Festival of Colours

I've just emerged from one of the maddest and most colourful days of my life.  Today, Koraput celebrated Holi, the festival of colours.  I've tried to find out what Holi is all about.  Some say it is to celebrate the change from winter to spring, some say it's the triumph of good over evil, some refer to the legend of Prahalad and Holika.  It probably has a combination of roots and is celebrated in many parts of India by people smearing each other with paint and throwing coloured powder and dye over anyone and anything in their path.

Whatever the reason, it has been a good excuse to relax and have fun for many people in Koraput.  I went out for the day with my new friend Anne Heslop, a professional photograper based in London who funds various small projects here in Orissa (Anne Heslop).  Annie's charity, Goats and Hopes has a number projects including the funding of 2 schools near the town of Koraput.  These schools were built and run for a few years by the Save the Children Fund.  When they withdrew their funding, the schools were threatened with closure until Anne managed to find sponsors to help her fund the continued running of the schools.  Annie also raises funds for mosquito nets and malaria education, Koraput being a high risk area (30% of India's malaria cases are here in Orissa and of those, 90% of those cases are the most dangerous sort, cerebral malaria) and she has projects running to supply solar lights to remote villages without electricity.  Anne spends a few weeks in Koraput each year visiting her projects and doing photography to help with her fundraising.  I was lucky enough to meet her last week and we soon made friends.

Annie has been videoing children at the schools to create a film to send to her sponsors and to try to attract new sponsors and asked me if I would like to spend the day with her while she worked at the schools.   Little did I know what people mean when they talk about celebrating Holi.