Final Impression, May 2009
Ms. Becky Moyce


So I have come to the end of my time here in Jodhpur and my work with the Sambhali Trust. The last few weeks seem to have passed so quickly and in this short time I have learned not only what a tragic struggle it is for some of the students I have taught to be accepted and treated equally in Rajasthani society but also that the politics here makes it extremely difficult for NGO’s such as Sambhali to flourish. When I agreed to organise a photography exhibition to promote the work of the Trust and display the fantastic work of the students from my photography workshop I had little idea how challenge a task this would be. Faced with long daily power cuts it has been difficult to complete even basic administration involved in organising an event, such as writing letters, reports and press releases and there was an extraordinary delay in our picture printing which was also put down to the power failures.

In addition to this we found it hard to secure a suitable venue for the exhibition, first securing a booking for a reasonable fee and then being told at the last minute that we couldn’t have it unless we paid 6 times the original price agreed. To me this news seemed to stink of bribery and corruption I could not believe that authority officials would behave like this, especially in light of the fact that the rental costs were being covered by an NGO but I have learned that this is India and anything can happen. In the end we found a great venue which was a little more expensive but after much begging and pleading it was clear that very few people are willing to support charity work here if it means losing money. Understandable I guess but quite sad too. It was also our ambition to secure a local government official to inaugurate the exhibition, Tamanna and I spent many hours at the High Court meeting with various people but they unfortunately they were all too busy to come and show their support for this venture.

Regardless of the many obstacles we faced the exhibition went ahead today and in fact transpired to be a great success. We were a little late starting but the photography work the students had produced was of such high quality and so impressive that this didn’t matter. We managed to persuade Mr. Shiva a local well known photographer to come and judge which would be the winning photo’s and he was very impressed with the work that the students had produced which was a great boost for their self esteem and a wonderful way to end the workshops I have been doing with them. We then experienced some fantastic luck when members of a local photography club turned up and were so wowed with the ability of the students after only 20 days in the workshops that they requested to award their own prizes for a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. This was incredible because now we had not only two winners but 5 awards and endorsements from several experts in photography, the girls were thrilled.

The photography club members were so impressed with the students work that they have also offered to deliver some further, in depth workshops to the participants after I have left to continue the work I have been doing with them. This is more than I could ever have hoped for the people I have been teaching and I am so proud of them I really can’t put it into words, I am so happy.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay here and my only complaint is that four weeks is not long enough, there is so much good work that can be done here and I would love to come back and do more with this organisation. I will definitely stay in touch and continue to support Sambhali Trust when I return to England, the people here are so friendly and the great family atmosphere makes it a wonderful place to live and work.