A young man challenged me on a 12 hour train ride from Mumbai to Miraj, "If you are going to be honest, don't go back like all the other photographers with only pictures of poverty and filth. We are much more than that. Show them we are beautiful too." I hope I have honored the promise I made to him that day.

Over three years later, I am down to one more week in the publishing of my book, "The Boy From Bedag: Photo Journal of a Mission to India," in which I participated as the Team Photographer. I could not avoid the poverty, or many of the same issue addressed at the recent WSF in Mumbai, such as dalits (untouchables), devdasis - sex workers and Temple Prostitutes, and bride burnings (I was in a hospital with one of the top Burn Units in the region). Yet the beauty was just as easy to find, both visually and in the hearts of many heros I still am in awe of at just the thought of their "mission". I could step out of the country after my two week jaunt. They stay and do something much harder than to write a book - though writing about what I now know was certainly heart wrenching. They are the ones that offer the hope that I can present to the readers of my book. They are the reason I can use my gift for photography and writing to enlighten as many as possible about the reality of life in other countries, without leaving people depressed and hopeless.

The site of our mission, Wanless hospital, Miraj Medical Center reaches deep into the community through model programs: health education and women's empowerment / small businesses, an orphanage for children of sex workers who have died of AIDS, Balwaldis(pre-school) and nutritious meals for the poorest and malnutritoned children, literacy programs, and free cataract surgeries for the blind. These are people who continue even when they recive threats on their lives for imbalancing the status quo.

I hope through sales of the book, of prints of photos in the book, and direct donations that I can greatly increase the reach of these programs, to not only affect the lives of thousands of individuals, but to change a culture that is like any culture; beautiful in so many ways, but weak in just as many areas.

I share my experiences through creative non-fiction, and prose poetry, photography and digital art, including a new genre I myself created called "Poetography". My insights
and experiences reveal stoic truths, deep personal insights, and a sense of humor needed to deal with any tragic and life changing experience.

Excerpt from "Bridal Dance":

"Beautiful sari,
bridal gift
of red and gold
embroidery
stitched
in swirls that
dance in
fabric folds

Orange and blue,
rising flames,
now melting,
melding with
flesh and soul,
skin and sari
disappear
in flames,
in ashes
clinging,
dancing
through
the air"


Excerpt from "The Hunchback and Hernan":

My mother feels like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, lowering her eyes in shame, searching for the door of the next safe place; away from pointing fingers, hands muffling laughs, wide-eyed stares from throngs that form and follow.

I feel like Hernan Cortez, positive Pied-Piper, the goddess they have read about for millenniums; never seen such a pale face or un-pigmented hair; nodding, I press hands together, passing out "Namastes" like a praying, waving, reigning queen atop a float."

The book is large for a photo book, 170 pages, with 115 containing color, so I must remind the reader of for whom we must address the inequities. I Dedicate and Rededicate "The Boy From Bedag,"

"To the children who could speak to me
only with your eyes,

I still see you."

I do not believe I could have found a more perfect "soul partner" in this work than in
Indy Media and WSF. Willing to participate fully, then using the gift of literature/journalism and gorgeous and truthful photography to let enough others know, so that we can no longer pretend as a society that we don't know. We must now act.

As I say in the Forward of "The Boy From Bedag,": 'I cannot judge the actions of others if I do nothing to change the situation. In that reality, we all become responsible for the actions of a few. Yet how can I, one person, impact what happens in another land? In that powerlessness, I go to the One who turns Untouchables into gourmet chefs, and I ask for the impossible. Use me.'


Sincerely,
Heather Kirk

"The Boy From Bedag: Photo Journal of a Mission to India" is available for US$40 at:
www.PhotoGraphicArtistry.CityMax.com
P.O. Box 6046 Scottsdale, AZ 85261
 HJKirk@juno.com