This will go a bit off topic of dolphins…or may seem to…but
it is absolutely related to their conservation. Because it was obvious from the
beginning that the issue of overfishing was looming large in this area, and
that the problem was not going to be solved without also managing the people
and their ability to continue to survive, during my first trip to Bhaglapur
last year, I began brainstorming about how the hell we could ever fix this. I
fully understood, that if we could not, then we would loose the battle to save
this species.
I was also struck by the horrible situation that the
villagers were dealing with. They live on the very bottom of the society there
(or very close to). Houses with walls but no roof, dirt floors. You can imagine
the picture. And absolutely no money to put their children into school (which
costs money in India). I realized we had to get these kids out of this cycle of
poverty which was at least partially contributing to the inability to break
away from fishing or whatever others might be able to do in this small village.
To get an education could open other doors with more economic security. So……We
had to find a way to put them in school. But how?
While thinking about this, riding on the back of a
motorcycle through the city something came to me. Not a perfect solution, but
maybe something. I have yet to see a home in the area that appeared to exude
the presence of wealth. Trash is everywhere, there is no indoor plumbing so the
bathroom is the small trenches that line the edges of the streets. Animals like
pigs, goats, stray dogs and cattle walk the streets, adding to the fresh excrement
everywhere. It can be shocking to see and walk through on first run. Oh who am
I kidding, it is shocking every time I have done it. And I have walked those
streets a lot. I still have to force the “ I am not taking notice of this
horror you people are asked to live in” look from my face, so the people of
this place are never made to feel uncomfortable.
Even in all this, there is something I found absolutely beautiful and unique (besides the
Photo: Jlewis, TDRF |
Photo: JLewis, TDRF |
I realized then that people in the states would also
appreciate these, in the artistic rustic style they represented. AND…that these
“pieces of art” I was considering, might allow us at least a starting point to raising
money for the education of the local children. Doors representing opening a
possibility of hope for them. So that was the inception of the idea for our
project called the “Doors of Bhaglapur”. During this trip I spent a day
photographing these doors with the idea to then use them in a fund raiser art
show back in the states. We at the Tropical Dolphin Research Foundation are now
working with the University research team under Dr. Sunil Choudhary to develop
a plan for our first pilot of this project. Our intentions are to start with
one village, working to raise money for the children currently in 10 of these families
through high school and maybe even beyond (depending on the money we can
raise). We invite you to follow us as we work to develop this, and please let
us know if you live in the DC or NYC area and would like to help us develop
this fund raiser and can suggest people what may be interested in purchasing
this type of art for such a cause. Put a kid through school. Save a river
dolphin! I know…not quite so simple…but not a really far from the truth!
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