“You polluted everything and now the 3rd world’s gone.700 children died by the end of this song.
Revolution a come where I’m from the 3rd world son,
Constant occupation leaves the 3rd world torn.”
The 3rd World. Immortal Technique.
I wish my brain had an off button.
Seems to always happen this time of the year, with all the consumerism and stupid notions towards ourselves we forget the larger picture. We’re so lucky to have what we have and have the freedumb to make the decisions we do, that we can literally walk into a supermarket and purchase nourishment as simply as we know.
While we spend hours and money worrying about ourselves there are parts of the world where people are dying. Dying from hunger, dying from disease, dying from authoritative suppression. On a personal level I can’t just sit around and say to myself that I’ll try to make a change in the future, that one day I’ll get out there and do what I can. Sure, I tell myself that there’s a lot of other people out there who feel the same, and there are, look at Invisible Children or War Photographer or even Long Way Round and their coverage of UNICEF projects around the world and it’s clear that there are a lot of groups out there striving to enforce strategies for positive changes to be made. But I can’t just sit around and let them do it.
I have to do more.
Faced with the thought of working a menial job in Sydney for the holidays to save some coin before school starts mid February…I panicked. The Western world was busy spending over and beyond their means for the Christmas period, talking about the worst US economy in 50 years and multi-billion dollar buyout packages with a victim mentality from those in the fortunate countries being voiced…and I had to get out.
Last year I bailed to a place where they don’t care about the latest iPod or plasma TVs or even tax hikes, a place where they live off the land and ocean with no running water, no power, no want or need for life to be any more than a roof over their head and their family close and healthy.
I found that life on and island in Fiji, after 6 weeks in the village their simple life started to show flaws and they started asking for help, for money, for my help in raising awareness that even their simple life has it’s hardships.
I was there when Cyclone Gene thrashed Natawa village for close to a week, huts flattened and the village crops were all but extinguished. The government was quick to send through some basic supplies, providing each family with a bag of flour, cooking oil, some sugar and tinned fish, ‘good for the next 4 weeks’ as Semmi later confided in me, ‘but then what?’ At the moment we’re putting together a treatment to return to Natawa village in early 2009 to document their way of life on film rather than in print, although for now it has to be said they have a much easier life than our other island neighbours.
A quick look at Indonesian news reports show the stark contrast between our two countries, we’re so close in distance however our priorities and idelogies couldn’t be further. After a week of downtime from school and the consumerism and Christmas cheer (greed) trying to crush me I decided to spend the summer in Indonesia documenting the issues faced with everyday life there, from extreme poverty to child neglect and governmental suppression. I’m always bailing with last minute decisions and slim slash zero planning, meaning I normally travel solo, however I’m stoked to find that two good friends are ready to drop everything they’re doing and come along to experience a life far from comfort, far from what we in Western society know.
After some basic research an email from a friend who’s travelled to Indonesia a number of times summed up this contrast perfectly: ‘It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful, decent human beings can smile in the face of such economic and spiritual suppression, plus rampant civil and human rights abuse routinely conducted by the Indonesian authorities and businesses. It also amazes me just how people who say they love the Balinese (mainly the tourists who never get out of the resorts) both are blind to and in reality too often contribute to their suffering.’
I must admit similar to the Fiji trip where I went on a whim and a prayer that I could find the life I was searching for, once again with rushed planning and surface research, I’m a little unsure of what we’re going to find. Reports of riots in Jakarta due to Israeli’s involvement in the Gaza strip and the American flag being burnt in the streets and an earthquake hitting eastern Indonesia overnight it’s safe to say I’m more than cautious about what we’re actually in for.
Myself, Thorn and Lauren are going into this with open eyes and open hearts, to bring their story back to our world. Time will tell the extent of what we find, Thorn’s enthusiasm in storytelling and Lauren’s journalistic flair will add to my passion for documenting real life and human emotion.
If there’s a story to be told we’ll do our best to do it justice.
“Time for you and I
to turn on the big screen
see what’s happening'
And as those children die,
pawns in the game of
collateral damage,
The whole world goes mad.”
Fire in the Sky. John Butler Trio.
http://www.invisiblechildr
http://www.jamesnachtwey.c
http://au.youtube.com/watc
