Following my photographic coverage of the 2004 tsunami in India I lived in the Hebron Orphanage in Andreh Pradesh for a short period.The orphanage accommodated about 200 orphans and was located alongside a busy canal that bore more resemblance to a sewer than a river.
My Indian minders kept careful watch on every step I made and every photograph I took 'for my own good'. I didn't react too well to being constrained and after a few 'exchanges' they let me go my own way
About five hundred metres down the road was a leprosarium. I was told that this area was strictly out of bounds and in no way was i to visit the area.
After a casual walk one afternoon I entered the leprosarium and spoke to adults and children for thirty minutes before my minders located me and attempted to round me up.
The girl pictured above was a member of the leper community. She stepped forward from her group of children and talked to me. She had no mother and father and lived in the colony with her grandmother who had contracted leprosy.
