We stay in Vailankanni, Nagapattinam destrict, a pilgrim town at the east coast in Tamil Nadu. It lies on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, 350 km south of Chennai. Vailankatti is a very known pilgrim place that can be traced back to the 16th century and its founding is attributed to three…
Month: November 2014
The beauty of old tribal women
The beauty of old tribal women – and their role as change agents Isn’t it amazing? In many big cities, with the ongoing globalization and higher education, huge changes of family structures are taking place – also in India. Young families need to go for work in other areas and personal independence gets higher rated…
Maringa tree – How to help poor people who suffer from malnutrition
Did you know that the tiny leaves of maringa tree (moringa) could save so many lives? That it grows mostly all over Africa, South America, India and other South East Asian countries? That it has 7 times the vitamin C of an orange? 4 times the vitamin A of carrots? 4 times the calcium of…
7weeks in India – 5 EUR/Dollar can mean that much. First funds arrived…
When I ask about their wishes, the ca. 50 tribal women from Tamil Nadu, India give me a quick response. “Due to the support of a local NGO, the KKF in India and the Karl Kübel foundation in Germany we could found our Self-help groups two years ago. Since then a lot of things have…
7weeks in India – Tribal doctors and the mobile clinic
For tribal people, here in Tamil Nadu, all doctor checks at the primary health care center and hospital stays are free. But not all people can go there, some are too ill, some live in remote villages and the travel to a primary Healthcare center is far away, the roads are sometimes bad… Some tribal people…
7 weeks in India – From woman to woman, part 3
Teatime Here, in India, the faces and colors are fascinating, maybe because of the diversity, maybe because of the cultural differences or just because behind every face, there is another life. Have you ever thought if it? How many different, unique lives are there? So, taking photos of people, of their expressions and movements is…
7 weeks in India – Bangalore: two worlds, no bridge
I can’t get used to it: extreme poverty and awealthy up to rich middle class staying together as if they were friends. Strange friends: one of them has got everything and the other not even the basics for a human living. You may find this contrast everywhere in India. But due to the incredible economic…
7weeks in India – Rich people get incentives, poor just subsidiaries
One of the best speeches I ever heard has been given by an Indian journalist, P. Sainath. Did you know that actually every day more than five farmers commit suicide in India … means more than 200.000 people farmers in the last 10 years? That at the same time when the Tsunami hit the coasts…
7weeks in India – A travel to the past, a life without mobility
The importance of mobility: For us in the developped world reaching from A to B is always possible, sometimes it might take some more time, but every village, every place is connected. If some trains or busses are on strike we get crazy, but ….can you imagine a life without any mobility? A life where…
7weeks in India – When the elephants come
We all know them: the famous “painted and decorated ” elephants from India. Elephants are much respected and many celebrations can’t be done without them. But there is also a “normal elephants’ life” aside. On the roads in the rural parts of Tamil Nadu (what means most of the region) you will find signs saying…