Notki is a home

The kids of Notki are amazing. They are so curious and welcoming. You can tell when one spots you that the word travel quickly because in a matter of mintues a majority of them show up. I wish I could speak their language totally so I could hear their whole story and they could hear mine, but regardless I think our non-verbal communication speaks enough. Their way of life reminds me of my childhood. They make up their own games and use whatever they can find to turn into some kind of toy or gadget to entertain themselves. Whenever filming is going on, they understand that they need to be quiet and stay behind the camera unless I am specifically getting a shot of them. I wish everyone back home could witness the Notki village other than the pictures and videos. The foundation has helped it out soooo much and you can see it in the communities attitude and the children's eyes. They are fortunate enough to be raised around the foundations interventions so it is natural to them to be around the change. I wish I had a lot of money to build them a kickass playground or something.....maybe one day. Anyway, here are some more photos of various days in villages.




Here is some playful kids in the streets of Notki. The one in the orange is one of my favorites.....he has more energy than me....I can barely keep up with the kid.

This is Ishacc. One of the subjects in the documentary. He is a very quiet yet interesting guy. He use to be the village leader in the past, but now he farms and watches over the residence. Right now their isn't much to do in regards to farming because the monsoon season hasn't hit. It will hit in about 3 weeks, and he will then begin to become busy. He always has a lot of questions about farming in Texas, and I enjoy answering them because he is so interested in it.

This is one of Ishacc's daughters (another one of our subjects). She is 18 and takes care of many things around the house. Her day begins around 5am and she will be milking cattle and buffalo, making fire fuel from their droppings, sewing clothes to earn income, monitoring the hyper children, cooking, and doing other daily chores. She had to drop out of school at the 10th grade level because the family needed her assistance. She wants to one day finish up her basic education and possibly take it further. She had a lot to say about the foundation and how it has empowered females like her around the village and hopes more people will support the village so it's interventions can assist other villages. Her responsibilities and work ethic is truly inspiring to me. I wish more females in the US could meet someone like her because it would change a lot of their perspectives on life. She has a daily routine with basically no entertainment that I could witness, but she still managed to keep a bright smile on her face the whole time. I wish her the best.

Here is a small female child in Notki. I don't know her name, but she is really fascinated by the camera and it is really easy to make her smile. All of the kids think I am a magician because I use various classic magic tricks on them....they seirously laugh for about 5 minutes after you show them. I also verbally mimic the village animals and they get a kick out of that as well. I hope this girl can one day make it out of the village and become a famous actress or something.

Things are different in villages without the Sehgal Foundation.......

Here are some kids in the other village I mentioned in a previous blog post. I believe the village was named Nawli (I could be wrong on the spelling....If I am, I will correct asap). Here you can clearly see the amount of trash just laying in the streets. The children also contrasted the children of Notki very much. It was a totally different atmosphere that I wish I could help make some changes asap.

This is the village's vacant hospital. The sign on the left side of it is promises the government made to improve the hospital and the community but failed at executing. The Notki village has a hospital and delivery hut that is clean, well structured, and comfortable that the Sehgal Foundation has assisted them in creating......I just hope the foundation can get to this village's health center soon and empower the people to invest in their efforts.

Here is another example of the Nawli village's streets. They were filthy and the kids were not in the same state of mind as the kids in Notki. The atmosphere had an impact on me that day. I felt so uncomfortable, helpless, and sad that people were living like this.

Nothing could make this child smile.

This is the well I almost fell in. Once I gained my composure and was able to ge some shots of it, I noticed that it had very little or no water left in it. It made me think about how some people complain about not having bottled water when they have a sink in their house/apartment that is well beyond capable of hydrating them. I hope the village can find enough sweet water to last them until the monsoon season in a couple of weeks. There is water pockets surrounding the village, but the large majority of them are Saline water pockets which are not usable for drinking....only the sweet water pockets can be used.
Juan Elizondo photos.






Here is a short FLIP video compilation of the children. The camera is the size of a cell phone, so I apologize for the shakeiness. The game the kids play later in the video is like hopscotch, but you kick a rock to get points....it si really fun and interesting.