Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Shanti Sewa Griha

I've spent the last few days at Shanti Sewa Griha, a community clinic and home for lepers and people affected by other illnesses or social challenges. Shanti's philosophy is to provide free access to food, shelter and health care for those that have nowhere else to go, as well as skills training. About 200 people live at Shanti, while hundreds of others are employed in crafts that also help to fund the center. Shanti has received not a rupi from the Nepali government, relying mostly on donations from foreign sources, and is working on becoming self reliant.
It's always a challenge to find "the story"... and at Shanti this is especially true because there are so many people and so much going on. Everyone wants to have their photo taken, but it's always the grip and grin kind. It takes so long to get to the point where people forget about the camera and just ignore you! I'm realizing that we photojournalists are always drawn to the edge, and I'm struggling a bit to find the right approach... to show both the joys and the hardships that exists in a place like this.







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