The water is red, and I could swear it's bubbling! The animal byproducts from over 300 tanneries and the rubbish from the city is putrefying under the midday sun. You might be forgiven for thinking that the scene is out of some sci-fi movie set on a distant planet - and you could be right. the scene and the reality that I have just left behind is a long way from the reality of most of us.
I have been in a provincial city in Pakistan which supplies about 1/3 of Pakistan's leather. Over 300 tanneries provide the cities population with its major source of income. But the leather products, your jacket, shoes, bags, come at a huge cost for the majority of the population.
There is a perpetual haze over the city from the fires that boil the animal offal for oil to produce soap, and from the brick kilns that produce another of the regions specialities. The stench from the mountains of freshly stripped animal skins, drying carcasses (that will eventually be turned into gelatin) and chemicals that are used to treat the skins is unforgettable. And the unnaturally blue stagnant, putrid, viscous, water, (the result of chromium, which eventually turns the water red after prolonged sunlight) slides down the open channels into numerous seepage ponds throughout the area, and eventually seeps into the ground water and the river.
This environmental disaster area is home to over 300,000 people. The water should be undrinkable, but what if that's all you have? The air is polluted, toxic with numerous chemicals, not to mention the smell. And the ground should be nigh on unusable, spoilt for agriculture. But alongside one of these red water refuse dumps lives a mother with two children. Javan (16) and his sister Samina (14) were normal healthy children - until one day they were struck by a disease that rendered them mute, blind and lame. They were found scraping themselves around in the dirt by a local NGO who took them to hospital and after some treatment they regained their sight, but not their legs, or normal speech. "For another $1,000.00", we are told, "they could be cured, they could walk and speak".
But of course it's not that easy. There are hundreds that need this kind of intervention, and unless something is done about the water and environment there will be hundreds, maybe thousands more in the future. The "easy fix" is a $1,000 for Samina, but the best fix is awareness and advocacy. The real problem can be fixed: legislation exists, public servants exist, infrastructure can be built - but whilst profit driven by desperation exists the will and ability to change seems to be the deficit.
I have been in a provincial city in Pakistan which supplies about 1/3 of Pakistan's leather. Over 300 tanneries provide the cities population with its major source of income. But the leather products, your jacket, shoes, bags, come at a huge cost for the majority of the population.
There is a perpetual haze over the city from the fires that boil the animal offal for oil to produce soap, and from the brick kilns that produce another of the regions specialities. The stench from the mountains of freshly stripped animal skins, drying carcasses (that will eventually be turned into gelatin) and chemicals that are used to treat the skins is unforgettable. And the unnaturally blue stagnant, putrid, viscous, water, (the result of chromium, which eventually turns the water red after prolonged sunlight) slides down the open channels into numerous seepage ponds throughout the area, and eventually seeps into the ground water and the river.
This environmental disaster area is home to over 300,000 people. The water should be undrinkable, but what if that's all you have? The air is polluted, toxic with numerous chemicals, not to mention the smell. And the ground should be nigh on unusable, spoilt for agriculture. But alongside one of these red water refuse dumps lives a mother with two children. Javan (16) and his sister Samina (14) were normal healthy children - until one day they were struck by a disease that rendered them mute, blind and lame. They were found scraping themselves around in the dirt by a local NGO who took them to hospital and after some treatment they regained their sight, but not their legs, or normal speech. "For another $1,000.00", we are told, "they could be cured, they could walk and speak".But of course it's not that easy. There are hundreds that need this kind of intervention, and unless something is done about the water and environment there will be hundreds, maybe thousands more in the future. The "easy fix" is a $1,000 for Samina, but the best fix is awareness and advocacy. The real problem can be fixed: legislation exists, public servants exist, infrastructure can be built - but whilst profit driven by desperation exists the will and ability to change seems to be the deficit.
