Anantapur Travel Guide

A lot has been written about Vicens Ferrer. I would describe him as a good man. Vicens was born in Barcelona in 1920. In 1954 arrived to Mumbai as a Jesuit missionary to complete his spiritual formation. From that moment he will dedicate all his life to help the dàlits, the poorest cast in India.

The leaders of the country did not like his work and see him as a threat to their interests. They managed to drive him out of the country in 1968. When that happened, more than 30.000 country people supported also by intellectuals, politicians and religious men mobilized for a 250km walk to protest against that decision.

After a short interview with Vicens, Indira Gandhi recognized his great work and tried to find a solution sending this telegram “Father Vicens Ferrer will go abroad for a short vacation and he will be welcome again in India soon”

In 1969 he managed to go back in India, settled in Anantapur which is one of the poorest areas of the country and created the Fundacion Vicente Ferrer. You still can see him there, supervising all the projects in the area. Even if he is quite busy and lately his health is no good, he will always find time to welcome you personally and have a short chat

Conditions in Anantapur are very hard and the rate of disability is very high in the area. Some orthopedic workshops have been built: prosthesis, crutches, etc will improve the conditions of disabled people. Trauma specialists, orthopedists and physiotherapists work together on this program. Most of the times the biggest problem is distance. After putting the prosthesis children need a period of adaptation and daily sessions of physiotherapy are necessary. That means walking lots of kilometers to these centers from their home village which is very hard. Education is very important here and after the first sessions the professionals teach mothers how to do these exercises to their children at home.

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I liked these workshops a lot! In the past, disabled girls were a shame in these communities. Most of them were hidden at house by the family itself and nobody spoke about them, they did not exist. Starting this project was not easy: the organizers had to go house by house trying to convince the families to let their daughters participate to these workshops. Not all the families accepted. Girls spend the week in these workshops, which usually are far from their villages. They learn a job (handicrafts) and they have a bed, food and a salary for it. They enjoy working at the veranda and they have made friends there. Sometimes they renounce to go home during weekends to spend more time with their girlfriends! It was told us that most of them used their first salary to buy some bracelets or other jewels to look more pretty . . . :-) ok, ok but after that coquette gesture it’s necessary to think about the future and save money! They sing, they look happy, they are useful! And some of them have already been asked in marriage.

Just wanted to show how a village in Anantapur looks like. Life is not easy in the City of the Infinite!

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I found these public baths very interesting :-)). Here grand mums meet to wash the youngest members of the family. No doubt that after a bath like this (face up! face down!) they will be very clean!!! These public baths are also a good opportunity to do some social life and chat.
Welcome new generation!

. . . Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(From Article 26, The Universal declaration of Human Rights)

Have you ever seen so many smiles at the same time? We are at school and children are receiving an education :-) Nowadays 100% of children in Anantapur can go to school . . . and they enjoy it!

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From Bangalore, the nearest « civilized » city, you will have 8-9 hours of bad road and never ending arid landscapes. The highway (well they call it like this) only allows you to drive at 30km/h and even if there are no cars they respect it. The trip is very monotonous and we did not feel like stopping for some pictures, just wanted to arrive . . . but some funny exceptions like this Indian Gulliver (picture 4) put some entertainment to the trip. There are some bars on the road where you can eat some French fries and of course rice. Don’t miss them even if you are not hungry at that moment, there is not a big choice.