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Category: Blog

World Photography Day 2019: A documentary photographer tells her experience in working with persons affected by leprosy

On the occasion of World Photography Day (August 19), we spoke to Ms Sarika Gulati (https://www.facebook.com/sarika.shuangren), documentary photographer and an arts-based therapy practitioner on her experience during her assignments in working with The Leprosy Mission Trust India (TLMTI) for documenting the stories of people affected by leprosy and capturing their courage in the face of adversity, through her photographs.

Breaking the barriers, living life to the fullest

Stories of differently-abled persons breaking barriers living life to the fullest is like a breath of fresh air. They rise above the odds and societal mindsets to make their mark.
One such person is Kumari Chouhan from Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, a girl with a left-leg disability. Her father, Gouri Shankar Chouhan is a daily wage labourer and it was beyond his means to take care of the needs of his wife and four children.

"Nursing is not just a job, it’s a calling and ministry"

Ashish Lawrence’s nursing training at the School of Nursing, attached to Burrows Memorial Christian Hospital in Assam, run by Emmanuel Hospital Association has helped him to excel as a nurse. But his belief that nursing is not just a job, it’s a calling and ministry – he imbibed from his parents.

A mother’s dream, a daughter’s commitment

Irene’s mother had a dream. Out of her five children, she wanted at least one to become a nurse.
Irene’s family belongs to Thickanamcode village in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. Her father was a mason who worked on daily wages. With his meagre income, he found it difficult to take care of the family needs. That’s why her mother took up tailoring to supplement the family income.

Leprosy cannot stop Seema; she climbs higher up the academic ladder

Sandra Vischer, the American writer once said, “The woman who is my best friend, my teacher, my everything: Mom.”

Seema also would say the same thing about her mother. Seema belongs to a shepherd community in Amravati district of Maharashtra. Amravati is endowed with grasslands and meadows, a veritable haven for grazing. Even as a child, Seema used to accompany her mother when she took their cattle for grazing. In the warm afternoons, they used to lie down under the lush canopy of ancient trees near the edge of the forest while her mother sang lullabies, the ambience of which she cherishes even now.