Sunday in Godawari

I shot this footage this morning of girls in my mosaic studio, peacefully chipping away at their artworks in advance of our forthcoming UK exhibition. They are working on subjects ranging from Saints (as depicted in the Irish Book of Kells) to UK football club logos. All of these girls are trafficking victims, sold once by their families into a life of every kind of abuse as “performers” inside Indian circuses. Now they are proving to everyone their real worth and they’re very happy. See:

This afternoon I paid a visit to our refuge just down the road to see four newly-arrived children. They are siblings of two girls who were already in our care, both circus returnees. One girl, Bipana, had been working in my mosaic studio but hadn't returned from the Dashain holiday (see earlier post on "Dashain problems"). Apparently she comes from a very poor family with very inadequate, drunken parents and she had felt compelled to stay at home to look after younger siblings. So our field staff retrieved Bipana along with the two siblings meaning that Bipana can return to the work that she loves and her two young brothers can go to a decent school. The other two children are brother and sister to Pramila. Their father has just died and the mother has been very ill, so again, in the absence of a safety net we have responded to a genuine need that will allow Pramila to continue her studies at school in Kathmandu. When I arrived at the refuge I found the children having a haircut. The girl looked worried. Given that the amateur hairdresser was refuge carer Dilu, I think her concern was probably justified.