My digital camera has become covered in sand and somehow got waterlogged...so here's a few photos my fellow students have taken from the past 2-weeks.
Group photo from the Stateless citizen refugee camp in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. We met with a group of 30 Hindu refugees from Pakistan who came to India because of religious persecution from Muslim fundamentalists with the hope for better life over here. This settlement was set up by an organization that works with the refugees to try to get the Indian government to grant them citizenship. Without citizenship status, they cannot get real jobs and cannot travel anywhere outside of the settlement legally. It was a really overwhelming experience, to say the least. Some of the men had been living in the settlement for over 50 years, still without citizenship-status. The process is expensive and lengthy and the Indian government makes it difficult for anyone of Pakistani ancestry to gain access into country because of years of internal suspicion and tension between the two countries. The saddest part was that a lot of these men's families were still back in Pakistan...one man asked us, "Why can you as Americans come here so easily, when my family has been struggling for years to come into the country?"
Scenery around Bikaner. It was SO dry.
Our academic director, Tara-ji, introducing our group to the group of stateless citizens at the refugee camp.
Rooftop dinner at our hotel in Bikaner.
Back-massage cirle in the pool at our hotel in Jodhpur.
Henna done for us by women and girls at the URMUL Trust's girl's college.
A RIDICULOUSLY ornate room at the Junagarh Fort in Bikaner.
Junagarh Fort, Bikaner.
Woo group photo at the fort!
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