name is Leigh, I am a Mum to
five beautiful children, a wife to an
amazing man and a photographer
by trade. We moved here to Maumelle Arkansas
around a year ago from our native country
Wales, United Kingdom. I was astounded by
how welcoming and kind the people of Maumelle
were.
Bringing up children I’m always aware
of my surroundings and any outside influences.
I see so many people today trying to be
something they’re not. We seemed to be conditioned
to be as close to the media’s version
of ‘beautiful’ as we possibly can, regardless of
how unrealistic that may be. We are harming
our own selves by striving for this perceived
perfection and comparing ourselves to images
that are mostly created by computer and
are completely unobtainable. I don’t want my
children growing up with low self-esteem; I
don’t want my children feeling they’re inadequate.
I want them to feel comfortable in
their own skin, I want them and others to love
themselves just the way they are.
I decided to try and do something about
it, to try and make a difference, Even if I was
to only reach a handful of people. I want to
give my children a good example of how we
should behave and how we shouldn’t judge
people by the standards spoon fed to us by
the media.
I came up with an idea; The Love Yourself
Project. The idea was to get a few people to
come forward and share their stories, to let
others know that they aren’t alone in their
struggles. After receiving each persons’ testimony’s
we arranged a date to meet up. I styled
their hair, I applied their makeup and we went
for a photo-shoot. The idea was to raise awareness
of the growing problem of people being
bullied, becoming depressed and just not feeling
like they’re enough. I also wanted to make
my volunteers feel beautiful, I wanted them
to have a positive enjoyable experience. My
aim was to show each person just how beautiful
they are! I wanted them to be able to look
Love Yourself
Submitted by Leigh Gough
Photography by Leigh Gough,
Professional Photographer
back at their photographs and be reminded of
how beautiful they are.
The day went incredibly well, we had
such a great variety of people. We talked and
laughed, a lot!
Isn’t it funny how we may hear many,
many great things about ourselves yet the
one thing our mind seems to keep going back
to is that one ‘throw away comment’ or that
one negative thing someone has mad comment
on. We find it easier to believe the bad
stuff about ourselves rather than the good!
We need to change our way of thinking we
need to just be ourselves! One of the main
things that kept popping into my head when I
thinking about this project is that; we need to
just be ourselves. I decided to include a hash
tag to go with this project of ‘just be you’. We
are at our happiest when; we are just being
ourselves, when we are around people that
we can be ourselves around and we when are
valued for being who we are.
If you’re reading this and you’re feeling;
too fat, too thin, ugly, depressed, like your hair
is too thin or your nose is too big and any other
label society has imprinted on you. Please
know that you are not alone, you are beautiful.
Beautiful isn’t a one size fits all, beautiful is you
being you and accepting and loving you for
who you truly are.
If this article has made you feel happy
or good at all I ask of you to share the love,
share the article with as many people as you
can. Take a selfie and hashtag it ‘Just Be You’
and perhaps most importantly; please take
time to compliment people. Even if you have
never seen them before and may never see
them again….You never know what a passing
comment of ‘ excuse me I just had to tell
you I think you look beautiful’ could do for
someone’s day!
I am very proud of you Sandy, Fatima,
Matti, Shelly and Parker for sharing your amazing
stories and being a part of this project. You
are all beautiful from your very core which radiates
outwards for all to see! Keep being you,
keep being beautiful!
Fati Kamara
Tell me a little about yourself. What happened
to knock your self- image?
My name is Fati Kamara, I was born in West
Africa Sierra Leone, I am married to wonderful
God fearing husband, and the Lord has blessed
me with three Beautiful Children. I moved
to the States when I was 16 years old, went
through High school and college in New Jersey,
but am currently living in Arkansas. At age two
I was diagnosed with Polio, in my left leg, which
causes me to limp when I walk. That is one of
the worst news any mother will want to hear
for their children. Growing up in Africa with a
single Mother, is tough on its own, harder being
disabled. Life was great for us in the beginning
when my father was home, but things drastically
changed when my parents got divorced.
I went from been going to school in a private
car by my father’s driver, to walking on those
rocky roads to school. Other kids were so cruel
to me. I had to quickly learn how to speak up for
myself, and with God on my side, he had a way
to comfort me during those trying times. Other
children will call me names, mock me, some will
even push me to the ground, knowing that I
couldn’t fight back. There were days I didn’t look
forward to school. It affected my confidence,
self-esteem, and I always wanted to hide from
people. It has been long journey for me, But
God has been faithful, he has taught me how
to depend on him for strength and courage.
What made you want to be part of this project?
What motivated me to be part of this project
is very simple. I want people with or without
Disability to hear my story, to be inspired and
live their lives knowing that God is able to see
you through in any situation or condition we
find ourselves. I want people to know that we
have so much more strength in us than we realize,
we just need to focus less on our problems,
condition, situation and be more grateful for
the victories, and trials we have overcome.
Matti Grace
Tell me a little about yourself. What happened
to knock your self-image?
In Elementary school is where the bullying
started, I have a condition called Ptosis that
causes my eyes to droop. In middle school,
when I moved schools for a year is when it really
hit and a lot of people were constantly picking
on me to the point where I didn’t even want to
go anymore, I eventually moved back to Mayflower
and joined the cheer team. Last year I
walked in on a small group of girls discussing my
weight and how I’m too fat to be a flyer on the
cheer team. I weigh 113lbs and I’m 4’8” to put
that in perspective. I wanted to quit but I know I
couldn’t let anything get to me or else they win.
What made you want to be a part of this project?
I wanted to be a part of this project because
I know how much it hurts to be bullied and how
much words can hurt. I want to spread the word
and let others know to stand up for others and
yourself, you are much strong than they will
ever be.
What is the worst thing that has ever been said or
done to make you feel bad?
The worst thing anyone has ever done
that really hurt my feelings was when I was in
8th grade somebody came up to me and made
«Chinese» eyes at me, making fun of how my
What is the worst thing that has even been said/
done to you to make you feel bad? Was it one defining
moment or a collection of many?
The worst thing that has ever been said to
me, was when my family members would say
nothing good will never come out of me because
am disabled. These are people I looked up
to for support, encouragement and reassurance.
Would you like to say anything to the people that
made you feel bad? What would you say and why?
I would like to say thanks to those people
who said nothing good will come from me in life,
because there words helped remember God’s
promises for my life. God said in Jeremiah 29;11.
For I know the Plans I have for you says the Lord,
they are Plans of good and not of evil, to give
you future, and hope. So yes I want to say a big
thanks to those people who have said or done
bad things to me in the past and the present.
What do you think is to blame for the huge
amount of people with low self-esteem?
Well, in my case, I will say myself and then
society. The reason why I said myself, is because
eyes droop. I came home crying and it hurt my
feelings really bad.
What would you like to say to the people who
have made you feel bad?
To everybody Who has made fun of me..
Thank you, you made me the strong kind hearted
person I am today.. Because of you I want to
lift others up instead of bringing them down.
What do you think is to blame for low self-esteem?
I guess the blame would be mostly on how
their home life would be.. If they have a bad
I allowed those people to make me feel the way I
felt, I have control over my feelings. I control 90%
of how I feel, but I can’t control the 10% of what
others think or feel about me. We have to be in
control of our emotions and to not allow the
negative words spoken to us by others to limit us.
If you could go back in time and give yourself
some advice and support, what Would you say
and or do?
If I could go back in time, I would advise
myself to be in control of my emotion, encourage
myself in the Lord, focus on positive
things, surround myself with positive and
prayerful people.
Thank you Leigh for giving me the opportunity
to be part of this project, i pray it
blesses others.
home life that nobody knows about then maybe
to make themselves feel better they need to
bring others down.. But I can assure bullying is
not the answer.
If you could go back and time and give yourself
some advice and support what would you say
or do?
If I could go back and give myself advice I
would probably tell myself what others think of
you doesn’t define who you are, you know exactly
who you are inside and out and you are a
much better person than they ever will be.
Continued on page 26>
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