Pre-Photovoice Interviews

After selecting the participants for my project, I had an individual interview with all the children followed by a group discussion. I also further explained the purpose of photo voice, highlighting that this was not like regular school where there was a certain“right” or “wrong” answer. The questions I asked the particpants were fairly broad so that they could speak as much or little as they wanted.

What is education to you?
What problems do you see in Rasoolpura that you want to see fixed?
What are some solutions?

Many of the responses were similar, and the children opened up far more than I had expected. Some of the main problems they saw were concerned with sanity and general well-being. Basic necessities such as continuous power and fresh water, things that we don’t usually think about in America, are the main problems in Rasoolpura. The students complained about having power for only several hours a day and that they had to buy clean water for 20 rupees a barrel every week. Twenty rupees is less than 50 cents; however, for many of the residents of Rasoolpura, it is a significant amount of their weekly paycheck. They also talked about corruption, in that their parents have to pay extra in order to receive services that should be free. For example, they have to pay extra in order to get their clean water delivered and garbage removed. Thus, instead of paying all these extraneous fees, many residents let the garbage pile up in the neighborhood, polluting the water in the ponds. This same water is then used to wash clothes, dishes, and sometimes even for cooking when the weekly clean water runs out. Therefore, they said that education is not a priority amidst all these problems that their families face daily. In order to pay for all these facilities, the parents and even some of the children have to work multiple jobs.

One of the students brought up an interesting point about migration and its implications on poverty. The student talked about how many of the residents of Rasoolpura moved to the city of Hyderabad from villages. A reolcation which resulted in extreme changes in lifestyle, where people who could at least farm their own food could no longer do so in the city.

"There are no agricultural jobs in the city, so many of the families have to do whatever job they are given, most of which are dirty and don't give much money. My mom works as a house-maid and my father works in a steel factory nearby. If I am educated, I can get a better job"

When I asked them what types of education they wanted to research, all of them wanted to research both health-related problems and the cultural/social aspects of Rasoolpura. Therefore, instead of splitting the group into two, we decided that each person would take half of their pictures on health-related issues and half on the culture of Rasoolpura.