484. Children at Buddhist Stupas
Photo By: Ashley Crowther
Posted Date: 23 November 2010 (Flickr)
Description:
I took this photo in Kathmandu, after a long 15 days in the Himalayas. I arrived at one of the biggest Buddhist stupas to find myself in a ceremony. I can’t exactly recall what it was called, everyone was holding candles. These children just finished setting their candles down and I saw this moment and captured it.
Camera specification: Not available.
| Here is a series of pictures I’ve captured during my recent trip to Birgunj (2nd week of August 2010). I was so moved by this effort one brother did for his little sister in a near by village called Naguwa of Birgunj. These pictures don’t need mere words to explain this LOVE and CARE a brother has for his little sister. | ||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I felt so happy being able to help this boy to buy a real pack of juice for his little sister after I took these pictures.
The number of American doctors using speech software to record and transcribe accounts of patient visits and treatments has more than tripled in the past three years to 150,000. The progress is striking. A few years ago, supraspinatus (a rotator cuff muscle) got translated as “fish banana.” Today, the software transcribes all kinds of medical terminology letter perfect, doctors say. It has more trouble with other words and grammar, requiring wording changes in about one of every four sentences, doctors say.
“It’s unbelievably better than it was five years ago,” said Dr. Michael A. Lee, a pediatrician in Norwood, Mass., who now routinely uses transcription software. “But it struggles with ‘she’ and ‘he,’ for some reason. When I say ‘she,’ it writes ‘he.’ The technology is sexist. It likes to write ‘he.’ ”
Meanwhile, translation software being tested by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is fast enough to keep up with some simple conversations. With some troops in Iraq, English is translated to Arabic and Arabic to English. But there is still a long way to go. When a soldier asked a civilian, “What are you transporting in your truck?” the Arabic reply was that the truck was “carrying tomatoes.” But the English translation became “pregnant tomatoes.” The speech software understood “carrying,” but not the context.
Yet if far from perfect, speech recognition software is good enough to be useful in more ways all the time. Take call centers. Today, voice software enables many calls to be automated entirely. And more advanced systems can understand even a perplexed, rambling customer with a misbehaving product well enough to route the caller to someone trained in that product, saving time and frustration for the customer. They can detect anger in a caller’s voice and respond accordingly — usually by routing the call to a manager.
She turns again to the boy. “Has your tummy been hurting?” Yes, he replies.
Our young children and grandchildren will think it is completely natural to talk to machines that look at them and understand them,” said Eric Horvitz, a computer scientist at Microsoft’s research laboratory who led the medical avatar project, one of several intended to show how people and computers may communicate before long.
Maybe that is because the assistant is the disembodied likeness of a woman’s face on a computer screen — a no-frills avatar. Her words of sympathy are jerky, flat and mechanical. But she has the right stuff — the ability to understand speech, recognize pediatric conditions and reason according to simple rules — to make an initial diagnosis of a childhood ailment and its seriousness. And to win the trust of a little boy.
Smarter Than You Think – Computers Learn to Listen, and Some Talk Back – NYTimes.com.
“Basic work that can be automated is in the bull’s-eye of both technology and globalization, and the rise of artificial intelligence just magnifies that reality,” said Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
446. Howzzzzz That ???
Photo By: Suresh Maharjan
Posted Date: 24th May 2010
Location: On the Way to Ason
Description:
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Childrens playing cricket on the porch of the temple on the way to Ason.
Life is confusing even for us who are considered ‘normal’ and can think and function on our own. So no wonder it is a big puzzle for those who do not have the intelligence other people their age have. And it gets harder for them when they are not treated with affection and the care that they require and instead are looked upon as a burden to the family and society.
It was year 2007 I did one photo assignment for Mentally Retarded Rehabilitation Center located at Kharelkhot in Kavre, a village 57 kilometers from Kathmandu. Sujana Uphadhayay was with me and we did this social project to collect fund for this rehabilitation center which was established in year 2006. The center was established with the aim to reach out to and help as many children with a low IQ as possible.
I have spent two days in that rehabilitation center photographing whatever routine children follow every day. It was a great learning experience for both Sunana and I to know how happy those children are with their limited world they have in the center. And for me it was the journey I learn to ‘care’ for needy children like them. My short stay in the center was truly a spiritual experience of what it takes to live life being a people of lesser God.
Here I would like to share some of pictures from that assignment.
WE ARE FAMILY:Children sitting outside the Rehabilitation center.
Being a physical or mental disability in traditional societies like Nepal becomes a dependent on the family and the community makes their life a miserable experience. But progress that human civilization today’s have achieved both scientifically and technically in greater field, we must realize that any disabled can also become a productive member of the society and can look back on their life with satisfaction. All it takes is our little ‘CARE’ and help them find a place in the mainstream of our social life like us.
FRAME ME TOO: Saroj peeking from Rabin’s back.
THINKER: Rosina trying to figure out what I was doing with camera.
It cannot be over stated that these children need love and affection from other people. But then, who doesn’t? It is therefore important to realize that these children have no less thoughts and feelings than any of us. And they are not incapable of learning. They just have a different, and a slow, way of learning.
WAIT FOR DAWN : Early morning children waiting the Sun to rise.
The progress the Rehabilitation Center had with some these children is proof to this. Most of the children before coming to the Rehabilitation Center were made to live in unthinkable conditions. Some were even tied along with the cattle, where they ate hay, just as the animals did. Part of this was due to the ignorance on the side of the parents, while some of it was due to the poor economic condition where they could not afford anything better. Those children before coming to the center had no sense of being human beings at all. And seeing them now, befriending each other and learning new skills everyday, the faith the center have in their ability to learn and grow strengthens everyday.
CIRCLE FOR ME: Muna Ama making circles for children so that can stand for morning prayer and parade.
The mentally retarded from childhood experiences unusual difficulties in learning which affects their capacities for adjustment in day to day living.
HERE WE STAND TOGETHER : Children doing parade.
MORNING WORKOUT : Children doing morning parade along with Muna Ama.
In year 2001, government introduced the concept of inclusive education in Shree Bahgwati Higher Secondary School. The purpose of the special class in the school was to enroll 10 mentally challenged children at a time and teach them basic life skills with the aim to prepare them eventually lead a normal life. But it was stated that each batch of 10 students would be taught for 5 years, after which they would be sent back home.
The five years of specially formulated education program did help the children make some improvements from their initial stage. However, given their limited learning ability and their need for constant guidance and support, removing them from the class and sending them back home would mean pushing them back to square one. The first batch of students completed their allocated time by the government during late 2005.
Hence, in order to help them continue learning and to reach out to more than just 10 children at a time, Mentally Retarded Rehabilitation Center was established.
It was a tough decision to make given the lack of funds and support from government, but it was an important one. The center was registered as a non-government organization committed to help improve the life standards of mentally challenged children by the only teacher in the program then, Ms. Muna Silwal and some parents of the children.
The center is being run by the NRs 10,000.00 ($138.00) that the Nepal government provides each month and the limited financial support that the parents provide. Most of the children come from families in villages where their parents are involved in farming as a profession. Hence, give the low economic standards; it is very difficult for most of the parents to even fill in the basic fee of the center.
The center’s future plan is to run a full-fledged center with all the facilities that the children need and bring in and support as many of them as possible. Also, we aim to be able to eradicate the concept people have of “mentally retarted” children and make them understand that they are just a little different, but in other ways are very much like us.
The society should be made aware of the need to recognize the mentally retarded persons and give enough care to make them as independent as possible. There is a long way to go, and the journey, along with it challenges, has just started.
Some facts of the center which we have collected previously. It may differ by now:
There were a total of 16 children now from all parts of the country.
MORNING PRAYER: With Rosina in the morning I did prayer (Saraswati Bandana) and parade with them.
Photo by: Sujana Upadhayay
Report: Sujana Upadhayay/ Shutterbug
366.Dai hamro Foto Dekhaunus na
Photo By: Suresh
Posted Date:18/05/2009
Description:
On the way back from Murali Mountain Hiking, we were making our own way through the wheat fields. I was busy taking some landscapes and suddenly these two kids appeared before me and REQUESTED!!!……. “Dai Hamro FOTO dekhaunus na”…..”i know the reality ! Hope you also guessed”….I replied …” Aagin ko foto tada bata khicheko bhayera mukh dekhinna la feri najik bata khichne hai…..” with the permission I captured them in the frame. Finally, i was able to read the happiness from their face.
338. Beauty of Rural Nepal
Photo By: Shutterbug
Posted Date: 9th March
Description:
This lady I saw at Thaiba, Lalitpur seems all happy and content, which I think is the beauty of rural Nepal. Unfortunately many dwellers of big cities do lack such contentment in life while they pursue distant dreams of cosmopolitan life.
While going to Godavari, Lalitpur I saw this lady carrying a boy in ‘doko’ (Basket) on her back. ‘Kuto’ and ‘Kodalo’ in her hands suggest that she must be going to work in the field near by.
310. Karma’s Karma
Photo By: Shutterbug
Posted Date: 11th December
Description:
These are Karma Galzen’s hands from Pisang, Manang who asked me for a pen. Actually I didn’t have a spare pen but couldn’t decline his request so I gave him the only pen I had. Just to make sure he properly uses the pen, I asked him if he could write his name. He said, “Aauccha” (Yes I can) and you can see how he wrote his name in his left palm. Later I helped him to write his name correctly on his right hand then he flashed widest smile on his face and tucked the pen in his torn t-shirt and ran away.
It’s been more than a month ago when I had met him during my trek to the Annapurna Circuit but I still wonder about Karma’s karma. When will we be able to educate all our Karmas of remote regions of Nepal? When slogan like, “Every child has the right to education” could make a real sense? I feel bad not to find the answers.
293. Tastes of Candy
Photo By: Shutterbug
Post Date: Nov 7, 2008
Description: Two local girls (Punam and Sarswoti Gurung) of Jagat, Lamjung savoring candy from California. We met them on our way to Chamje. I simply cherish the moment of their expressions of joy in their innocent faces.
It’s a common sight to see these local children swarming around trekkers asking for pen and sweet. A friend of mine who brought bag full of candies became very popular as ‘A Candy Girl’ on trail of Annapurna Round. It’s a thoughtful idea to take along some stationary and candies for children while going trek in Nepal, which opens doors to intermingle with locals and learn their lifestyle.
Arts and Artifacts : Sundhara (Spouts)
2 Comments | 240 Views | Read Post
