When you walk through a small village, a town or even a city you quickly get a sense if that place has ‘money’ or not. And by writing the word ‘money’ I don’t necessarily mean monetary wealth; for lack of a better word or way to explain, I use it only to mean what kind of pride is taken in their town or who lives there. Take for example these images below, this village was magical to me. I could have sat there all day and watched how life unfolds. They live in shanty huts or tents on dirt with the most majestic river running through it. It’s a natural spring that they live from. It was the colour of beautiful neon turquoise and fresh as fresh could get.

You could tell that this little place took great pride in where they lived. It was clean, no garbage dumped anywhere. It was quiet and peaceful. These three little boys were fishing, trying to catch that afternoon’s lunch.

These villagers treated this river like a King, they respected what it had to offer and knew how important it was to their survival. They had signs posted everywhere asking not to litter or dump anything in the river, the signs were gentle and told the story of what the river brings to their lives. Just a different way to say what not to do. We chatted with some villagers and asked how it all worked. A young mother was happy to explain that the water they drink is taken from the “spout” of the spring, the water they use to cook and clean with is taken from the running stream that goes past their ‘homes’ and they wash their clothes at the edge of town where the water is past their village and runs off unused. Now that’s a simple as it gets and truly magical.