Celebrating Holi!

We recently celebrated Holi here in India.  Such a great holiday!  Holi is the festival of color, and colorful it is, everyone chases one another around smearing colorful powder on them. The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, a time to play and laugh, forget and forgive.  Really it is a photographers dream.  Hope everyone has a colorful spring and summer!

A good cause

 India is a amazing country, with tons to offer the visitor.  The travelers in India often come home feeling like they have grown, perhaps become somewhat more enlightened.  And with all that India offers us as visitors, it has a million and one ways we can give back.  We recently visited a child shelter, Stepping Stones in the nearby city of Margao.  The work they do there is truly inspiring.  We were shown around the premises by a lovely educated young woman, who later told us that she started out as one of the shelter children and now loves working there and giving back.  There are a lot of street children in India, and this is one of the project working to help improve the lives of these children.  El Shaddai has more than 3,000 children in their shelters now.  They are amazing children, full of potential, every little bit helps... childrescue.net

Maskeradfest, Goan style

The local "international" school, Vidya Aranya had a fancy dress party fundraiser recently.  There was a great support from the local community with loads of people showing up.  The kids all dressed up, with some really brilliant costumes.  Love the creativity here.  Here are a few shots from the evening.

fun with adorable babies

Really been enjoying our time in India, including getting more involved in the local community here.  I had a great time taking fotos for the local baby group, which is hosted by Vrindhaven Kindergarten, whose logo i recently had the opportunity to make.  They have lots of fun activities, from music time to painting with rice flour, and they have even had a water play day,  a wonderful experience for all the little munchkins!