Daily Archives: March 24, 2017

Everydaychildhood- Ahmer Khan’s depiction of a school under a bridge

Everydaychildhood- Ahmer Khan’s depiction of a school under a bridge | Leher NGO in India

@ahmermkhan is an independent photographer, who previously worked with the World Health Organization. His portfolio boasts of work with @buzzfeed, @guardian, @vicenews, @csmonitorpics, @BBC, @aljazeera and many other popular publications.

Ahmer’s proclivity towards social issues is apparent through his instagram feed that highlights the lives of homeless rickshaw pullers in Kolkata, children blinded by pellets in Kashmir, Rohingya muslims taking refuge in Delhi, adivasi children in Madhya Pradesh and victims of the Nepal earthquake, amongst others.

His portrayal of children going to school under a bridge in Delhi not only shows their zest and enthusiasm to learn but also their struggle to achieve a most basic right to education.

Read his stories on @everydaychildhood and follow @ahmermkhan for more of his work.

Underprivileged Indian children study at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #childrenphoto #buzzfeed #pictureoftheday #indiaphotoproject

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Underprivileged Indian children at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #childrenphoto #buzzfeed #pictureoftheday #indiaphotoproject

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Underprivileged Indian children play at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #childrenphoto #buzzfeed #pictureoftheday #indiaphotoproject

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Pappu, 15, walks two kilometres everyday to reach to free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #poorbaby #buzzfeed #pictureoftheday #portraitphotography #portrait

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Underprivileged Indian children copy from a blackboard at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan/BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #poorbaby #childrenphoto #blackandwhite #bw #pictureoftheday #buzzfeed

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Underprivileged Indian children do physical training at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 250 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last 6 years. Most of the students who attend this school are born to migrant workers, labourers, rickshaw-pullers, daily wagers who live in shacks & hutments in the villages in East Delhi. Rajesh Kumar, 55, a grocery store owner in Delhi started this free school under the bridge in 2009. Interestingly, Kumar himself is a college dropout. Photo Ahmer Khan for BuzzFeed. #delhi #photostory #photojournalism #instagram #instagood #instahappy #instadaily #photooftheday #picoftheday #everydayeverywhere #photography #children #poor #education #india #magnum #gettyimages #repost #reportage #reportagespotlight #instagramdaily #poorbaby #childrenphoto #blackandwhite #bw #pictureoftheday

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Everydaychildhood- Playgrounds of Mumbai through Gopal MS’s lens

Everydaychildhood- Playgrounds of Mumbai through Gopal MS’s lens | Leher NGO in India

Although a copywriter by profession, Gopal MS captures Mumbai as people rarely manage to – the quieter, intimate, almost hidden lives and happenings of a city that is often lost in the glitz and glamour of the metropolis; he captures the less photographed streets where gilli danda is still played and greenery often falls victim to infrastructure- places where the heart of the city lives. While people love to photograph their travels, Gopal says ‘he loves to shoot what is happening in his backyard.’

When you look for photography from the streets of Mumbai, you are sure to stumble upon a blog called ‘Mumbai Paused.’…A blog that Gopal M S began in 2009. As a compulsive photographer and diligent documentor he shoots several themes- from men’s fashion in their white sunglasses to the dying Vachnalayas or reading houses in Mumbai; from trees fighting for space in the art of killing series to the nostalgia of Bombay and a series on men at work and their workplaces. One of our favourites is his depiction of the #playgroundsofmumbai.

Despite the importance of play on a child’s health, development, self-esteem life skills and most importantly childhood – it remains mostly a ‘forgotten’ right of the child; it is rarely taken seriously by governments .

Playing in the open in urban settings continues to remain an elusive experience for many children, courtesy the shrinking spaces and lack of adequate resources available to them, driving youngsters to the road or other risk prone areas. From cricket in Shivaji Park to marbles or goti as they are called in Shivajinagar M Ward, the poorest ward of Mumbai, you often need to relook at his photos so you don’t miss out on the intimate details. Locked up behind closed door, on railway tracks and near trash cans, in badly maintained parks, in old abandoned corners, on busy streets and staircases- children continue to play in whatever available space with whatever available material, oblivious to a city that continues to be indifferent to their childhood and their basic right to play.

Read his stories on @everydaychildhood and follow @mumbaipaused for more of his work.

Everydaychildhood- Oinam Anand’s imagery of life in an unknown land

A photojournalist and columnist for the @indianexpress, @oinam.anand‘s imagery of Rohingya Muslim children, now settled in Delhi, brings focus and attention to the their muted and overlooked lives.

Labeled as one of the world’s most prosecuted minorities, Rohingyas, a stateless ethnic group loathed by many of Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, were forced to leave their homes since a bloody crackdown by the army in their home state of Rakhine. Many made their way to India, with nothing but the clothes they were wearing and with horrifying stories of rape, torture and murder. Denied citizenship and persecuted in their home country of Myanmar, uncertainty haunts the rebooted lives of these Muslim minority group.

Children make up more than half of the world’s 21.3 million refugees. Many have known nothing but war, deprivation and fear. They aren’t in school and often struggle to find the basic essentials – their lives and futures at risk.Oinam’s series on the refugee children of Delhi draws much needed attention to a group that is rarely seen or heard. Because every child, everywhere, deserves a childhood.

From make shift and shelter homes to madrassas cum schools turned into camps, Oinam’s camera takes us through the lives of these refugee children in Delhi- the deplorable conditions in which they live, the almost absent access to basic services of housing, education and healthcare and the bleak prospects for a future of children from a distant land, who take refuge in India.

Read his stories on @everydaychildhood and follow @oinam.anand for more of his work.

Everydaychildhood: Troubled waters, thirsty deserts and tormented childhoods through Arati Kumar Rao’s camera

Everydaychildhood: Troubled waters, thirsty deserts and tormented childhoods through Arati Kumar Rao’s camera | Leher NGO in India

@aratikumarrao is a visual storyteller – a photographer and writer who uses images, video, maps, and infographics to explore lives and places. She is averse to being classified under any category. As she observers “I tell stories-real-life stories, about landscapes and people, their traditional lives and the changes they see in it over time focusing mostly on issues that are underreported in the mainstream media.

Her muse is the water and she has been documenting the effects of land use change on ecosystems and livelihoods for more than a decade. Her haunting images of land, people, animals and water evoke shades of the majestic even as they sharply express the ravaged. She has reported stories of @slowviolence on humankind from the Sunderbans, to the Ganges, from the Thar Desert to the Brahmaputra river basin, captured the harrowing and eye-opening images of #environmentalrefugees, their catastrophic impact on the lives of children and their families and what it means for the future generations.

Named by Shutterstock in ‘100 Photographers From Around the World That You Should Follow Right Now’, Arati is also a contributor to @everydayclimatechange, a founding member of @peepliproject and has received various grants and awards for her outstanding work.

Arati sure knows the power of a good story as is visible through her compelling narrative and stunning photographs. Read her stories on @everydaychildhood and follow @aratikumarrao for more of her powerful and increasingly important work.