A very sweet friend of mine from photo school recently sent me this message on facebook.
Having a heart for people, and India I want to do all I can to help her out.
"In April I traveled to Southeastern India, with my friend who is a photographer from New York. He is involved with the Renaissance Project, a new organization where artists come together to create quality art work and documentation for organizations.
Our mission was to document daily life at a girls home.
Eighteen of the 19 girls at the home, whose ages range from 3 to 6, were saved from infanticide.
Because arranged marriages are still a part of life in rural southern India, the groom's family can make any demands for the dowry from the bride, in the form of land, gold, cows and other wealth. Boy babies are therefore seen as a benefit to the family, and girls a deficit.
It is believed that when a midwife, acting on the parents’ request, kills a girl child at birth, that child will have another chance to enter the cycle of life as a boy.
Even though the practice is illegal, thousands of baby girls are still killed annually, and government monitoring is lax.
The girls were rescued as newborns by paying the midwives a small sum of money.
Their parents do not know that their daughters are alive and thriving here.
The Girls Home has staff members who serve as cook, teacher, driver and housemothers.
Six of the girls go to school during the day while eight are taught at the home and five are under school age.
A southern Indian, along with his wife, an American, took over last September when the founders of the home were no longer able to sustain the work. They desire to build a new, larger home this year for the girls to thrive in near their home.
An exhibit of photos from the home will take place in addition to a Website and further exposure of the project to raise money for the girls."
Amy has entered her photos into a contest in hopes to win and donate all of the winnings to the home.
Please take a few minutes to look at her photos, pray for the girls and vote. It's super easy and you can vote everyday.
Thank you!!
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing sister...India is usually heart-wrenching, eh?
Post a Comment