Arnattokadu, Kalekkadu – these are the names of two small villages in Tamil Nadu, South India I have visited in the last weeks. During the visits these women showed me their houses, told me about their lives, their self-help groups and how they want to create their own future. I learnt also about their challenges, poverty…
Category: travel
Lourdes of the East, 10 years after the tsunami
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…
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…
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…
7weeks in India – Tribal culture and an unknown artist
At noon we arrive in a small tribal village in the mountain region, close to the border of Kerala. The view from this place down on the hills is beautiful. Less than 20 families live here, a hundred people. Under a tree, in the middle of the road (there is just this only one) they…
7weeks in India – From woman to woman, part 1
When I decided to go to the rural and tribal parts of India there was a special thing I wanted to find out: Who are these women living there? What is in their mind? How does life look, what do they think and feel, what are their thoughts? What do they perceive and think when…
7weeks in India – Female tribal self-help groups building their own future
The mushroom cultivation – it is just one small business idea for poor women that could lead to a different way of life. When we enter the tribal village most of the women are working on the right and the left of a small muddy road that takes us to the mushroom cultivation facility. Day-workers….
7weeks in India – Travelling with Tamboo, the teacher
Finally, I sit in the train from Kottayam to Coimbatore – together with a huge and heavy suitcase and two bags which instead of becoming less heavy seem to double day by day: a lot of presents and a bottle of water are the last things I had to add. There is no way to…
Banana business and the tribal king in the Cardamom hills
If you ever want to see the beauty of tea fields in all variations you should come to the Mūnan area in Kerala, an area where old tribal families live. There are many woods around and the green covers most of the homes. It takes time to understand how many people live here. There are…
7weeks in India – Meeting the inventor lady
Today it is rainy, one of the last Monsun days. We, that’s an village representative (volunteer) and me, walk through tea fields and wet woods to meet and to find out more on her: Lilama, an old woman with a bright smile in her face and some really special skills. When she was young she…
Go India, go future! 