Exhibition Photostories

Welcome to the Look Out Loud virtual photo exhibition! Here you can check out the photographs that were featured at the exhibitions in Pune and Jamkhed, India as well as read the stories that go along with them. We hope you enjoy seeing the incredible work that these 14 participants have done in just two months!  

We'd love to hear what you think about these photostories! Feel free to hare your thoughts with us and our participants underneath this blog post , comment on our Facebook page, or tweet @LookOutLoud !! 

And as always, the more people who see these stories the better, so "share" away! 

* Click on the photographs to enlarge them
**To see more photographs by a particular photographer, just click on his or her name! 

Asha

This man is a cured leprosy patient. He and his wife live here in Kandvi and their son is in Pune. They are able to go over to see him and they have received a house as part of a government scheme. He mixes among the community and can get the water from the common well.

Daily bathing is an important part of personal hygiene.

Sharing and spreading the flame of knowledge. Like a lamp, I can share health knowledge with others in my village.

This boy’s parents were suffering from HIV/AIDS and died. He has one sister and people in the community helped him buy a three-wheeler to help earn for himself and his sister. Many people fear HIV/AIDS patients, but these religious people have helped this boy start a business to transport milk from the village to the dairy. Because of the health education we give about how HIV does not spread merely through physical contact the situation for AIDS patients has changed. People have realized that there is nothing to fear.

The women in my village meet together to talk, support one another, share health knowledge and start small businesses. One of these women was suffering from depression. As VHWs we are trained to give counseling and support to the women in our villages.

Avinash

The crops are growing now, but soon they will die due to lack of water. 

This is Sumbabai. She will have to go work at the sugar factory because there is not enough money or work due to the drought. 

The monkey comes to our village to find food and water because there is no water or food for him because it has not rained. 

When it finally rains there is a sense of relief. 

There are clouds and sun. Half and half. We never know if it is going to rain or not here. 

Ankush L.

You use toothpaste to clean your teeth. It prevents disease and your teeth are clean. 

We shoud not litter around our community. We should put the garbage outside because litter can create mosquitos and mosquitos can lead to malaria. 

Use the ladle to drink the water because if we put dirty hands in the water it can create illnesses. 

The nurse comes to the village every week.

Daily baths can keep you healthy. You don't have any skin diseases. 

Ankush P.

We have to go very long distances to fetch water. 

I am learning masonry and welding. I also learn how to 
fix bricks. I learn how to make the room in the proper way. 

Child labor is wrong.
 Children should go to school like this boy. 

Baby

This woman is praying to god. She is a non-Christian but she prays to Jesus. When she came to the hospital for a cataract surgery her blood sugar was high because she is a hypertension patient. She spent a week praying and meditating and her sugar was normal so she had the surgery for cataract. 

This girl of one and a half year old and weighed only 7 kgs, so both of us VHWs went to the house and explained to the mother about the nutrition she needed and cooked ourselves to show how to cook and feed the child correctly.  After 6 months the baby now weighs 13 kilos. Last year the family had migrated and couldn't take proper care of the child. This year they are able to stay at home and the child is better.

As her VHW I take her blood pressure every week. Now it is normal after being on hypertension treatment and medicine.

For 9 days these women worship the goddess and fast.

Ganesh G.

Due to drought there is less water for livestock and human beings. 

There is not enough water for the animal and whatever water we have is getting dry due to lack of rain.    

Due to drought there is little water in the well. The water we have is getting lower and lower every day. 

Due to the drought there is no drinking water for animals and humans. The pastures are getting to be like a dry land and there is not enough water for the crops to grow. 

There is not enough water and food in my community. People have to go a long distance to fetch water. There is a lot of unemployment in my community due to the drought.

         

Ganesh L.

We are broom making people. We are getting benefits out of broom making. We need to work hard and with the hard work we are able to make 25 rupees per broom. I am studying as well as doing this business. We are also raising chickens. We sell the eggs for 5 rupees each and sell the chickens for 200 rupees.  The chicken eats rice and sorgom and they also give us chicks. 

Hanumant

This man is completely blind. His name is Maharaj. He is still learning to play the harmonium and music even though he is blind. He is not dependent. Though he is older and blind he is still independent. 

This is telling the story of drought. We are gathering water from wherever we can, filling our tank. You have to go 1 km to get water. The water is needed for people and animals. 

This is Mr. Suram. He is a multitasker. He is a goldsmith. He also gathers the community and spreads the idea of bahjam in the community. He is a person who is a pioneer. 

This is Sumambai. Though she is older she is still working in the farm. She also has her own poultry operation and is earning enough money to support herself and her home. This is her house. I have concern about the elderly and feel compassion for them. 

We all are gathering in the monastery and learning harmonium and drum.

Meena

The cooking system here is not good because there is garbage in the area. The place is very dirty and this can cause disease. 

In this place the sanitation is very good. This woman is rich because she is cooking inside and has a nice stove. Her husband works in electronics. 

This girl is eating. There is not sufficient food on her plate due to gender inequity. When there is not enough food, the girls do not get to eat as much as the boys. 

This man is handicapped. He is a farmer and after his marriage he lost his leg. He has only one leg, but still has a good spirit and works hard. He is mostly working now with livestock and is able to do everything with the livestock. 

This man and his family are very hard-working. That is why they are able to have this many cows, goats, and water buffalo. They used to be poor but because they worked hard, they now have improved their economic status.  

Rambabhai

One of these mothers gave birth to her second baby shortly after her first. There was not enough space between the 2 children, so the child is undernourished. I advised that her child should look like the child pictured at lower left. I explained to her how to have a healthy baby and gave her the information about family planning. In my village, 7 women are using contraceptive pills and 4 men are using condoms.

As a Village Health Worker you have to serve the elderly. Sometimes they are depressed so you give them counseling. I give this to these people. Geriatric care is a major part of my job. I checked the cataracts of this man when I saw him at the temple.

This elderly woman had no children to care for her and no family. She was depressed and lonely. There was also a woman in my village who had no one to care for her baby while she was at work. I had the idea that this woman could provide care for the baby, and now the two keep each other cheerful and happy.

The water is supply was scarce and the government has acquired a well which has water. But the owner of the well did not allow anyone to fetch water from that well because he wanted the water for his own crop. So I gathered the women, and phoned to the village officer and said we are all siting here and you have to inform the owner that he needs to allow us to take the water. They told the man "You are getting the money from the government for the water so it is your duty to allow the villagers to take the water."

Shahanawaz

Due to the drought, we are spending most of our time gathering water. Wherever we go to gather water, the place is always crowded. There is no schedule for when we gather water. Whenever the water tanker comes we have to rush even at 3 o’clock or 4 o’clock in the morning to fetch it. 

This is Baby. She is our Village Health Worker. She delivers the message of health and sanitation in my community. She works very well for our village. Here she is showing us how to use the ladle for drinking the water so we don't contaminate it with our hands. I respect her and what she does in my community. 

This is Mr. Manare.  He is a teacher and also works as a village development officer. He teaches us nicely and he is friendly. He teaches Marathi language and education is important to me.     

Sharda

For the last 6 months we were supplied with drinking water by the tanker. Today the tanker has stopped coming because the people who brought the tankers have gone for sugar cane cutting. The alternative is that there is one hand pump that has an electric motor and the water is stored in the fiber tank. Now the situation is that this bore well water will last only for 2 or 3 more months because if there is no rain there will be no water. Again, the villagers will have to face the water scarcity in the future. Now people cannot do anything unless there is more rain. In a season of drought children also have to go and help the families gather water starting at a very young age.

He is a small-scale farmer who wanted to generate some extra profit for his household. He received training as a tailor and now both he and his wife make clothes to have a more stable livelihood.

The man in this couple is a leprosy patient. His wife is unaffected by leprosy but stands by him and helps him. They go together, stay together and think together. They are together in agony and in joy and are accepted and respected by the community. 

Suvarna

Most of the adolescent girls have to complete their domestic chores and work on the farm before and after school. Often it is hard to find enough time to complete homework and assignments. The boys do not have to do domestic chores. 

This is Pooja. She is worshipping the Goddess Lakshami. She is in 10th grade and she is praying to the goddess to help her get good marks in school. She is a very poor girl. She is trying her best to accomplish her studies to fight against poverty. She has a strong aspiration that someday she will be in a good position and bring a good name to her family. 

Many of the adolescent girls have to walk a long distance to school. This distance has become an obstacle for learning because parents say that the distance is very long and they might not be safe. This might stop their education. The girl in orange sari is a school drop-out so she has to work very hard. In the future, the schoolgirl will not face that hard work if she stays in school. 

This is Prajwal. He is only 1 year old. His parents went to migrate to the sugar cane factory to work due to drought. He is staying alone with his grandparents in the village at such a young age. 

Water scarcity is leading the birds to the village and they are coming in the home to drink water from our buckets.