Thursday, September 27, 2007
September 2007 update
A small set of the A Cup of Cold Water Project prints have been sent
back to India for display, 100% of the sales of that work will go
towards purchasing books and supplies for the Pipe Village slum school
I visited with Bangar Raju, of O.M. (Operation Mobilization) while I
was in Secunderabad, Southern India.
The first American exhibit of A Cup of Cold Water Project will open
November 1, 2007 at Irvine Valley College, 5500 Irvine Center Drive,
Irvine, California, 92618. The project is going to take me several
more years to complete; my sabbatical from Irvine Valley College gave
me the much-needed jump-start this last year. I have nearly 125 more
images that I want to print and all sales and donations will go
directly back into this project of awareness, compassion, and hope.
I am going to show you two of the black and white images from the
work I did in Karnataka State. The first is a portrait of Suvarna, a
former Devadasi temple prostitute, (image #6931). Suvarna had been a
dedicated temple prostitute since she was 11 or 12 years old (she
wasn’t sure), now she is 45. Suvarna has 6 children living with her;
all their fathers are unknown. Her parents were extremely poor, as
are all of the temple prostitutes parents. Her mother and father sold
her for 10,000 Rupees ($250 U.S. dollars). She was the oldest
daughter, one of five sisters. Suvarna told me that there is no
training when you enter into temple prostitution, “you were (just)
baptized” (all new children entering temple prostitution are baptized
in a nearby lake as they enter their life long service). For over 30
years she had sex with 3 or 4 men a day, with only a single day per
week off. Her parents were proud of her, she was able to send them
money, by pleasing so many men she was treated better by the priests
than some who weren’t garnering as many “happy devotees.” Suvarna
escaped 4 years ago and was given food and shelter by K. Manohor from
her first day of escape. The temple priests only searched for 3 weeks,
they were not too upset that she had left, being past her earning
prime. Younger women however are not as fortunate, if a girl or woman
leaves, she would be caught and confined until she agrees again to be
raped.
I asked Suvarna about her opinion now that she is free from the
temple;” Yes, I am angry, very angry, I hope to help destroy the
(temple prostitution) system.”
The second photo is one of Janki, image #6921, she was a former
dedicated temple prostitute. Janki is seventeen, out now for two
years, was aided in escaping prostitution early on after having been
sold by her parents. She ran away and was helped, and as with her
friend Suvarna, by K. Manohor of O.M. (Operation Mobilization). Her
running away disgraced her parents. “I would still be there if
someone hadn’t helped (her escape).” They had to pay back the 10,000
– 15,000 Rupees ($250-$375 U.S. dollars) given by the temple priests.
Janki says of temple prostitution “I know it was wrong for me.” Her
parents still want to “commit” her to the temple practice, her
maternal grandmother is even more insistent. Janki’s aunt recently
died of AIDS; she too was a Devadasi Temple Prostitute. Her goal
now; “I want to go to school…I want to graduate (and) be a teacher for
children from 3 to 10 years old.”
Jerry
