The Hindu 18.08.2009
A journey in search of ‘Water Stories’
D. Karthikeyan
| Canadian journalist, photographer documenting related issues in State |
MADURAI: A Canadian journalist and a photographer, working on their project, ‘Water Stories,’ are on a tour of Madurai and other places in the State.
Documenting the lives of the poor and marginalised sections across the third world and sub-Saharan countries, Melanie Jones, Calgary-based journalist, and Cate Cameron, photographer from Vancouver, are part of a project initiative of the Canadian International Development Agency.
Supported by the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, the Canadian organisation provides education, training and technical consultation on water and sanitation to organisations working with the poor in developing countries.
They visited select urban, suburban and rural areas in the State to document the impact of safe drinking water, accessibility to drinking water and other common property resources.
Exhibition
The project is an effort to sensitise the people of Canada through visual elements and articles, which will be curated at an art exhibition that will be organised in major cities of Canada.
Asked about the reason for conducting the exhibition, they said it was not only an effort to sensitise the public but also to extend the impact through networks that were working on developmental issues in the third world. They would soon be holding exhibitions in India and African countries.
They started with a visit to Zambia, where they had the opportunity to witness poverty in absolute terms and also saw how AIDS was wreaking havoc in people’s lives. They would be moving to Haiti from India.
Shades of empowerment
Comparing the conditions in Zambia and India, Ms. Cameron said it was no comparison given the amount of poverty there. “Development is more like a sort of charity there.” However, in India, the basic idea of development had greater shades of empowerment attached to it, she added.
Ms. Jones, sharing her observations on a visit to Sellur in Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Nagapattinam and Karaikudi, said that people who lived near the Pandalkudi channel in Sellur lived in absolute fear of health hazards.
In Periyakaigan village in Mudukulathur taluk in Ramanathapuram district, the accessibility factor was a vital issue, as the villagers had to walk more than three km to fetch water. Following the intervention of the DHAN Foundation, in nearby villages such as Savariarpattinam resuscitation of ‘ooranies’ and other waterbodies had taken place at a rapid pace, which benefited the villages in many ways.
