This is the beginning of a new era for me …I have put aside my social networking ignorance and I am getting involved, facing my blog apathy and telling it to come back at a more convenient time !
So here goes, I am going to make a start and try to write my first blog !!
Before I begin, I have been told that correct English and grammar isnt really an issue with blogging ….that suits me down to the ground!
Last year, I felt evokes to visit and document the horrific pesticide poisoning situation that is happening in north Kerala – The pesticide Endosulfan used for Kerala’s government cashew plantations had been indiscriminately aerial sprayed for over a decade. Unforgivably, the government aerial sprayed without informing locals to cover their water wells or stay indoors during spraying. The result of this neglect has created a legacy of mass pesticidal poisoning. Although now banned in the state and nationwide on a temporary basis, the poisoning has been passed down generations creating mental and physical illnesses throughout the districts.
One young victim we met named Mammatha has a tumor around her eye that covers half her face. She lives at the bottom of a valley, on higher ground, barrels of endosulfan were illegally and shamefully buried when the state ban came into place. The mishandling resulted in the pesticide contaminating the communities living down the valley. Mammatha was one of the many poisoned.
Although Mammatha’s right eye cannot be seen due to the enormity of the growth, she fortunately has a fully functioning eye hidden beneath the tumor. Unable to marry or leave the house for shame and embarrassment , Mammatha feels her life is already over.
However, its still not too late for her to turn her life around. It will take 4 operations to remove the hideous tumor, reconstruct her face and allow her to see with both eyes again. The 4 operations will cost over £4000, which is completely unaffordable for a poor Indian family of five.
Mammatha’s shame and sadness touched me deeply. She knows she wont be able to marry or find work, her disabled father suffers from dementia and is going blind. Her future looked bleak and with little chance of adequate compensation, she has lost all hope.
I wanted to help but cannot afford to donate the money needed. I then passed on my findings to Pesticide Action Network ( PAN ) and asked them what could be done. Im personally thrilled and excited to announce that PAN have decided that they are going to help raise the money needed to pay for surgery and transform Mammatha’s life. Four thousand pounds is not a huge amount of money to raise but for one young lady in a rural area of south India its the difference between a life of hell and normality, something she has not felt since she was a child.
She will be able to leave her home , seek work , support her father and even marry.
If PAN and I can make this happen then it means a lot to me personally. I do what I do because I am motivated by the inequalities I witness which drives a passion inside me to try and do something, no matter how large or small. To me , its all about getting stories told and getting the message out there. In due course over my blogs I will be updating the progress made by PAN in raising the money and also the progress of Mammatha, who I hope to meet again later in the year.