First Trip to the City

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Today I accompanied a group of German Protestant ministers (here at HMI for a conference) to Hyderabad’s ‘Old City’, where HMI operates a health clinic and elementary school. This was my first chance to see the city, and so I jumped at the chance to be chauffeured as part of a tour instead of trying to navigate the bus system.

The school is called the Aman Shanti School, and is purposely placed in an area of the city that has seen a lot of sectarian violence. The Hindu and Muslim communities are separated only by one street, and rarely do the two mix. HMI began the school following the riots in 1992 in order to remain a permanent presence and face of peace in the community.

I hope that the pictures I took of the school and the neighborhood convey the experience I had there. There was such excitement and joy on the children’s faces to see foreigners, but to juxtapose that with the deprived surroundings was difficult to comprehend.

In the afternoon I sought out a bookstore, A.A. Husain, whose proprietor I had been told was a prominent Shi’a guild member. When I finally found the store after an hour, I was told he passed away. When I asked his son about the local Shi'a guilds and Muharram, he quickly replied, “I’m not into that”. Oh well—I enjoyed browsing the shelves.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

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Photos

Aman Shanti School
The kids crowded around one of our group in order to see the picture he had just taken of them.

Aman Shanti School
A view inside one of the classrooms

Comments

[nate]

wow
Wow Jaclyn this is amazing. Love the one of the boys who made you take their picture. That one lil' dude has this real serious pose... fantastic. Thanks for posting.