Alice's Story 1

Today following Mass in Saint Theresa’s Church, I had an experience of a lifetime. A woman living on the street took a baby from underneath her traditional dress. These occurrences I have come to understand and after a silent thought they go to the back of your head. But today, the sight I saw will never go to the back of my head. The baby was less than one day old. An unclothed baby, spending his first day on this earth on the streets of Calcutta with small dignity and respect. Back home children are born in the cleanest of western hospitals, if this was the beginning of your life it would be a bit different don’t you think? Pictures or my words cannot explain the emotions to be quite honest I was overcome with an urge to take the baby, bring it home feed clothe and clean the innocent creature. – Alice 28th January 2007 - We talked about this later in reflection and agreed that to have photographed this would be wrong as it would possibly intrude on what little privacy there was. Alice 28/01/07