The Dignified Poor

INDIA | Saturday, 8 December 2012 | Views [254] | View Smaller Image

With sweat running down his thin frame in the massive heat, this man tells me what a newly constructed toilet means to his family. A common toilet - such a standard feature in our lives - becomes literally a life-saving object for his family. Now, when they get up at night to go to the toilet, they don't have to worry about cobras, or people walking by, or being hit by a truck..

My first trip to India lands me in the impoverished state of Bihar. In a hospital near the Nepal-Indian border, a man lays asleep on the relatively cool concrete out of the oppressive heaviness of the Indian summer. This hospital is unique in that it is a modern rural hospital with a significant portion of it's patients being the extremely poor. As such it has became a rally point for the sick and homeless, the hungry and abused, giving them hope and comfort.

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In a remote village in Bihar, a young boy carefully sets himself up to complete his school homework. The night is almost unbearably hot, and the flickering candle throws out a tiny sphere of light. Education is increasingly seen by the village elders as the way forward and out of poverty, with more boys and girls now starting, and staying, in school than ever before.

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The Dignified Poor

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