Faces

I will devote this post entirely to black and white close-ups of the people in the KI Village. These are some of my absolute favorite shots from the whole trip! And I have to admit, I am terrible with names, especially unfamiliar names, so although a lot of the people in these photos were a huge presence during the two weeks, I can't assign a name to go with their faces. But I do have a little story for most of them.

Does she know how to pose or what?!?!

This girl was very well known by all of us - she was everywhere! I never did figure out which family she was actually a part of, but she seemed to turn up for every single house we built, especially at picture taking time. She was super personable, and very clever. One day she got paper and a pen from one of the volunteers, and when around asking us to write our names for her, so she could practice her English. Ravi said she was extremely well-spoken for her age, and I think her intelligence really shows in her eyes. Also, she wore this silver/gray sequined dress that must have been really nice at one time, but had become extremely tattered from so many washings and wearings. Strangely enough though, it gave her class!

Funny Faces

This one cracks me up - the baby had the same expression every time I saw her - sort of shocked and confused and almost dreamy. Despite the face that she clearly was scared of us, the older kids were constantly showing her off and asking us to take her picture. So she was generally in a state of shock and on the verge of tears every time she was near us. The boy's face just goes too perfectly with hers - he is a complete ham, and she is completely bewildered.




This little guy was one of my favorites. He was a charmer and a trouble maker - cute enough to get away with being a little bit of a shit-head. He loved attention and would do whatever necessary to get it!

Old Woman

I think this old lady is fascinating. She really caught my attention, and I later realized why - elderly people are rare in the village because the average life span is 55 years old. A lot of the people were far younger than they looked, and a lot did not know their ages. I have no idea how old this lady actually is, but she was definitely one of the eldest members of the village.

Is it nap time yet?

On New Year's Day, we gave some talks to the villagers about the importance of education, cleanliness, etc., but of course the children were less than enraptured. This particular boy was just about to fall asleep on his mom's lap. In the photo though, he sort of came out looking pitiful, like one of those malnourished kids you see in the "Sponsor a Child in Africa" ads. But I still love it, because his eyes are so expressive.

Mali

This is Mali, one of my favorite people from the whole trip. He is 14, and was working as our bus driver's assistant. He spoke no English, but it didn't matter because he had such a sweet and good-natured personality. All of us just adored this kid! We didn't particularly like the bus driver though, because he was sort of rude and creepy. So when it came time to give tips (which are customarily given/expected for pretty much everything in India), we all agreed that we wanted to tip Mali, but not the driver. We were all sneaking him money throughout the last day, and he had a grin on his face a mile wide. And the bus driver actually asked us for a tip, so we put together the minimum that was possible without being rude. Mali must have made a killing though, I know we all were pretty generous with him. And he totally deserved it, Mali is awesome!

Old Man

Another one of the older people in the village.

So that is all I will post for now! Sigh, I have tons more ... I realize I never even got around to posting most of the photos from the big Asia backpacking trip. More cool things just kept happening! (Although I suppose that speaks well of my life!) But I will definitely get the India photos up, because they really are worth sharing.

As an end note that fits with the theme of this post, I want to say that one thing I loved about the people in the KI Village was that they were not afraid to have their pictures taken. Quite the opposite in fact - they loved it, and they loved looking at them afterwards. Their openness to the camera is the reason I was able to get so many nice shots. After traveling to so many touristy areas where the locals are jaded by cameras being pointed at them, it was refreshing to have people who enjoyed being photographed. I think it really is one of the most sincere forms of flattery. To take a person's photos is to say - I think you are interesting, and I want to capture your image so I can remember you and share your face with other people. At least that is the way I think of it!