Oxfam’s online documentary “Gabura – Daily Life and Disaster” which captured these stories, starts with extraordinary footage of the cyclone hitting the village. It shows all too vividly the emotional and physical trauma endured by a community impacted by such events. And as director Sandhya Suri and colleagues gathered stories, both before and after the cyclone, it became apparent that in Gabura, as in so many other areas afflicted by climate change, it is often the women who are worst affected, who have the most heart-rending stories.
Sitting quietly in her home, Hosne Ara Khatun, a young woman with two children, was still so traumatised by the loss of her husband to a tiger attack she could barely speak. Eyeing the camera nervously, she related how he had gone in to the local forest to collect honey for the family. He never returned. Hosne now fishes daily with her two sons in order to find food to survive. If successful, they eat, if not, they go hungry. “So much hardship,” she whispers, her eyes darting to her children sadly.
Elsewhere in the community, Fatemah Khatun, a pretty young teenager, sits alongside her moths worrying she will not find a husband, as painful skin rashes caused by increasingly salty water – one of the more insidious effects of rising sea levels – have rendered her ‘unwanted’ by prospective husbands. Already, she says, her newly wed sister has been sent back home by her in-laws, displeased at the disfiguring marks that have blighted her young body.
While the dramatic cyclone footage provides a visceral experience to draw the audience in, it is these stories – the everyday traumas suffered by people living with the effects of climate change that linger longest in the mind. By making the documentary both online and interactive, so that the audience can choose the stories they wish to see, the audience can immerse itself in the experience of life in an area slowly succumbing to climate change’s impact, and in turn be galvanised into action in a bid to halt the devastation.
And as Oxfam and other organisations, activists, supporters and people across the globe await crucial climate talks in Copenhagen this December, we hope the stories of women such as Hosne and Fatemah are remembered.
Watch Oxfam’s online documentary “Gabura – Daily Life and Disaster”
Article by Sarah Brown
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We currently have dot-com, dot-net, dot-gov, dot-org, and even dot-biz; next up is dot-eco. Two groups are currently going toe-to-toe in who is going to manage this new internet domain suffix One group is in B.C., Vancouver, called Big Room , the other is located in Los Angeles, called Dot Eco. Do we really need a dot-eco domain? Nonetheless this will not only serve as a marketing tool for companies who wish to show their “green” side, but hopefully act as a fundraising tool as well. Revenues generated from the sell of these domain names will go to environmental causes.
The women weave elaborate pieces of jewelry and accessories out of the Chaguar plant, which is endemic to the Chaco region. The women chop off the leaves of the plant using machetes because of the numerous and dangerous thorns. They shred the inside of the leaves into very thin strips and allow the strips to dry naturally in the sun for several days.
Statistically, an average female uses more toilet paper than a male does. An average female would consume 450 rolls of toilet paper throughout their lifetime for the disposal of used feminine hygiene products alone. Just imagine how many trees are cut down to produce toilet papers. These resources are wasted because of the toilet paper that we use to wrap the used feminine hygiene products. Everytime we flush down the toilet these used products will go to the sewers and may cause drainage blockages. These blockages may overflow and may pollute the marine life.
I’ve been a way for quite some time as work projects came over me like a waterfall! I started teaching construction classes at the college level and my own company gained many new contracts, all I had time for was work, sleep, and eat!
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