Living in desperate poverty in the outskirts of the city, amongst the poorest of the poor, this little girl picks through dumped waste for her family’s living. With no toilets, clean water, electricity or medical care, she survives in a makeshift tent at the fringes of Indian society on wasteland and “untouchable” by birth.
According to my local friend, I am probably the only person from outside this small Dalit community who has ever held her hand. She and the other children there made my visit a very special one; I won’t forget them.
Wow!
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so true and so sad.Thank you for taking the time to meet her and helping her by keeping these stories alive.
Thank you for commenting Jenny. I had volunteered to take pictures nearby for a free school project and this was kind of outside the scope of the work. I managed to get a translator to come into this site with me and the principle of the school I was shooting for has promised to go there, find this girl and try to get her into the school. Please check back here for more pictures and update :)
Stunningly beautiful, emotional, innocent and a heart felt photograph. Peter this has really touched my heart and reminds me so much of my time in Southern India with the poverty, the hardship such street kids and their makeshift “families” they create to survive.Thank you….
James thanks so much for your thoughts. This particular picture is very special to me.
When I visited this community, a lot of the kids were very excitable and keen to smile and pose for pictures. I don’t know exactly why, but I managed to make a photographic connection with this girl who had such depth, beauty, feeling and emotion in her eyes.
There was a sadness about her not apparent in the others and I have come back home really worried about her.
The NGO I was volunteering for there have promised to return and find out more about her.
Wow, this is beautiful. Not only in a photographic aspect but emotionally as well. Lovely.
Hey Hannah, thanks for looking and commenting! Please pray for this little girl; I know from following your blog that you’re a good Christian and I feel really worried about her.
Sure thing! Oh okay, yes I definitely will.
:)
Let me know if you visit her again! :)
That’s an amazing photograph! :) And displaying so large on the screen, almost makes me feel like I’ve looked into those lovely brown eyes for real! It may be an illusion, but it’s quite a strange feeling! :D
Suzy I’m glad you’ve been able to connect with this picture and thanks for looking! I’m really grateful :)
Wow. Her eyes just draws me in. Beautiful shot :)
Many thanks! What a beautiful subject she is! :)
The eyes are so beautiful.
They are indeed my friend. Far more so than all the jewels in the hands of all India’s rich and elite combined!
Please keep a look out for more from my trip coming soon :)
Hi Peter, I’ve had your photo up on my screen for the past few hours. My husband and I just had dinner with our son and, during grace, I prayed for this little girl. Then I returned to my computer just now to write you and saw that you were asking for prayer. My husband and I will continue to pray for her.
As powerful as this portrait is, the moment for me which trascended all of the complexities compacted in this little face was your holding of her hand. Bless you. Touch is such a gift and for her to be seen and touched by you is something she will not forget.
I look forward to your news of her. — Vivian
Dear Vivian,
I am extremely grateful for your interest in this picture and especially your prayers. The sheer scale and depth of the hardships faced by millions of children like her, the world over, is hard to comprehend and meeting this little girl, and others like her, has been a turning point in my life. In fact, a highlight of my life.
The organisation I was invited to India by is working hard to try to change the lives of very poor children, especially girls, who face the greatest problems in a very male dominated culture.
I will be adding a new page on this blog in the coming weeks for the photos I took for them, highlighting their work. I hope you like it.
My kindest regards to you :)
Her beautiful eyes are speaking to me. Your photo touched my heart, Peter.
Miwako thanks for such a lovely comment. I want her eyes to speak to as many people as possible and touch as many hearts as possible! Please keep an eye out here soon for my work for this NGO :)
Hard felt emotion in those eyes – it is not just enough to press ‘I Like’ with an image so powerful as this one.
Well made indeed.
David.
David many thanks for your thoughts; I really appreciate your comment. The moment I looked through the viewfinder and locked focus on those eyes I knew instantly that I was about to capture something very special.
I can’t express enough how blessed I have been to have met this little girl with such depth and beauty in her eyes.
I’m very glad you’re doing this work, Peter, and I can’t wait for the other beautiful photos. Good luck!
Thanks Orlando. I have been so fortunate to have been given this kind of access to such beautiful people.
I have asked a friend there to find this girl and make sure she is ok: I’m really worried about her.
Thanks for your wishes, they are important to me :)
You’re blessed. Rare souls experience God in flesh and blood. Mankind seeks him in temples and churches, they can’t see.
Arjun thanks for such a beautiful comment. I have been trying to make sense of my feelings about this and you have made it clear for me. I am back here in the UK in my comfortable home but all I want to do is return.
“A picture is worth a thousand words” – that’s one of such pictures.
I hope that God is looking after her and many other children who share her fate. K.
I agree with you totally. God works in mysterious ways, as they say. I think maybe that each time one human being acts to show kindness to another, it is part of Gods plan.
A “dose of emotional heft”… it’s an emotionally stirring depiction and especially so since I don’t feel fully dressed until I’m wearing a smile… if you know what I meant. In any case, well crafted piece of work!
Ivy I totally appreciate your comment and I do know exactly what you mean. I think that what you have highlighted is one of the reasons this is such a special image for me personally.
This child and others like her presented no barriers in front of the camera and I am thankful to have been allowed by them to find this emotional connection.
Thanks for your thoughts about this Ivy :)
Oh Peter, what an incredibly sad but powerfully real photograph! Her eyes totally draw me in. She is wearing the struggle of her life on her face, and no child should ever look like that just because of where they were born. This world can be so cruel… I’d be going through the same emotions as you if I’d met her, I’d have to literally tear myself away.
Do you wonder if she ever thinks of the man who stopped in front of her one day with a camera, and really looked at her, and took the time to show a little kindness and hold her hand…?
Roo I do wonder that and I’ve been thinking about her each day since I got back. I didn’t spend as much time as I wanted to at this particular colony but I did get a chance to meet several of the people living there. I did’t get a chance though to say goodbye to this little girl as at the time we had to leave there, she had gone. Who knows where?
Impresionantes Ojos… Muy Buena Fotografía… Un Saludo
Los ojos más bonitos, estoy de acuerdo! Gracias por su amables palabras :)
Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos of these children. I dream that someday poverty will be a thing of the past… It’s possible, we just have to make the right choices but we’re not there yet.
It’s my pleasure to share them. Sadly, I think that until the people who have the real power and money share the same dream, who knows when it will end. Its a huge global problem.
Thanks so much for commenting :)
Utterly beautiful (and heartbreaking..)
Thanks for such a lovely comment: we clearly can see the same thing! :)
beautiful eyes :)
Absolutely Joshi, quite incredible!
It’s sad indeed…So much work is being done in slums but so much more is yet to be done….
Definitely Swalia I know there are really good NGO’s but the problem is still so big. What worries me the most is the dangers children like this face on a daily basis.
India has got two face one is a devloped one nt only by infrastructure by thinking and mantality also socly in metros and the other is an undevloped thinking brutely clutched with castism religion uper lower etc. Hats off to ur work and it was pleasure meeting u on my flight Air india…..
Hi there, nice to hear form you. Pleasure to meet you too; thanks for a safe and comfortable flight from Delhi!
superbe portrait
Many thanks! :)
Gorgeous. I can’t stop staring at this picture.
Nor can I Tisha :) Please enjoy this photo. Knowing her situation, I think it would mean a lot to her to know that people from around the world were taking the time to look at her picture.
Those lovely big, bright brown eyes are so sad. Her gaze is so penetrating for one so young.
You are right Patti. I think we are looking at a very special child indeed.
Such sadness! it breaks my heart to think of these little underprivileged girls. As if poverty isn’t big enough a problem, many are abducted and worse… The sad truth is most of it is not even considered worthy enough to be reported. I dread to think about India’s underprivileged little daughters. May God closely guard them, these fragile butterflies of the society.
Teju thanks for such a lovely comment. I share your prayer :)
Great portrait :) Those eyes are so full of sadness. Although photography can’t change all that is wrong in our society, photographs can sure open up a few minds and make them think. That I think is the true purpose of photography.
Uday thanks a lot for the comment; its much appreciated.
This photograph means a lot to me and I look at it often. There was something very special about this girl although it is hard to explain why I feel that.
I totally agree with your thoughts about photography too!! :)
Wow! What a powerful portrait! Congrats!
Hey Cristian many thanks for commenting and I’m pleased you like the picture!
Wow. Magic!
Thanks very much; glad you like the picture!