West Africa is home to some of the poorest countries in the world: Niger, Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso. In these countries, safe water is difficult to obtain and the ramifications are devastating. Women and girls are responsible for carrying huge buckets of water great distances, resulting in structural damage to their bodies. Additionally, so much time and effort is put into delivering water to their villages that girls and women lose the opportunity to receive an education. Still, the water that they transport is often unsafe, so diseases like trachoma, guinea worm and other diarrheal diseases are extremely prevalent in West Africa. In his new book “Water Is Key: A Better Future for Africa” (Balcony Press), former Los Angeles district attorney and professional photographer Gil Garcetti features 110 black-and-white photographs, anecdotes and quotes from West African villagers as well as short essays by leaders like President Jimmy Carter, former United Nations Secretary Kofi Anann and president of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. The book is a “call to action” to people in industrialized nations to aid in the plight of non-governmental organizations that are working on safe-water projects in West Africa. “It hit me,” Garcetti said about one of his first visits to West Africa. “‘I’ve got to do a photo project here. I’ve got to help rally the industrialized world to care about the people in the world. It’s the right thing, the moral thing and the politically right thing to do and we should be there helping.” Garcetti’s photographs will also be displayed at the Fowler Museum at UCLA in an exhibit called “Women, Water and Wells,” opening on September 9 and ending November 25. This Sunday, Garcetti will lead two tours through the exhibit at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and will sign books at 3 p.m. while Palisadian Rocky Dawuni, an acclaimed Ghanaian recording artist, performs. Garcetti’s passion for safe-water projects in Africa came about quite by accident. In November 2000 he lost the election for Los Angeles district attorney. After 20 years of working in the D.A.’s office, eight of those as district attorney, Garcetti found himself without a job. His wife already had plans to visit West Africa on a safe-water mission with the Hilton Foundation, so when they invited him to come along as their photographer, he accepted. Garcetti, an amateur photographer, was rarely seen during his tenure as D.A. without his camera in tow. When he first arrived in the Sahelian region of West Africa, Garcetti was not shocked by what he saw. “I knew what to expect, somewhat. I saw and heard repeatedly that 70 percent of people in West Africa don’t have safe water,” he said. “I saw the consequences: poverty, blindness, mothers who lost infants.” Over the next four-and-a-half years Garcetti visited West Africa five times, taking photographs, and helping the Hilton Foundation and other NGOs bring attention to the desperate need for safe drinking water in developing countries. Enthralled by the land and the people, Garcetti became deeply committed to raising awareness of and funds for safe water in the region. His rich black-and-white photographs underscore the link between water and human health in West Africa, as well as the dramatic economic and public welfare successes that can be achieved when safe water is delivered to villages. Garcetti’s exhibit at the Fowler Museum focuses heavily on the role of the women and girls whose responsibility it is to transport water from distant locations back to the people in their village. “One thing that really surprised me was learning the effect that it had on girls and women,” Garcetti said in an interview with the Palisadian-Post. “Because of the fact that girls and women had to go and fetch the water, girls and women don’t go to school. “I interviewed the women. They would show me their incredibly callused hands. They talked about their shoulder joints and how much they hurt, and their knees. They pay a price. Nevertheless, there was a dignity and positive nature about this.” Still, even though water is made available to villagers, it is generally unsafe for both consumption and washing. Guinea worm disease, which is prevalent in West Africa, is caused by a threadlike parasitic worm that grows up to three feet long and matures inside the human body. There is no cure and the only treatment is to remove the worm over many weeks by winding it around a small stick and pulling it out a tiny bit at a time. No medication is available to end or prevent infection. Guinea worm larvae are found in drinking water. A lack of clean water also results in a lack of hygiene, which is one of the major causes of trachoma, a disease that commonly affects both children and adults and is caused by a parasitic bacteria that grows only within the cells of eyelids. Over a period of years, scarring of the eyelids can cause eyelashes to point inwards, scratching the lens of the eye, eventually causing blindness. The simple act of face washing with clean water could prevent this disease. “There’s plenty of water in Africa,” Garcetti said. “Governments simply don’t have the money to provide safe water.” All of Garcetti’s profits from “Water Is Key: A Better Future for Africa” will go to NGOs working on safe-water projects in West Africa, and he hopes to spend the next year raising public awareness about safe water. “My effort is showing the beauty of these people and their hope and what happens when you do bring safe water to a village,’ Garcetti said. ‘It changes life forever.”
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