Amy Toensing

Personal Projects: Widows of India

Widows bathe and rest in the sun in the Amar Bari ashram courtyard in Vrindaven, India. The ashram is operated by the Guild of Service, an organization working to empower widows and help them gain a more powerful position in Indian society.
   
A Widow combs out her hair after bathing in the courtyard of the Amar Bari ashram in Vrindaven, India.
  
An elderly widow walks through the Amar Bari Ashram in Vrindaven, India. Some women live more than half their lives as widows, forcing them to live the majority of their years in poverty and as societal outcasts.
     
  
A 95-year-old widow lies in the courtyard of the Amar Bari ashram in Vrindaven, India.
  
Widows pray before entering their Amar Bari ashram. Widows in India often flee to religious cities, such as Vrindaven where thay spend their days praying in the ashrams.
   
Usha Pal wraps herself in a sari after bathing with a bucket of water. Usha has been a widow for over 20 years. She came to Vrindaven to live in an ashram and survive by praying and singing in the Hindu temples, where if she prays all day she will make six rupees, equaling about seven cents a day.
     
  
Widows wait in line for dinner at the Amar Bari Ashram, a home for widows in Vrindaven, India. The Guild of service runs the ashram and through donations provides this group of widows with food, shelter, healthcare and many other resources. Most widows in India are not this lucky.
   
A Widow in her room at the Amar Bari ashram in Vrindaven, India.
   
A widow checks herself in the mirror in her living area shared with five other widows in an ashram in Vrindaven, India.
     
  
These widows do not have running water in the ashram where they live, so they collect their water in buckets from a public tap. The women help each other bathe by pouring the buckets over each other.
   
Widows pray and collect holy water on the edge of the Yamuna River in Vrindaven, India.
   
Widows pray on a boat ride on the Yamuna River in Vrindaven, India.
     
  
Night falls on the courtyard in the Amar Bari ashram where widows live together in a community supported by the Guild of Service, an organization with a goal to empower widows of India and help them gain a more powerful position in Indian society.
   
Widows reach to have tokens exchanged for the 3 rupees they were promised by the temple for praying and singing Hindu scripture for 3 hours.
   
The body of Chapla Sundari, a 95-year-old widow who died in her sleep at Amar Bari ashram, is prepared for cremation. Another widow from the ashram tosses dirt as a blessing onto her body before men carry her down to the holy river to be cremated. As a holy city, anything, including dirt is considered holy by the Hindu religion.
     
  
The body of Chapla Sundari, a 95-year-old widow, who died in her sleep, lays by the Yamuna river, waiting to be cremated. Another widow from the ashram prays over her body.