Mexico

I went to Mexico twice with VIDA (Volunteers Involved in Development Abroad). We coordinated with a local group
called FAI (Save the Children, Mexico) making adobe,
building housing, and teaching sanitation skills. I loved working
with the locals, especially the children. The neighborhood women taught me to make tortillas, helped me wash my clothes, and fixed
the toilet for me - until I gave up on a toilet that always broke, and started using the hole in the ground that they did. I slept on the floor and woke to the sound of dogs, chickens, and the traveling van screaming out "tortillas! plantanos!" at the unholy hour of 4:30 am.

This is the window in a lone-standing wall near our working area for making adobe. I often reflect that this is what I'm doing with photography: framing something so that it will be examined with care.



The day I arrived in Mexico was Independence Day.
I awoke to the sound of drums and children marching with fake guns.




Morning wanderings at FAI headquarters before heading out to Guadelupe, Guaparin to begin the work.














































Watering a genetic wonder plant that will help malnourished children.












Mexican architecture is a blend of Spanish and Indian design, vibrant color, and a lot of iron bars. In a strange way, it added to the appeal for me.

Chennai, India

Sunrise throws a fisherman into silhouette on this calm beach where it's hard to believe that less than a year ago, the tsunami swept devastation through this fishing village.







Everyone goes barefoot. I love it. Sometimes I feel more at home here in than in the U.S. Feet bare and flowers in my hair.

The children from the fishing village gather around me as I return home from my morning visit to the beach. They're all smiles, despite the fact that they only have a handful of buttons between them, and most of them still live in tents of bright blue tarp.

Above is Majeswari, a worker at the Rising Star school for children of lepers. She's beautiful inside, too. I was glad I caught this one showing her openness. Below is a guarded-looking Vijaya, one of the children at the school.

Bikes are the secondary means of transportation after walking. They even act as cabs.

Some boys that followed me until I took their picture. I'm amazed with the enthusiasm that nearly everyone here shows for having their photo taken. Funny that Americans - known for their bravado worldwide,
are so much more camera shy than anyone I met in India.


Below is an elderly beggar (far too many of them on the streets in India),
who beamed when I asked if I could take his photo.
I was in such a hurry to capture that smile, that I didn't get him fully in focus.
I don't mind.