We are not all the same

This was forwarded to me from my friend Deron Triff at Changents, and sets a challenge in a very conscious way.

It seems that the world in general, and the US specifically are out of balance; that powerful interests are gobbling up a wildly disproportionate share of the Earth’s resources without regard to the immediate and long‐term environmental impact of their actions, that the middle class is evaporating and more people are slipping into poverty while a very few grow hideously rich, that we are growing more sedentary, obese and unhealthy as a nation, that we are becoming less creative just when creativity is becoming a real competitive advantage globally, and that in seeking someone to blame for our declining fortunes we have become less tolerant of immigrants, minorities, gays and lesbians. Not exactly the “American Way” I grew up believing in, but what can be done? We can quietly accept this reality, we can attempt to flee it, or we can ALTER IT. I choose the latter.


As I leave soon to go and check out life and the water crisis in Haiti, I am glad that I have chosen a path that allows me to work in a way that expands my humanity and meaning of life. It's weird though, did I choose it, or did it choose me?

Bloggin it Up!

Today at BlogHer 2010 in NYC, just did my first presentation in the P&G Living Room, wow, it is so busy here! I also met an amazing woman named Alie Eleveld from Kenya that runs SWAP, a safe water & aids project. It is totally abuzz here, women are connecting everywhere, I feel aloft with the energy.

bloggety blog

ok, so I am packing for a week in NYC to present at BlogHer 2010 about my work around access to clean water last summer in Africa and India. Then I will be going straight on to Haiti to document what is happening there with the world water crisis, access to clean water and the state of people's lives in accordance with these issues.

After the photo exhibit from last summer's work titled "Waves of Change" rolled out in June, I was contacted and then contracted by Changents and P&G to present in NYC, blog about my experience as a frontline worker in this field, and then go to Kenya to document the work that CDSW's Dr Greg Algood is doing with partners like the Agha Khan Foundation and others in Kenya.

I am excited to be working in ways that I only dreamed about a few years ago, and that I am able to work in a meaningful way. Meeting many of the people that I have and will be working with is such an amazing experience.

I will also be writing for "Water Dispatches" at the Calgary Herald, and when I can squeezing in a blog entry or two here.

Vancouver Sun Article on Waves of Change

The exhibit Waves of Change launched yesterday. It was a stellar event, a wonderful turnout and show of support with lots of great media attention including Global TV, CTV, Avenue Magazine, and more. The reaction was exactly what Melanie and I would have wished for, people visibly moved by the imagery and stories, lots of wonderful feedback, soo happy! Trent Edwards, a journalist from the Calgary Herald ran an article today in that was also picked up by the Vancouver Sun. So happy that this photo documentary work is getting some attention for a great cause. Please visit the new website, freshly unveiled at www.makewavesofchange.org I welcome peoples comments! here is a link to the piece in the Herald and the Sun http://tiny.cc/w3poh

The Constant Gardener - Water Photo a Day 10

DSRP Mandia, Zambia 2009


The Waves of Change Exhibit debuts tomorrow and so this is the last "water photo a day" leading up to that event. The exhibit is a photo documentary and narrative of the journey Melanie Jones and I took last summer through Africa and India. It was a journey to document the lives of some of the worlds poorest people in relation to water. It also became on some levels our journey as "field virgins", going through various stages of processing about poverty, and development. So it is fitting that the last image prior to the exhibit strikes the chord relating to the question often asked in these realms, does development work? We asked that question often in the first few weeks after time and time again hearing and seeing the overwhelming problems, challenges and difficulties so many are facing. We wondered very much in the beginning what were we really doing there. We came away, and in many ways are still continuing to process the experience. We looked at it from our western eyes with the only experience we had. Now I see with a different eye, the beauty that is so apparent in so many different ways, I feel lucky to see that. The children in this garden are happy, and their community is a direct result of the positive effects of development relating to access to safe clean water. This has in turn had a positive economic effect for their community and families. They have hope for better lives, but, they also have wonderful lives now.

African Latrine - Water and Sanitation

African Outhouse - Mapalo, Zambia 2009
At any one time, more than half of the poor in the developing world are ill from causes related to hygiene, sanitation and water supply according to the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). 2008. Although many families set up a latrine, it is often difficult to get young and old alike to use it. Cross contamination of food and water from human excrement is a major problem in many of the areas we visited in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern India, highlighting the need for education.

Little by Little, Day by Day - Water Photo a Day 8

A stall is set up in front of a mud hut to sell small amounts of oil and coal. Mapalo, Zambia 2009
When Melanie and I returned from our field work last year, part of our learning curve was enhanced with something that Camille Dow Baker, founder and CEO of CAWST said to us; "Development is evolutionary, not revolutionary". It brought home the fact that it really is a step by step process, sometimes very baby steps, but always with the idea of moving forward. It aids in the realization that we cannot necessarily make huge alterations overnight, but, that we can little by little bring about change. This is not very different from how the people we met go about survival, it is on a day to day basis. Here in front of a small mud hut in Mapalo, a table is set up with wares to sell, just enough oil and coal to cook one meal, just enough as this is all most of the inhabitants of Mapalo can afford on a daily basis, until they somehow get enough money the next day to do it all over again. Having clean, safe water can make all the difference when survival hangs in the balance and is hinged upon stability of health. Losing work days due to water-borne iillness such as diarrhoea or cholera can vastly upset the delicate nature of survival.