Woman, Beejwad, Rajasthan, November 5, 2009

She waits until the last minute to show her face. This afternoon, we make portraits of all the children, all the other women before she decides to have her portrait made. Every time she lifts her veil, the other women laugh and invite her to do the same, barely holding her pose for a few seconds before turning away to laugh. This time, she gave me a little more than a few seconds.

The school in this Nat Community is in its first year. It has been accepted well and the teacher seems to be happy. She shows us a wonderful classroom, one full of children eager to learn. The walls, while in need of repair perhaps, are lined with drawings of the children.

There is also another woman in the room, an assistant to the teacher. She is just as kind and serves tea to us at the end of our photography.

While the children lack even the most basic essentials, such as seats or even mats to sit upon, they are happy to have a foundation that truly shows them respect, keeps its promises and provides them with an education that will hopefully show their community a way out of the world of sex, a world that the Nat Community knows all too well.