The first two photos today were submitted by Libby Abbott, an incoming MIA student who is also pursuing a dual degree with Public Health.

Barisal Division, Bangladesh:  From a young age girls join women in the daily tasks of washing clothes and cooking vessels and collecting water from the local pukurs, or ponds.

Banaras, Uttar Pradesh, India:  At dawn on the morning of Deep Depavali, the steps of Assi Ghat in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi (or Banaras), India are busy with offerings of flowers, candles, and water from the Ganga.

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The following photo was submitted by incoming MIA student, Olivia Barata Cavalcanti.

Ayeniah, Ghana:  It was the first day of school at the orphanage where I was volunteering and the kids were very excited about it!

We still have lots of photos to post in the coming weeks so stay tuned in for more.  If you have sent pictures rest assured we will get to them.

The first picture is from Siliang Zhou, an incoming MIA student.

The picture was taken in Manchester, Vermont when I was spending July 4th there.

I did a hawk-walk with my guide in the mountain to catch some rabbits. The bird standing on my arm was the hunter. It weighed only 4.5 pounds and yet was able to dive at a speed of 60 feet per second!  My guide also told me if a hawk can read, it has no problem reading newspaper from 100 yards away. But the thing that fascinates me about the animal is that its nature is WILD no matter how long it’s been caged. It never becomes attached to human like cats and dogs. That’s why they never set them out without starving them first.

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The next three photos come from Stig Arild Pettersen,  a 26 year-old incoming MIA student from Norway.

From June to October 2007 I worked as a sailing coach for youth in Burma (Myanmar) in South East Asia. Living and working in Yangon, the largest city in this country under military authoritarian rule, was an experience I will never forget.

Inle Lake in Burma’s Shan State is a real Water World. I was enormously impressed by the balance shown by local kids and fishermen alike, handling their fishing nets in the gusty winds while standing on only one leg at the bow of their narrow canoes.

Hiking in the Shan hills above Inle Lake, I came across these novise monks belonging to the Pa-O people. As my Pa-O is nothing to brag about, communication was at a low until I gave them my SLR to play with.

My friend Colm from England and I try to communicate with local Burmese at a cafe in Pakokku, a small town in the central part of the country. We were joking around and singing songs to each other in our mother tongues. We had gone to Pakokku after rumours had come out about monks marching in the streets, protesting against the brutal treatment of monks by the local police. Moments later, we found ourselves being probably the first Westerners to observe what would turn out to be the largest international media happening of that fall, the unrest and government crackdown that left tens of innocent Burmese dead. Trying to take photos of the monks, we where rapidly stopped by plain clothed security personnel and escorted on the ferry out of town.

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The final photo for today is from  Libby Abbott, an incoming MIA student.

Rupandehi District, Nepal
A woman from the terai (plains) region of southern Nepal balances a copper water jug on her hip. This kind of regular, heavy work performed by women contributes to high rates of uterine prolapse, a reproductive health morbidity that can cause a lifetime of physical and social suffering.

The first three photos today come from Beatriz Guillen, an incoming MIA student.

I have been living in Caracas for almost three years. Venezuela is an amazing country, full of contrasts that I would like to show you through some of the pictures I have taken.  The first one is from Salto Angel in Canaima, the highest water fall in the world.

The second one is a “parking boat” in a small beach town, called Choroní.

The third one is swimming in the paradisiacal Isla Tortuga.

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The next two photos come from Sofia Fernandez del Castillo, an incoming MPA student.

These pictures were taken during a pilot program done in a community in the metropolitan area of Mexico City that consisted in the recuperation of social ties through the implementation of workshops, color in the facades and neighborhood upgrading. The evidence demonstrates that color has a positive direct impact in people´s lives. I believe these pictures reflect the motivation of the community -specially children- to rescue public spaces and are evidence of the sprawling of cities and irregular settlements in Mexico.

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The last two photos come from incoming MIA student Sarah Bilson.

Location: A village outside of Vélingara, Senegal (July, 2007)
Description: Young girls dance in a celebration commemorating the village’s abandonment of female genital mutilation.

Location: Aley, Lebanon
Description: This picture captures a night view of Beirut from the mountain town of Aley in Lebanon. Sitting in the quite, serene village we could see Beirut rocking below us.