Today, Dr. Elmer Mejia and I spent more than 8 hours talking to a group of 18 boat captains about oxygen first aid, the causes of diving injuries and how to better care for their divers. And the amazing part was, they never stopped paying attention. Even more amazing—there wasn’t a single monster in the room.
Lobster Symposium
After that opening, though, the wheels came off a bit. Last week, I sent a shipment of equipment and materials to use in the training this week so it would be here in time for me to use. And it arrived in San Pedro Sula last Thursday. And that is as far as it got. For some reason it got hung up in customs.
The organizers of the event were very understanding, and actually somewhat apologetic since they knew it was their own governmental system that caused the delay and not us. We’ve rescheduled the four groups of boat captains into three and will get all the training done beginning tomorrow. Just the way it goes. We begin at 8:30 in the morning teaching oxygen first aid. I’ve honestly taught this DAN program to more than 500 students and in a couple different languages (through interpreters) but I am really looking forward to these programs the next few days. I can’t think of a place it has ever been more needed or a single class that I think could have a better chance of directly improving the life and health of a human being. That is pretty cool.
Full Circle
On that visit, we learned how dire the situation was: more than 2000 men were disabled because of diving, and hundreds more joined them every year. And those were the men who lived through their injuries. Many others didn’t.
Now I’m back in La Ceiba. Dr. Mejia invited me down to help him put on three days of training in Oxygen First Aid and additional measures for the boat captains and owners. These are the men who care for (and are responsible for) the divers. This problem isn’t new and there isn’t an easy solution. If you shut down the diving—like has been proposed and the government has attempted to do—the men have no way to make a living and no way to support their families. Their only other option is smuggling drugs. But if something isn’t done, more men will die.
This scheduled training is a great first step. The boat owners realize they have to do something. They have to be more responsible. And they have to take better care of their divers. If they don’t , the government is prepared to shut them down for good. And then everyone loses.
So, I was thrilled to hear from Dr. Mejia when I arrived that he had been invited to speak to the Honduran National Congress in Tegucigalpa today and give his recommendations on how the divers can reduce their risk and how we can improve their care. That is a tremendous first step and a great recognition of the work Dr. Mejia has done. He has not been alone in this. Many others have pursued this project over the years. Groups have conducted training for the divers, lobbied the government and provided health care opportunities. The changes we are seeing (I say very hopefully) are the culmination of many different people working for many years to improve things for these men who harvest the sea.
The next few days should be interesting as we are going to attend a symposium tomorrow where various groups will be taking up these exact same questions. And then the training begins the next day. It should be an interesting week.
Hopefully this won’t just be a circle, but an upward spiral.
Milestones and projects
“Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” Henri Cartier-Bresson
And while numbers are simply numbers, it made me think about photographs taken and lives touched by them. An image may be technically perfect and still leave viewers flat. Other times an image with technical flaws (backlight, exposure, composition) can touch people in ways you never expected.
The last two months I’ve been staying fairly close to home to complete a certificate program at the Center for Documentary Studies at DukeUniversity. I began the program several years ago, but then life and travel got in the way of completing it. In a way, though, it seems as if the delay worked out for the best. I am in a much better place in my life and career now and much more able to put together a final project of the level necessary for completion of the program.
Tomorrow, I will present a multimedia documentary presentation of the Harvesting Diver project, called “For Cheap Lobster”, showing the devastating affect that diving has on these groups of men who harvest the sea. Thiswill be final presentation as part of the CDS Certificate program and where Iwill receive my Certificate in the Documentary Arts.
And ultimately, that is the power of the photograph. To tell a story. To make a connection. To make the abstract real. It is possible as a writer to tell a story and elicit that visceral reaction from a reader. It can be done, but it’s difficult. The reader has to pay attention and focus on what you’re writing.
Now that this phase of the project is done and the certificate program is complete, it’s time to get back out on the road. Time to make more images and tell more stories..
Conversations with peers
That “need” if you will or maybe “lack” is one of the myriad reasons I entered the Certificate program at the Center for Documentary Studies(CDS) at Duke University. This is an amazing facility that focuses on teaching people to make documentaries—they can be audio, video or still photography. Or combinations of all of the above. And it’s not journalists or people with a background in video; its regular people who have a story to tell, or a desire to tell stories, and want to tell them.
To finish up the certificate, I had to complete two classes this semester. One is the Final Project Seminar where we all bring in our nearly finished final projects and work together, critique and support each other and put together final versions of our projects for presentation at the graduation. The other class was the past weekend: a four day intensive Advanced Photography Workshop.
In both of these classes the instructors are/were tremendous; tops in their fields and professions. But I have been even more impressed by the quality of the other students in the program. It’s really exciting to sit and talk about photographic techniques, of course. But even more interesting and rewarding to talk about the why stuff. Why did you choose this angle? Why did you show this subject this way? Why did you choose to tell this story? As things are coming to an end in this program for me (although something tells me I will continue to be involved with the center), I realize that connection to my peers is the most important thing. I guess you could say it is one of the purposes for the adventure.
I enjoy telling stories with words, photographs and videos. Sometimes I have the happy opportunity to combine my day job with my hobby and other times the two are totally unrelated. But that need to connect with others while making a story, and to connect with others after the field work is done and seeking their help to refine it, is just as important.
If you’re in the Durham area on Friday evening, May 20th, 2011, plan to attend the Center for Documentary Studies Graduation andPresentations at the Nasher Museum. Reception begins at 6 pm and the presentations begin at 7 pm.
I am sure one or two of them will open your eyes. And maybe inspire you to start a conversation with a peer….
Requiem for a friend
There are not enough souls in the world like that of Agnes Milowka. She will be missed.
Ag was a laughing spirit and an adventurer with a smile that lit up the room. An accomplished presenter, she loved to speak about the wonder she saw on her journeys. She was a gifted filmmaker and photographer as well, bringing back wonderful images to share with the world. Agnes recently released her new website, and was constantly adding features to it. She seemed to love sharing her images, talking about her speaking engagements and interviews and continuing to promote diving and her form of adventure.
We only met in person a couple times, but we stayed in touch online. We often “liked” each other’s adventures and I enjoyed reading about her exploits. I was very proud, most recently, to say that I had a friend who was a “stuntie” (her word) on the recently released movie Sanctum. She served to keep the actors out of trouble in the water.
Ag died in cave diving accident over the weekend. On Friday, she posted to her Facebook page and on Twitter that she was excited about getting wet and diving in the caves at Mt. Gambier near Melbourne. I recall seeing the post and “liking” her status. I just wanted her to know that I was excited for her that she was going to jump in the water.
There is no real way of knowing what happened. It wll be investigated and hopefully we’ll learn something from it. But, regardless of the cause, the world is slightly darker now without her shining light. She was the embodiment of an adventurer. The tag line on her website is “Passion, Daring, Adventure.” In my mind, she typified each of those terms.
Rest in peace, Ag.
To read more about Agnes Milowka, I invite you to visit her website at http://www.agnesmilowka.com/.
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