Hyderabad and Dalit Freedom Network - Varanasi, India
Varanasi, India
Hyderabad Another painfully early flight had us up and eating breakfast by 6 am. Our last ride with our very quiet and patient driver to the airport, Baldeed, would now finally release him to return back home to New Delhi after towing around our motley crew for 4 days. Finally, the time has come to focus on the main purpose of this journey and work with the Dalit Freedom Network. We're all running tired from all early mornings and long days and all three of my compadres have got either a cold or flu. I've dodge that bullet thankfully. But we hit the ground running as we arrived in Hyderabad mid morning, the DFN picked us up at the airport to go directly to the Good Shepherd school to start working. So the short 2 hr flight gave us a quick rest before tackling our project and adrenalin also kept us from running out of gas. Hyderabad is a pretty big city of 8 million so we expect it to feel as chaotic as the others. What does change though is going into a different region of India where there is now a predominance of Muslims instead of Hindu's and a definite physical appearance difference with darker skin. We were informed one visual cue for caste is the darker the skin, the lower the caste. So much information coming to me that I really can't keep up and am just holding on tight for now. The next 2 days are very full with Dalit Freedom Network and all "tourist" activities are on hold as we lay the groundwork for the next TGL team to come here. This is the first time for TGL to work with DFN or enter India so this scouting trip is providing some great feedback for tweaking next year's team. I'll be recounting a very condensed version of our activities in Hyderabad but the emotional impact was huge for me and the knowledge that the DFN will be using our images to promote education humbled me. Doing something I love so much as photography and being able to volunteer to give back to such a good cause makes me re-energized in continuing to shoot. Arriving at the DFN "campus" was an eye-opener of how large this network is and after an orientation from Leah, it was very clear how many great things are being done to help elevate the Dalits other than education by building schools. It is a Christian based schooling program and a person you may agree or disagree with these religious beliefs but it is indisputable that the DFN is also aiding in other areas for adults to help make an income such as a free sewing training for women (Lydia Program) for up to 6 months so they can earn income for the family and water buffalo husbandry. Yes, water buffalo. In these parts it's all about these buffalo and all the milk in this region is from buffalo not cow. They are also in the process of building a hospital on this complex as well. Leah succinctly explained that DFN is directly connected to the Dalit National Network and the DFN has their full support. In a nutshell of DFN history, a large group of Dalits (there are 25 million in India) began a protest about the caste system and the awful impact it had on their lives so they voluntarily left Hinduism to become Christians. So the Good Shepherd schools are slowly growing in small villages where Dalits are able to get an education without judgement and additional support such as healthcare and job training mixed with entrepreneurial skills of raising the water buffalo. So overall I was impressed with this network and felt really good about supporting their cause. Kate explained our TGL principles and that we don't claim to change lives but to hopefully inspire and show people that their lives are worth recording. And so far in our travels, locals have been very excited to be captured for posterity. This first stop was at a highschool and where we taught a grade 9 class a few basics of using a compact camera. Very basic info that most of you already know but many of these kids have never even touched a camera before other than a smartphone. It was a class of 38 so we split them up into 4 groups and each of us had a camera for the kids to share and play with. An indescribable experience for me to see their faces light up when they took a photo and showed their friends. There was a frenzy of activity and they would ask me to photograph them with my camera as well. The kids were so well behaved and polite and although it was an energy draining experience it was also a surprisingly easy experience in all ways because of the kids excellent behaviour and their very good grasp of English made it very easy to communicate. There were some great photos that came out of the session too. Every child in school here has to learn three languages. Hindu, the mother tongue of their village and English. Amazing! All schools run 6 days a week from 9:00- 3:45 so only sunday off and they get 4 weeks of holidays per year, in May, their hottest month. Wow, now that's a lot of work for not only the students but the teachers. The teacher I spoke to said she has little time for housework, Hmmm, somethings don't change around the world. I digress so back to the Gr 9 class. We worked with them for a couple of hours then lunch break gave us a breather to then return back and document the activities of the school. This was my favourite and the kind of shooting I rarely get to do. The problem is that it's difficult to get a candid photo since the kids always want to pose for the camera. So just had to go with the flow and take advantage of having willing subjects to shoot. Despite all the fun we had we were grateful when end of school rang and we piled into the van to check in at our hotel,The Grand Solitaire, and refresh with showers and dinner. It's definitely warmer in this region and the heat added to our dog tired state. Before we left though all the teachers came out for a group photo (an all female staff) and the principal spoke so emotionally about how grateful and happy they all were for us to volunteer our time. She explained that it is such a fun and hopefully inspiring change for the students to have guest visitors with a creative lesson instead of religion or academic topics and that made the whole trip here worthwhile for me. We left all in great spirits and the usual peek at photos and a debrief of how we felt it went was the perfect way to end the day. Day two with the DFN brought more of the same but in a small village called about 1 hr out of Hyderabad in Udamarry. This school has about 400 students from Kindergarten to 10. School ends at Grade 10 here unless you are going to post secondary. Kids come from villages anywhere from 5-15 km from Udamarry. We had a full day from about 10 am - 4:00 pm. First arriving we wandered in and out of the classes trying to be discreet but the teachers would first beckon us in and then all the kids would stand and greet us. So much for being stealthy! The first class we had a camera lesson with was a grade 3 class and that turned out to be way tougher and almost uncontrollable. The young age made it tougher to communicate and have them learn in any kind of organized manner and I truly can only describe it as a "frenzy" of activity. But they were really fun to photograph and they had tons of fun too so that's all that counts in the end. We requested an older class after lunch and got a grade 8 class that worked much better. It did fall off the wheels for a bit since a few of the TGL members started batting at cricket and just having fun with the kids. Once school was out, we walked into the village and did some shooting of more amazing faces and welcoming people. We all didn't want to leave the village but our driver had to get home and we'd already kept him overtime. Day three was a sunday so off we went to church! DFN wanted us to split up into 2 parties and go to two villages to see the church and then have a visit with a Dalit family in the village. Kate and I were a team and we went to a a village called Kandakoya. I have to admit fighting a head bob at one point as the service was long at 2.5 hrs and there's only so much you can shoot in a very tiny church with about 70 in attendance, with no lick of English in the service. Lots of singing and prayers, at least I think the were prayers and about an hour sermon. They asked if one of us would give a sermon and I dibsed out on that one quickly. Luckily Kate is a christian and a great speaker so she declined a sermon but did a bang up job of eloquently speaking. I'd say she inherited much of her famous father's, Terry David Mulligan, communicating and acting skills. She's a successful writer and photographer and an all around humble, fun and great person. Her co-leader Mike was equally as charming and fun and also a fantastic street photographer. Back to Udamarry, Kate and I were led to a local families home after church where we were fed a fantastic large lunch by Ramesh and his wife. They have two boys with a home smaller than most of your living rooms but they generously made large portions of food to feed the two of us and the minister. I felt bad because they didn't eat but you could clearly see the wife was very proud of being able to offer a grand lunch and so earnestly wanted us have second helpings, I had to take a touch more. Plus the food was so good! I once again felt humbled and honoured to be so privileged to be brought into their home and won't forget that experience. The blitz attack for the DFN is now officially complete. Many emotions for me, some sad but mostly great since this experience is something I would recommend to anyone who loves to meet different cultures. The sadness comes from seeing so many people struggling to live in squalid conditions yet the uplifting part is that they are generally so kind and happy that it is an injustice to only feel sorry for them. They are in a better state of mind than me on my good days! This last day also means very sad good-byes to Kate and Mike. Kate continues her India travel as a holiday to Jodhpur and Mike is off to Thailand to scout for TGL. We shared one last foursome dinner together and a round of hugs brought the TGL journey to a close. Tessa and I have one more day in Hyderabad to hang out and then we're off to Varanasi.