The Audio Photo Document

Makamba, Burundi

2009-10-17T05:35:00.000-07:00

(click play button for audio)

A village savings group gathers in Makamba, Burundi in East Africa. The Money-Counter announces the group's progress. This is how they are lifting themselves out of poverty.

Check back soon as we document World Relief's Savings For Life programs in Burundi, Rwanda, and Kenya.

Orvieto, Italy

2009-05-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

How do those SAT analogies go?

Emily:photo :: Jacob:audio

We noticed these parallel passions while planning our wedding. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't match Emily's energy (or proficiency) for envisioning a color scheme or a flower arrangement. I conversely held VERY strong opinions about the songs we'd have in our ceremony and the pacing of the readings. I spent hours (and hours) over several weeks crafting the perfect iPod playlist down to the second, slashing the ends off too-long songs to keep up the energy of the dancing. In the final stressful weeks of planning our wedding, it was a real breakthrough for us to realize the truth of the analogy. She likes napkins like I like drumbeats.

A few weeks ago in Italy, Emily decided to leave her camera in the hotel one day, but ended up wishing she'd had it. "I experience a place most fully by taking pictures," she told me later. But I've always been more attuned to the sonic landscape--the snippets of passing conversations, the accidental rhythms and drone of traffic and construction, or just the way a room echoes. Stick a microphone in my hand and headphones on my ears, and I'm lost in fascination. I think I know what she means.

The sounds in Orvieto at our friends Dave and Nancy's wedding were as rich as the sauces and wine. Listen for yourself:

Emily and I do work individually too, of course. Check out Emily at emilyjohnstonanderson.com and me at jacobdanielanderson.blogspot.com

Hostel for Girls (2)

2009-05-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Many of the Sisters who care for the girls at Providence Home grew up in a hostel like this one, and seem to have a deep compassion for their charges. They are teachers in English and Urdu schools, nurses, and social workers. One sister describes her call: "I used to see people sitting on the side of the road, and I wanted to do something to help them. Gradually I realized that unless they are educated, people cannot help themselves." The Sisters feel well respected here, and they tell me that Muslims and Christians live together, and mostly there are no problems. But Sister Iffat shakes her head as she contemplates the lives of other women in Pakistan, "the men rule the women here," she says.

On the day of my second visit, many of the children had gone home for Easter weekend. Two girls waited for their relatives to pick them up, and served tea to the workers who were tiling a previously unfinished bathroom, while the Sisters took their tea upstairs and prepared to go to Maundy Thursday mass.

Audio slide show: Sunday Bazaar

2009-04-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

Hostel for Girls

2009-04-09T01:59:00.000-07:00

A half dozen Sisters and 18 young girls share a home in Karachi. The young women, who have mostly been left here by families who cannot care for them (though often a remarriage forces their mothers to abandon them), attend school in the morning and continue their studies under the Sisters guidance in the evening. They are among a mere 26 percent of girls in Pakistan who learn to read and write.

Pakistan, Day One

2009-04-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

Our first day in Karachi was incredibly full. Here are some first impressions...

Textiles hang for sale at the Sunday Bazaar

Families enjoy a Sunday afternoon on the Arabian Sea

One of Karachi's many round-abouts, the Three Swords. The city seems to sprawl out forever with roundabouts as the primary points of orientation.

On the rooftop at the Avari Towers, one of Karachi's many luxury hotels. Kite birds circle constantly above the city.

A tour of a private school by night.

After dusk.