Who doesn't love a sweet little wrinkly grandma? Well, I don't even want to know the answer to that one. But if little and wrinkly are lovable characteristics, then these beauties may be more lovable than most.
I don't know all the people in the pics below well enough to label every photo. Plus the mosquitoes are molesting me as I type this and sorry, but I'm anything but manly around mosquitoes. I have a list of things I'm not manly around, but I'll hold that for another time.
Here's a little update of lovely Jyoti, who I wrote about last time. She seems to be responding, at least emotionally, really well to the love and attention from our group. She seems happier and brighter (or is it just me?) Xulia (pronounced Shulia) is spending two hours a day with her, mostly on physical movements and exercise. And the happy news, from my perspective, was that we got her out in a wheelchair twice. It seems it's the first time since we were here last year that she's been beyond her bed or bathroom. She loved getting out, and the second time we went to the chai shop and were joined by four other wheelchair-bound patients and their volunteers. Everyone was in good spirits and seemed to really enjoy it. (I did, at least!) No luck so far with getting her an attendant. Apparently very few people are willing to do the "dirty work" of cleaning and caring for hospital patients. We're still working on it.
For the photo geeks among you, I took all these photos today on my Sony RX100, my little camera. I've hardly used my big Canon 7D so far this trip. The two black-and-white photos were taken in color and converted to B&W afterwards using Adobe Lightroom, my new drug of choice. Please e-mail me a faster computer when you get a chance.
Love to you! Merry Christmas!
Dave
The entrance to one of the small houses here in Anandwan.
I just saw this kid, Akshey, on the street and through my interpreter friend told him he's about to be famous - he's on the internet! I just met him today and he's my new favorite kid. I have a whole busload of kids who are my new favorites. I find a few every day!
This is Lakshmi (did I remember that right?) who's kind of in charge of the room where Jyoti stays. You can just barely see Xulia in the background working with Jyoti.
Oogie-Moogie, as she's known. I was just told that means to "be quiet," but I don't know how she got the name.
This woman seems pretty quiet. She doesn't engage with others much that I've seen.
I like photos of leper's hands. There's something about the delicacy and vulnerability of that particular deformity.
It took me days to have the thought - hey, maybe I could get her glasses fixed. I'm quick that way.
This woman is new to me, and doesn't seem to be feeling well. She looked directly at me, but I couldn't tell what's happening.
This coy beauty has transformed just since last year, and Zohar said that six years ago she wouldn't even speak. Last year she had a nasty burn on her hand, and took a lot of verbal abuse from everyone. If I reached out to touch her she recoiled. This year she gets a big grin when she sees me but then quickly turns away, like a school girl, but she'll touch my hands when I greet her.
Waiting for a meal. This is the same woman as the first B&W photo above.
This is the same woman with one white eye above. For some reason she normally covers up when she's hanging out. Amazing colors on that sari.
(The End)
