India 2

I keep on finding interesting stuff in my old email.. this picture also was taken in India, at a village camp. These were daily activities of the NGO: we used to move around small villages whose population was made of dalits, the untouchables, those who are considered out of the society, trying to give these people hope, confidence and create awareness. I remember that they use to give us a lemon as a welcome gift when we were visiting these villages and I loved to collect them in my balcony because I considered them quite precious. People used to gather and sit on the floor. After the prayer and the speech from Amma, the old lady who was running the NGO and us, the "foreigners", people started talking about their problems: unemployment, alcool, women beaten by drunk husbands, promises that political parties (especially the Communist one) never kept. They needed an occasion to speak out and create awarness on their problems and needs, a starting point to look for solutions.
Every village camp ended with a traditional song, and a prayer ... om..shanti shanti shanti...