Elisabeth Oakham
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 Ravi Aluganti explains the concept of air pressure Movement for Rural Emancipation (MORE) Ravi Aluganti has been running a mobile library for a few years now, and and he takes the time when he delivers books to read with the kids, do activities and science experiments with them. On this day, he was using various demonstrations to teach the difficult concept of air pressure. |  MVF Singers I was visiting MVF's bridge school for girls in Hyderabad. A bridge school is, in this case, a two year intensive course for working children and street kids that catches them up academically to their peers who have been in the school system. The girls I met at this school were confident, boisterous and proud of their achievements. At this point in the trip, I was becoming wary of eager headmasters trying to give me very curated tours of their schools, and had been wondering how I could have a straight conversation with these girls about their experiences without using MVF staff as interpreters. I should not have worried. They sat me down and told me all about their lives and asked me all about mine. Each question and answer was an effort, but they were willing to make it. And then they sang to me. Here's the translation: WE ARE COMING We are now the wind Marching through the scorching neglect We are the children who never led by the bed time tales of poverty childhood, life’s only precious good never shall we trade this we are the whistling wind
|  Samshir Learns 'Ah' Movement for Rural Emancipation (MORE) I was deeply moved by one of MORE's newer patients, a young man with a cerebral palsy who could not reliably sit up on his own. When I was 19 I worked with developmentally disabled adults, and one of the men I worked with was an older CP patient whose mind was sharp, but who was confined to a wheelchair he operated with the tips of his fingers. It was December in London, Ontario, and as the winter wore on, he got more and more depressed as the snows prevented him from leaving his apartment. Here, in India, seeing a young man forced to depend on his mother for everything, in all seasons, I couldn't help but feel his case was hopeless. The next day a different CP patient of MORE's. I was bracing myself for more heartsickness, but they had reached Samshir at a younger age, and had been working with him longer. When I met him, he was sitting upright with a huge grin on his face. When he stood up, that grin outshone the sun. |  Preparing the books for travel to COVA's warehouse
|  the first gaylord of books opened! |  So this is what '40 gaylords' of books looks like |  CULP, Education Rights Rally
One of CULP's partner schools organizes a village rally for children's rights to education. |  Books arrive at their destination (1)
Finally, I see books in the hands of their intended beneficiaries. The kids and teachers in these photos are all participating in a bridge course run by Seva Mandir in Rajasthan. The course is a two month sleep-away camp that teaches out-of-school children essential academic skills for joining mainstream school. |  Books arrive at their destination (2) Teachers at Seva Mandir's bridge course have a hard time tearing themselves away from the books to mug for the camera. |  Books arrive at their destination (3) The older kids at the camp pitch in to move the books into a storage room. Like the teachers, they are frequently torn between moving the books, reading them, and posing for the camera. |  Books arrive at their destination (4) Extracting the books from a gaylord battered by months in a container and days in a lorry. |  |  Books arrive at their destination (5)
This little boy was having a really rough time while I was there. The camp had just started, and he spent most of every day trying to run away. The day I arrived, while playing outside, he face-planted into the concrete, smashing his teeth (weak from neglect) in. Bleeding profusely, he was rushed to the hospital. When this photo was taken, he was probably still in considerable pain, and was definitely still trying to run away. As soon as he was faced with a room full of beautiful, books, he was rooted to the spot, sorting through them with rapt attention. |  Kathija and Ayesha play on the rooftops in Charminar I snapped these photos of my landlord's kids playing together after school. |  |  MORE profile Movement for Rural Emancipation (MORE) A profile of the work MORE (movement for rural emancipation) does in rural Andhra Pradesh. |  A new Children's Resource Centre Movement for Rural Emancipation (MORE) A MORE side-project, the Children's Resource Centre is in the fundraising stage. |  |  |  CULP Profile
A short video profile of the work that Centre for Unfolding Learning Potentials does in Rajasthan. |  Book Project: Test shoots and skype meetings
|  Scholar's Model High School |  Rolling Beatties Aranya Agricultural Alternatives At the end of a day of touring Aranya Agriculture Alternative's different water preservation projects, we walked by this young woman rolling beatties. Apparently beattie rolling is a huge sourc of income for families: it is skilled work that woman can do at home between their other tasks, and the results fetch high prices. The cost of the harvest and manufacture on the health of the land and the health of the workers, however, may outweight the economic benefits. |  Have No Fear This was during my first site visit in India. I was still unsure of myself, my equipment, my ability to tell a story or hail an autorickshaw. And then I learned about Sevalaya's School 'Prayer'. |  Sharing photos with AID India's after-school program kids These children had as much fun mugging for the camera as trying to figure out how it worked! They burst into peals of laughter everytime I showed them pictures of themselves, their friends or their teachers. |