The Photo Story proposal

Plan A

My idea for this module is to develop a photo-story in collaboration with the charity Young Carers. I am in contact with this organisation since September and we have already spoken about developing a project together.

Young carers and young adults are people who have a family member affected by some kind of disabilities and they provide them regular or ongoing care and/or emotional support. Often the level of caregiving and responsibility to the person in need of care becomes excessive or inappropriate for that young person, risking impacting on his or her emotional or physical well-being or educational achievement and life chances. The mission of this charity is to support young carers in reaching their potential, enabling them and their families to access support that minimises the physical and emotional impact of caring, and that promotes health, well being and resilience.

On the 24th January, I am gonna meet a member of the charity to talk about a collaboration. My project may be to document the lives and the stories of one or more families in difficult situations and underline the support given by the young carers to their relatives.

Plan B

My plan B is focused on the situation of the Hindu minority in Gloucestershire. I have read an interesting article on the BBC website explaining how in both the Hindu centres in Gloucester and Cheltenham the development of their culture is marred by the lack of additional funding and resources. There is a concern about the loss of Hindu culture and customs in the new generations, as they become more assimilated and integrated with the mainstream Western culture and attitudes. The fear of the elder population is of the eventual loss of their ethnic customs, language and traditions. Many Indian families are already finding that their children are unable to read, write and speak in their mother tongue.

I would like to get in contact with these communities and investigate how the different generations feel about their identity.

One group with which I may try to get in contact (apart from the Hindu centres) is Sahara Saheli. They have first originated as an Asian women's group and later it has evolved into a multicultural organisation of women living and working in Cheltenham. It brings together women from different ethnic minorities backgrounds with the aim of reducing isolation, building confidence and engagement with public services.