Prayer offering

An Indian Hindu man grasps Tibetan prayer flags as they blow in the wind on a mountaintop overlooking the village of Tso Pema in northern India. Tibetan Buddhists believe the flags carry healing and peace messages to all sentient beings. The flags are among several hung by Tulane University social work graduate students currently on a monthlong journey through India to participate in service projects within the Tibetan community and to experience Tibetan Buddhist and Indian culture.

In Dharamsala, Tulane social work graduate student Kai Rodney grabs a selfie with Ama Adhe, a Tibetan refugee and former political prisoner. Adhe shared stories of her 27 years of torture and starvation in a Chinese prison, and how she was sustained by her Tibetan Buddhist faith. Also pictured are, from left, Myriam Eisenstat, Candace Valteau and adjunct professor Carolyn Weaver.

Butter lamps burn in the Tibetan Buddhist temple in Majnu-ka-tilla, a 50-year-old Tibetan settlement in Delhi, India. The lamps symbolize the light of wisdom to dispel the darkness of ignorance.

Candace Valteau, right, works with Tibetan Buddhist monk Tsering Phuntsok to assist Dr. Natasha Mehra with providing dental care for over 60 Tibetan monks and nuns in Dharamsala. The students also worked on projects related to eye care, drug and alcohol addiction, and women"s health.

Vendors sell apples along the highway in Delhi. Travelers can buy almost anything on the streets of India — for example, fresh produce, precious gems, yak"s wool and hot chai, a daily staple.

An Indian woman washing her house pauses to watch students as they hike past on their way to Padmasambhava sacred caves, where a community of 75 monks, nuns, yogis and yoginis live in lifetime devotion.

Senior university photographer Paula Burch-Celentano is a social work graduate student and she is traveling with students and faculty in India.