http://www.praxispictures.org/cover-page daily 1.0 2016-10-15 http://www.praxispictures.org/contact daily 0.75 2025-02-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472843025282-2CSZ18AIV0Q76Z6SESE3/image-asset.jpeg About Photo by Lisa Swainston http://www.praxispictures.org/new-page daily 0.75 2016-10-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849050250-F73BDO7V9WDFQX7U0Z37/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure THE PRICE OF GOLD - An artisanal miner in Tanzania holds out some gold nuggets. The price of gold has been skyrocketing, reaching record high prices in recent years. Multinational mining companies search the ends of the earth for these, and other, valued natural resources. Meanwhile, the people who just happen to live there are the ones who usually end up paying the price. For minerals that mean little to them, for profits they never see, the price they pay includes the very things that they treasure most – including the loss of traditional lands, livelihoods, health, culture, and loved ones. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849737881-6BJ3B9CS9PB46R6MKM1B/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure SOMEONE ELSE'S TREASURE - As the sun sets over the mountains of Benguet province, in the Philippines, Lilia and Trixie walk along the Victoria Gold Mine’s airport runway near their home where all the gold is flown out of the province. The pattern has been repeated many times around the world; the companies come in promising to bring with them jobs, development and prosperity. In reality, the people who live there are not the ones benefiting from the wealth beneath their feet. For them, the social and environmental impacts will be felt for generations. Families are being torn apart, Indigenous cultures threatened, entire populations displaced, livelihoods lost, and ecosystems destroyed — all for someone else’s treasure. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849228625-ZHOZ79MTIZ6AMPWH35LG/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure REMY - Remy washes her laundry in the poisoned Mogpog River in the Phillippine island of Marinduque. In 1993 one of the tailings dams of the Marcopper Mine burst sending tons of mine waste raging down the river in a flash flood sweeping away homes, people and livestock. Three years later a second collapse sent waste in the opposite direction destroying the Boac river. To this day both of the islands main rivers remain biologically dead and contain dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. Dead trees and other debris can still be seen all along the rivers. But people here have no other water sources to rely on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849385717-U05C9RJ8YKFI2GAKVTF9/015.jpg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure WILSON - Wilson lives in Calancan Bay in Marinduque where the Marcopper Mine used to dump its mine waste. Over a period of sixteen years, the mine dumped 200million tons of mine waste directly into the shallow coral-rich bay despite vocal opposition from the community. Wilson, who used to be a fisherman, suffered from mercury poisoning rendering his legs useless. One leg has been amputated; the other one will have to come off as well. Before, most of the 15,000 villagers in the area made a living from fishing in the bay for a few hours every other day. Now, Wilson says, “there are more fishermen than fish, and the men have to go far out to sea everyday.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849615451-ALZ5BJZDE4IA518FAD7M/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure SHEILA - Sheila is one of 258 men, women, and children, from Mtakuja village who were displaced in late July 2007 to make way for an expansion of the Geita Gold Mine in Tanzania. The displaced villagers of Mtakuja say that the police forced them from their homes at gunpoint in the middle of the night and dumped them in a small one-room abandoned building. “We were moved here like people in a war-torn country, and now we are all tucked into a small place like prisoners who have committed the worst of crimes” laments Abdallah, a former village executive officer. Thousands of people are reported to have been displaced by multinational mining companies in Tanzania. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849122230-CHGT3W04467TGZRZYKSN/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure ROSALIA - In San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Guatemala, Rosalia stands on what used to be part of her family’s farm until the mine expanded a single lane dirt road to accommodate large mining trucks. Rosalia’s family says it was never consulted or compensated for the loss of their land. “There was no dialogue and no consultation with the communities about the company coming here,” they say, “the public was not consulted. That is why we are very upset, because these people have money, they are millionaires, they can do what they want. They don’t care about our lives. We did what we could, but it didn’t make any difference. The old Mayor and Judge sided with the company for the money. So the people couldn’t defend their rights.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849583247-NHJTHVXD550P3SSNX2QF/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure MAXIMO - Maximo is the oldest member of Kisluyan, on the Philippine island of Mindoro, and the acknowledged leader of the community. Maximo’s biggest worry is for the future generations. Living in relative isolation high in the mountains, the Mangyans have done well to hold on to their cultural identity despite increasing external interference. For the Mangyan, their land is the very foundation of their identity. Generation after generation, the Mangyans have been taught to care for their land; “we take care of the land, and the land will take care of us,” says Maximo. Many of them worry that disaster will befall them if their lands – especially their ancestral burial grounds – are desecrated. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849700610-6HZ4ZUBDL1U4J2EQ1Y93/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure TERESA - “We were fine before, but now things aren’t as they used to be,” says Teresa, from San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Guatemala. Teresa, who has a mysterious growth below her left eye which she links to the chemicals from the mine, explains that, “we are living a very difficult life – our crops, animals, everyone’s health is at risk, violence, kidnappings. We don’t count! We don’t know what will happen with us. It hurts, because we are human, we have feelings. These things never happened before the mine came here. They only think of their love of money and for that reason they are discriminating against us. But we hope in God that one day we can change their hearts, then they will not come to do so many things to us, because they will finally recognize us as human beings.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849031915-4X4KEZ7ZN2WGH6055YJQ/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure OPEN PIT - The people of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, in Guatemala, look on at the steadily growing Marlin Mine. Open-pit mines are typically enlarged until either the mineral resource is exhausted, or until the operations are no longer profitable. Gold mining produces 79 tones of largely toxic waste for every ounce of gold. Many of the indigenous peoples living next to these mines struggle to comprehend the point of it all. “Who came up with the idea that gold should be worth so much anyway?” asks Alejandro, “it’s only a yellow stone that shines! Life should be more valuable than gold.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849013838-UEWC7QK57GSJRJ7NSRWV/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure Scorched earth in Marinduque, Philippines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849278979-MXM1YG1QAR6AWBAT183S/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure CRISANTA - “The crops were much better before,” says Crisanta holding up some of the corn her family harvested this year in San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Guatemala, “but since the mine came, they don’t come out the same anymore. They do not grow properly now. We haven’t had a good harvest for about three years. Even the crops that we do harvest, we cannot sell. As soon as people find out that we are from San Miguel, they don’t want to buy from us because they say it’s all contaminated.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849149065-08KZ59YPY5C9SCDN5BET/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure TRIXIE - Standing a few meters away from her home in Benguet province, Philippines, Trixie looks down at the tailings dam of the Victoria Gold Mine where the toxic waste from the mining process is dumped at a rate ranging between 1,500 and 2,500 metric tons per day. This is the third dam built here after the previous two collapsed. This particular dam has been completely inadequate against the torrential downpour during the yearly rainy season and is especially vulnerable to earthquakes as Benguet is directly above a fault line. For years the chemicals have been leaking out into the nearby river systems. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849208954-Z5M66E61WF8N9U9ZM9YV/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT - This is a water hole in Nyamongo, Tanzania, near the North Mara Gold Mine. The edge of the mine pit can be seen in the top left corner. The water hole was built by the company for the local communities as part of their “community development strategy.” But the water appears milky and dirty and the plants around the water hole are dying, but the water in the nearby rivers are no better. Local residents accuse the company of lying about the benefits they claim to have brought to the people living there. “All we want,” says Buchard, “is for the company to just sit down at the table with us so we can discuss where we can go from here. But they never listen to us, and they are lying to people in Canada [where the company is based].” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849655555-ARI0WNVGJ6HV1HS164AM/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure Melania was one of the thousands of people who were displaced to make way for the Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in Tanzania. Melania’s two eldest sons, Jonathan and Ernest were among the fifty-two miners who were allegedly buried alive during the evictions. The family owned the pit that they were working in at the time, so Melania lost her livelihood as well as her two children. In response to the companies’ and the government’s denials, Melania has been collecting these photos of people who claim to have witnessed the killings or lost loved ones during the evictions. “…This one was there when it happened … this one lost her son … this one went back afterwards to try and dig out his friends … this one lost her home and her grandchildren …” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849483211-USC0KA1FBUF4X2RE6FIT/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure DEUS - Deus had worked in the Bulyanhulu Gold Mine, in Tanzania, as a supervisor for five years when he was in an accident in 2006 where a big rock fell on him. His coworkers pulled him away in time to save his life before more rocks came falling down. The Bulyanhulu Gold Mine boasts “one of the most up-to-date and well-equipped and staffed medical clinics in Tanzania.” Yet, despite these claims, Deus had to be flown one thousand kilometers away to Dar es Salaam, waiting for a total of 18 hours before receiving any treatment. His arm eventually had to be amputated, but he vividly remembers the doctor telling him that if he had received treatment earlier it would have been a very simple procedure to save his arm which any trained doctor would have been able to perform. Continuous labor disputes have been a recurring theme at the Bulyanhulu Gold Mine with workers complaining, “there is no humanity in the way they [treat] us! They make us promises while we are of use to them. But then, if we become sick, or old, or start to complain about our rights, then they just spit us out like a chewing gum that has lost its flavor.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849455968-QVXDT8O79D1VUDZQHAAP/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure ALBERT - Albert has worked as a miner in Benguet, Philippines, for fifteen years trying to support his family of ten. But his wages are not enough to support all of them, so his wife has had to leave for the city with their four oldest children to sell fruit in the market. Many of the men risking their lives underground say they feel exploited as they struggle to provide for their families while the company profits in the millions. But Albert has no doubt that it’s a sacrifice he is willing to make. “My family,” he says, “are my inspiration.”€ Together with his wife, they are putting their children through school in the hope that they will have better lives. It is this hope that gets him out of bed every morning to go back underground. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849675892-9BRYCH11OLNPDAJMCH40/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure DEOGRATIOS - Deogratios is the traditional witchdoctor, or medicine man, of the indigenous community. He was among the thousands of people who were evicted to make way for the Bulynhulu Gold Mine in Tanzania. He remembers being forced from his home by heavily armed paramilitary forces only one day after the Minister of Minerals and Energy had issued an order giving the Bulyanhulu residents one month to vacate the area. Deogratios and his family had nowhere to go, so for two months after being forced from their home they were living in the bush. During this time his wife became ill. But with their home destroyed, and without access to his medicines, the healer could do nothing as he sat and watched his wife die. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849070215-1DMAVXKXDTYZHHQDLWYR/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure UNCLE CHAPPY - Chappy is an aboriginal elder of the Wiradjuri Nation, the traditional owners of the Lake Cowal area in Australia. For over six years the Wiradjuri have been taking legal action against the world’s biggest gold mining corporation, which operates an open-pit gold mine at Lake Cowal, the “sacred heartland of the Wiradjuri Nation.” As a result of the desecration of their sacred lands, Chappy explains, “our cultural heritage and the very essence of our cultural being is at stake.” An estimated 50% of gold comes from indigenous lands. Their lands tend to be vulnerable to encroachment because of their peoples’ lack of power within their country’s political systems. In this picture, Chappy pauses for a moment as he passes by the window of a jewelry store. Approximately 80% of newly mined gold is used for jewelry. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849530187-O2IY1BPF1ZWRZHTK48N8/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure BALDO FAMILY - The Baldo family lives in the village of Kisluyan, on the Philippine island of Mindoro. Kisluyan is one of 26 indigenous villages that face the threat of displacement, to make way for the proposed Mindoro Nickel Project. Although many of the indigenous peoples in the neighboring villages are deeply opposed to the mine, it has proven difficult to organize the groups to show their unified opposition and stand up for their rights. Traditionally, the Alangan have always been a shy and peaceful people averse to confrontation. The company has taken advantage by forming their own group to pose as representatives of the affected indigenous communities to sign documents consenting to having the mining project on their ancestral lands. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849322433-LOAVVHAE0OMM08R7SZNF/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure MABIBHI - Mabibhi is a resident of Nyakabale, Tanzania, a small farming community near the Geita Gold mine. He suffers from severe skin problems that first started appearing about three years ago. Residents of Nyakabale have compiled a list of 36 unusual deaths since the mine began operations in 2000, which they link to the chemicals from the mine. “The first unusual deaths,” according to one resident, “occurred shortly after the Geita mine began operating … a family of four died after eating a dying rabbit they had caught near the tailings dam. Since then, a number of women have had miscarriages.” Mabibhi is 75 years old and has lived a full life, so he says that it does not matter what happens to him — what he is really worried about is the future of his grandchildren. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849717774-MMLDKJ86KHS8M6ASWVZN/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure JETHRO - Jethro is an indigenous Ipili from Porgera, Papua New Guinea, pictured here on his journey to Canada. Jethro left his home and traveled halfway around the world to speak out at the shareholders meeting of the company that is operating the Porgera gold mine. Speaking as a representative of the residents of Porgera, the traditional landowners, Jethro accuses the company of “ignoring the impacts of its projects and resorting to goon squads when people rebel against it. This outrages the conscience of local Indigenous communities, especially when the mine is right next to our homes.” Seeing the overwhelming material wealth of North American cities, Jethro understands that the development that had been promised, was never really intended for them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849637578-Z3J1T3KPE5WE8G697F6Y/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure BURIED ALIVE - During the evictions of thousands of people to make way for the Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in Tanzania, fifty-two artisanal miners were allegedly buried alive in their pits by company bulldozers. The issue has developed into a bitter international dispute involving local communities, international NGOs, the governments of Tanzania, Canada, and the World Bank. The company denies the allegations and maintains that “the way people left this site was in a peaceful, systematic fashion”, reports in the Tanzanian press at the time reported mass confusion, looting, robbery and bloodshed as people fled from police in riot gear. According to company documents, there may have been as many as 400,000 people living in the area before the evictions. Numerous witnesses have testified in sworn statements that people were being beaten up by the police and were ignored when they told officers that there were still people inside some of the mineshafts as the bulldozers were filling in the pits. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849435752-STM5XCN8CRCJ5IFP8R70/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure MARIA - Since the Marlin Mine moved in next-door, internal divisions, violent killings, and kidnappings have terrorized the once peaceful community of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Guatemala. The divisions have torn families apart between those that are for and against the mine. The emotional toll weighs heavily on everyone’s shoulders. “They are making us suffer, we are not being treated as human beings,” says Maria, referring to how the company has turned community members on one another. Maria lives in an area where she is surrounded by mine workers. Intimidation and threats of violence against anyone speaking out against the mine have taken an emotional toll on Maria. But she refuses to back down and remain silent. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849181131-Z54D7X0JPJ6XP0AVH1SM/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure CONTAMINATED WATER - Just a few meters past the Victoria Gold Mine’s tailings dam, contaminated water (left) – carrying with it cyanide, lead, copper, and mercury – joins together with the clean water (right) coming from the mountain springs into the river system. Many mine sites are located in the mountains that act as watersheds for the surrounding river systems, which poses serious threats to those living downstream from the mines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849549041-WMOCXMWL6K5C05LOJV4M/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure LUNINGNING - Luningning rests in a hammock with her granddaughter in the village of Kisluyan, on the Philippine island of Mindoro. The Alangan are one of 8 indigenous tribes in Mindoro, known collectively as the Mangyans. The Mangyans, who once occupied the whole island, are peaceful people who traditionally shy away from confrontation. As more and more settlers began moving to the island over the years, the Mangyans were gradually pushed higher and higher into the mountains. Now, with the proposed mine threatening to push them off what little land they have remaining, they are left with nowhere to go where they will be able to continue their traditional way of life. [This photo was shortlisted for Verge Magazine's 2009 Travel with Purpose Photo of the Year] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849248377-O2H44Z6NH8E8ZP1RL1OQ/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure NYAKABALE - Mabibhi’s granddaughter, in Nyakabale, Tanzania, is pictured here drinking the water that residents believe has been contaminated by the nearby Geita Gold Mine. Residents report that the water now tastes bitter and smells foul. Human rights lawyer Tundu Lissu argues that “the description of the deaths and other health problems reported by the villagers of Nyakabale are consistent with the symptoms associated with cyanide poisoning.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849297633-0X15QU12LV1YLOYSEP21/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure FOOD SECURITY - In Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, Henry (second left) and his family enjoy a meal consisting of rice, fish and vegetables. The province of Oriental Mindoro is ranked third as the province that produces the most food in the Philippines, and is known as the ‘food basket’ of the region. The food security of Mindoro is under threat, however, by the proposed Mindoro Nickel Project. The proposed mine site is located up in the mountains within a critical watershed area that provides the irrigation for 70% of the province’s vital rice fields and fruit plantations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849102748-4EM61MAPDX3IWUFUQB68/005.jpg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure MWITA - The Mwita family lives in Nyamongo next to the North Mara Gold Mine in Tanzania. The waste rock on the edge of the mining pit can be seen just behind their huts in this picture. The family used to live quite comfortably, by Tanzanian standards, by farming and raising livestock, “but now there are no pastures because the mine has almost taken the whole land,” they say, “we have no sources of income and we are living only through God’s wishes.” Their surviving livestock are visibly malnourished. They say they would like to be relocated, but the application process has been complicated, and they feel the amount of compensation they have been offered is insulting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849510582-35IMBY0KZ0U7XEO0PZ1N/021.jpg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure LILIA - Lilia’s husband, Peter, had worked at the Victoria Gold Mine for seventeen years when all the workers went on strike in 2005. The workers were on strike for three months demanding better wages, benefits and job security to reflect the dangers of their jobs. Management refused to meet their demands and responded by firing the 19 union leaders behind the strike, including Peter. With Peter unable to find work, the burden of supporting the family now falls on the shoulders of his wife Lilia, sitting here with their youngest daughter Trixie. Lilia has no formal education so her prospects are limited. The only real option available to her is to work abroad as one of the millions of Filipino domestic servants employed all over the world. What troubles Lilia most is the thought of being separated from her family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472849412842-SQ2TA4GFRLZ0UB8VCCY8/image-asset.jpeg Introduction - Someone Else's Treasure YOLANDA - In San Miguel Ixtahuacan, Guatemala, Yolanda lives in one of the houses surrounding the Marlin Mine. Over a hundred of these houses have suffered structural damage, including cracking walls and floors, since the mining activities began. The company denies any responsibility, but villagers are convinced that the cracks are being caused by the daily dynamite explosions in the mine. “Our houses are falling apart!” says Yolanda’s neighbor Irma, “I’m scared to be inside my house, because one day it can fall on top of us!” http://www.praxispictures.org/guatemala daily 0.75 2016-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472871756731-DL2K4S1RGFPK866VDDH1/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala MARLIN MINE - According to the Canadian Social Investment Database, Goldcorp has the highest environmental fine total among mining companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) Composite Index. Goldcorp has been accused of having caused cyanide spikes, elevated levels of heavy metal contamination and acid mine drainage at its mines in Mexico, Honduras, Canada, the United States, Argentina, and Guatemala. In April 2008, Jantzi Research, an independent investment research association which analyzes the social and environmental performance of more than 300 Canadian companies, recommended not to invest in Goldcorp, citing the threats to safety and security, environmental impacts, growing opposition from local indigenous communities, and inadequate consultation with local communities. Guatemala has signed and ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169, which requires the State to consult affected indigenous communities, before they can approve any project, law, or decree that might affect them. Community members of both San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa claim that they were never consulted by either the Government or the company. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872286297-YIW2297A28RP2KX26PJ5/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala YAHIRA - “Since the company came we have diseases, before we didn’t have anything like this,” says Irma, whose daughter Yahira has similar itchy rashes all over her body. “Before the children were all healthy. Not any more! It is the mine’s fault! In the past everyone was healthy, but not anymore because of them. And then they insult us, saying that we get these rashes because we are dirty and don’t bathe! We are sad. They are scaring us! They are just scaring us! I want the mine to leave! They have come here and taken advantage of us. Here in San Miguel they are really taking advantage of us!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872026500-6QUKMH8GGSYZKSIM38VV/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala YOLANDA - Yolanda lives in one of the houses surrounding the Marlin Mine. Over a hundred of these houses have suffered structural damage, including cracking walls and floors, since the mining activities began. The company denies any responsibility, but villagers believe the cracks are being caused by the daily dynamite explosions in the mine. A recent report put out by the Pastoral Commission for Peace and Ecology (COPAE) and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) concludes that “by a process of elimination, the most likely cause of the building damage is ground vibrations. There are no sources of vibrations in the area except those resulting from mine blasting and heavy truck traffic; therefore it is very highly likely that the damage in local villages is caused by the mining activity and associated truck traffic.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872002402-KVX35HA72PJB0LS7RN9W/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala MISSING FAMILY - Community members of San Miguel Ixtahuacán gather inside their Church to see pictures from Father Erick’s recent trip to the USA. Father Erick’s trip included several cities accross the United States, so that he could visit peoples’ relatives who are working there, often undocumented, in order to support their families. “They said that we would benefit by getting jobs,” someone murmurs in the crowd, “so where are the jobs? If there are jobs here, why do so many of us have to leave our families and homes risking our lives for a few coins?” In addition to the United States, many people also emigrate to Mexico or to the coastal regions of Guatemala to work in the sugar plantations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872188148-QT1HI24X9PDSK0TOK9A4/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala TERESA - “Before,” remembers Teresa, “we used to plant gourds, beans, avocado, lemons, oranges, peaches and corn. But they are not the same anymore. Look at the avocado trees, they don’t have any fruit—they flower, but then the flowers fall off. And the life of the animals? Already it is sad. It is not the same as it was when I was growing up, it was healthy, you could eat everything. Now, what we eat and what we drink, these are contaminated.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872546861-QP1CLJZBNXVL6YRKHACY/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala OUR ART - “Agriculture is our Art, it’s what we know” says Ovideo, “gold is of no value to us, but our land, our families, our culture — these are things that we value greatly.” The Indigenous residents of both Sipakapa and San Miguel Ixtahuacán know that their ancestors have lived on these lands for generations refining and passing down their knowledge of how to cultivate the land. What could be more sustainable than that? This group pictured here, including (left to right) Matilda, Jeffrey Jr, Jeffrey Sr, Bayron, and Raul, are planning the layout of their new coffee plantation in Sipakapa. They carefully measure out the distances between the points where they will plant each tree, taking all factors into account, including the slope of the hill, the direction of the sun, and the quality of the soil. “This is very difficult and complicated work, but we know how to take care of ourselves,” says Fidel, one of the organizers behind the organic coffee project, “that is why we, the people of Sipakapa, have said ‘No!’ to mining in our territory.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472871879724-J0AA1BKAO65F9C8KW5XY/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala ROSALIA - Rosalia stands on what used to be part of her farm until the mine expanded a single lane dirt road to accommodate large mining trucks. Rosalia’s family says it was never consulted or compensated for the loss of their land. When the company first arrived in the area, they carried out a series of presentations on the benefits of mining. The company claims to have held 74 meetings with people in San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa. Those who attended the meetings were were asked to sign a list in exchange for a free lunch. Community members say that these lists were then used by Goldcorp to prove to the Government and the World Bank that they had consulted the local communities. “There was no dialogue and no consultation with the communities about the company coming here,” they say, “the public was not consulted. That is why we are very upset, because these people have money, they are millionaires, they can do what they want. They don’t care about our lives. We did what we could, but it didn’t make any difference. The old Mayor and Judge sided with the company for the money. So the people couldn’t defend their rights.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872709027-Q0C3KEEJ0U5GOAQZ7NZJ/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala YELLOW STONE - As the people of both Sipakapa and San Miguel Ixtahuacán look on in horror at the Marlin Mine in their midst, many of them struggle to even comprehend the point of it all. “Who came up with the idea that gold should be worth so much anyway?” asks Alejandro, “it’s only a yellow stone that shines! Life should be more valuable than gold.” “I hope that everyone takes this information, listens to our stories, and tells our stories,” says Reyna, “we are only humble people but our exeriences are our own, they are real, no one understands our situation better than we do, but we want everyone to know what is happening to us in order to put international pressure on the authorities so that they think a little about the poor people, not only those who have money, but us who are ignored, humiliated, as though we are worth nothing. We also have rights, and we don’t want to continue suffering like this.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472871915527-078ECCW54MAIPGGU45Y0/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala JULIAN - “They say that they have brought a lot of change and development,” says Julian who lives in San Miguel Ixtahuacán . “But these are pure lies because we have not seen any development! If the company really cared about our development, we would be living in better conditions. Our houses would be nicer, and our roads would be paved. But they only pave the roads that they want to use. When they came, they promised to build houses, but the houses were never built. They even try to take credit for the few concrete houses there are in the village, but that is a lie! All the houses here built with concrete were made, because the families have members who have emigrated to the USA and are sending money back. All the rest of our houses are built of mud and wood, we know this because we built them with our own hands. We have to listen to their lies everyday, but they haven’t given us anything! So why are they telling all these lies?” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872397478-FFTKGRUEIBQ3FXYQ2T3E/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala REFERENDA - In community meetings throughout San Miguel Ixtahuacán, residents are currently in the process of organizing a community referendum on mining. This referendum was inspired by the 2005 referendum in the neighboring municipality of Sipakapa. The results of the Sipakapa referendum speak for themselves; 2,502 eligible voters participated, which compares favorably to the 3,087 turnout for the federal elections. In total, 2,426 people voted against mining, 35 people voted for mining, 8 ballots were illegible, one was blank and 32 abstained. Of the 13 community assemblies held in Sipakapa, 11 rejected mining (unanimously in most cases), one supported the mine, and one abstained. In total, 98.5% of the participating population rejected mining. The company took legal action to have the referendum annulled. The Guatemalan Constitutional Court ruled that the referendum was legal, but not binding. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872217265-D2L8HC3L8H76OQKOUSLN/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala CRISANTA - “The crops were much better before,” says Crisanta holding up some of the corn her family harvested this year, “but since the mine came, they don’t come out the same anymore. They do not grow properly now! We haven’t had a good harvest for about three years. Even the crops that we do harvest, we cannot sell. As soon as people find out that we are from San Miguel, they don’t want to buy from us because they say it’s all contaminated.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472871725902-FAMI39TT7B6JS2H0QOMB/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala GOLDCORP INC. - The Marlin Mine, which has both open-pit and underground operations, is fully owned by Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc., one of the world’s biggest gold companies. The mine is operated by Montana Exploradora, a subsidiary fully owned by Goldcorp. The Marlin Mine was the first project to be funded by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) after its Extractive Industries Review (EIR), in 2003, which sought to bring World Bank-funded projects in line with the institution’s “overarching mandate of poverty alleviation and sustainable development.” It was also the first project to be found not in compliance with these new World Bank standards. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472871964649-K3YH3GNJOHRZHB5WMNJO/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala CALENDARIA - Candelaria stands outside her home directly below the mine in front of a bullet hole in her wall. Candelaria’s husband is currently working at a hotel for tourists in Cancun, Mexico, so that he can send money back for his family, who also lost some of its farm land to the road expansion. One night while the family was asleep, a vehicle drove past her home, and someone fired four gun shots at Candelaria’s house. “Before we all lived peacefully,” says Candelaria’s brother-in-law Victor, “one heard about violence, but in the capital, now the violence is here, among us—to the point of parents fighting with their children and brothers fighting each other. We are very worried, because we hear people saying: ‘we will kill or kidnap those who are against mining,’ and there are many killings and kidnappings, not only here but also in many other villages above the mine. We are living a life that is very difficult, and it will continue to get worse. And I think: who will defend us? What will we do?” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472871677704-UHZHYUP5ZDBQ8930TUTP/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala SOMEONE ELSE'S TREASURE - GUATEMALA Text and photos by Allan Lissner/PraxisPictures SAN MARCOS, GUATEMALA - Within the Department of San Marcos, in the western highlands of Guatemala, the Marlin Mine is located along the border between the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa. These communities are largely composed of Indigenous Mayans who speak their traditional languages in addition to Spanish. 85% of the mine is located in San Miguel Ixtahacán, where the population is mostly Mam-Maya, one of the larger Mayan subgroups.Sipakapa is inhabited mostly by the Sipakapense, one of the smaller subgroups. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872244010-TB1DVY23OESRUB6K9ZPL/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala LISANDRO - Eight-year old Lisandro has itchy rashes all over his body, which first appeared about four years ago when the mine started operations. “Before the mining company came, there weren’t so many health problems,” says Lisandro’s uncle Victor, “now there are many illnesses. When the mining company came, it brought us skin infections, stomach pains, illnesses like flu and also diarrhea in children and adults. They don’t tell us why this is happening. I think that it is because we are drinking the water, and we bathe in the river. This worries us a lot because, look—what are we going to do? Where are we going to go? Who will offer us a helping hand? Who will care for us? This is what worries us a lot. And later, not only this but also the conflicts, the violence, the kidnappings, before these didn’t happen.” “This is not a development project,” adds Miguel-Angel, who owns the local pharmacy, “this is a project of death! It’s a monster!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872105997-Z0HZU7JEWZFGT46Q1XR3/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala WATER - Like most large-scale gold mines, the extracted ore is processed using cyanide. The remaining waste material is then dumped in a tailings pond. Locals are very concerned about how the mine may be effecting both the quantity and the quality of their water supplies. The mine uses as much as 250,000 liters of water every hour of every day, which is roughly equivalent to what a Guatemalan family of 8 would use over the course of 25 years. Six to eight wells are reported to have dried up recently, although the company claims it obtains all its water either from what is recycled from the tailings pond or from deep underground sources which are not connected to the communities’ wells. Additional concerns include the possibility of the chemicals leaking out into the rivers or, even worse, that the dyke keeping all the waste in the pond may not be able to withstand the frequent earthquakes in the area. “This worries us,” says Victor, “because the tailings pond is above and we are here below it!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872081128-9FK307PRZQ46WX9D11EI/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala MARIA - Maria and her family had spent four years building themselves a new home. It was a moment of great pride, when they finally completed the construction. But three weeks later, they discovered that the cement floor had started to crack. At the moment it is only a hair-line crack, but Maria has seen some of the other homes that have much larger cracks, so she knows that it is only a matter of time. Everyday at noon and then again at midnight, the mine sets off dynamite explosions which cause the ground to shake like an earthquake. The family eventually decided to cut its losses and not move in, so the building remains empty and unused. “They are making us suffer,” says Maria, “we are not being treated as human beings.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872047775-2WZLGITSU3XRKM7W5N9I/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala IRMA - “Our houses are falling apart!” says Irma standing in her crumbling bedroom, “I’m scared to be inside my house, because one day it can fall on top of us!” Goldcorp refuses to acknowledge any connection between their operations and the damage to the houses. At first they claimed that the cracks were caused by all the vehicles driving through the villiages. “We said that if it was a problem of vehicles,” recalls Irma, “only the vehicles from the company are heavy, and anyway the houses far away from the road would not be cracking too. Then they said it wasn’t the vehicles, but poor construction. We told them that if the problem was poor construction, then most of the houses in the whole country would be having the same problems, not just the ones next to their mine. Their stories keep changing, but they always refuse to accept any responsibility. They don’t even take our complaints seriously, they laugh at us. Once they even said it was being caused because we play our music too loud!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872309960-UDTAD9DV52O48DTHZFVF/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala TERESA - “We were fine before, but now things aren’t as they used to be,” says Teresa, who has a mysterious growth below her left eye, “we are living a very difficult life — our crops, animals, everyone’s health is at risk, violence, kidnappings. We don’t count! We don’t know what will happen with us. It hurts, because we are human, we have feelings. These things never happened before the mine came here. They only think of their love of money and for that reason they are discriminating against us. But we hope in God that one day we can change their hearts, then they will not come to do so many things to us, because they will finally recognize us as human beings.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872169401-9FQWEHEEEYYQ87VSN5TZ/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala REYNA & ALEX - “They told us the water is fine,” says Reyna as she does her laundry in the river with her brother Alex. “We don’t have any water at the house and our well has dried up, so we have to come down here.” Scientific studies by the Pastoral Commission for Peace and Ecology (COPAE), have shown that the rivers below the tailings pond contain arsenic. “All mines contaminate,” says Alejandro from COPAE, “there are no examples of the mining industry not causing contamination anywhere in the world. Our studies demonstrate that the rivers below the mine are contaminated. The water is not suitable for consumption.” Despite the company’s claims that the water is safe, company employees refused when Freddy, one of the auxiliary mayors of San Miguel Ixtahuacán, challenged them to drink or bathe in the water themselves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472872481268-HE5T5D58JLJ6LC7F97IO/image-asset.jpeg Guatemala FAUSTO & PEDRO - Sipakapa continues to refuse any payments from the company and resist continued attempts to expand the mine within their territory. Instead, the community proposed an alternative development project of their own in the form of a fair-trade organic coffee cooperative. In the summer of 2009, their coffee co-op finally got off the ground and participants, like Fausto and Pedro here, are now in the process of laying the groundwork for their future plantations. While the referendum was important in demonstrating the community’s unified opposition to the mine, it was also very important for them to be able to propose an alternative that was driven by the whole community themselves. http://www.praxispictures.org/neskantaga-we-love-our-land daily 0.75 2016-10-15 http://www.praxispictures.org/tanzania daily 0.75 2016-10-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472926925535-841WP69VSCJ1NLTHSJEP/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT - This is a water hole in Nyamongo that was built by Barrick Gold near their North Mara Gold mine on behalf of the local communities (the edge of the mine pit can be seen in the top left corner). But the water appears milky and dirty and the plants around the water hole are dying, but this is the only water source available to the community. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472927548730-7WVL9A3ASHXWRJW70BR0/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania DEOGRATIOS - Deogratios is the traditional witchdoctor, or medicine man, of the community. He was among the thousands of people who were evicted to make way for Barrick’s Bulynhulu gold mine. He remembers being forced from their home by heavily armed paramilitary forces only one day after the Minister of Minerals and Energy had issued an order giving the Bulyanhulu residents one month to vacate the area. Deogratios and his family had nowhere to go so for two months after being forced from their home they were living in the bush. During this time his wife became ill. But with their home destroyed, and without access to his medicines, the healer could do nothing as he sat and watched his wife die. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472927358647-C06JSPS9H6Q0VOBYZ24B/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania WATER - Mabibhi’s granddaughter drinking the water which residents believe has been contaminated. residents report that the water now tastes bitter and smells foul AngloGold claims that they carry out “regular monitoring around the village” and their results do not coincide with the conclusions of Bitala’s study. They point out that any problems may in fact be stemming from the old mine in the same location operated by Germany in colonial times. Human rights lawyer Tundu Lissu argues that “the description of the deaths and other health problems reported by the villagers of Nyakabale are consistent with the symptoms associated with cyanide poisoning.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472927601727-LK52UJ8ETY66KOJRQ7GS/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania BURIED ALIVE - Twelve years later, allegations continue that during the evictions in August 1996 fifty-two artisanal miners were buried alive in their pits by company bulldozers. The issue has developed into a bitter international dispute involving local communities, NGOs, and the governments of Tanzania, Canada, and the World Bank. The company denies these allegations and maintains that “the way people left this site was in a peaceful, systematic fashion”, reports in the Tanzanian press at the time reported mass confusion, looting, robbery and bloodshed as people fled from police in riot gear. Numerous witnesses have testified in sworn statements that people were being beaten up by the police and were ignored when they told officers that there were still people inside some of the mine shafts as the bulldozers were filling in the pits. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472927008100-EQSBHYKDPPLZ1RBQ134G/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania MABIBHI - Mabibhi Mutaguna is a resident of Nyakabale, a small farming community of about 2,000 people living near the Geita Gold mine. He suffers from severe skin problems which first started appearing about three years ago. Mabibhi is 75 years old and has lived a full life so he says that it does not matter what happens to him – what he is really worried about is the future of his grandchildren. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472925986302-ZFRNTEUZOI7I42SOA423/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania SHEILA FROM MTAKUJA - Sheila is one of 258 men, women, and children, from Mtakuja village who were displaced in late July 2007 to make way for an expansion of the Geita Gold Mine. “We were invaded by administration police officers in the middle of the night, who shoved us out of our houses. We were not given even a chance to take our belongings,” laments Abdallah Abedi, a former village executive officer, “we were moved here like people in a war-torn country, and now we are all tucked into a small place like prisoners who have committed the worst of crimes.” One week after this photo was taken the villagers were informed by the local government that they would be evicted all over again from their current campsite. No provisions have been made for them, however, and they have nowhere to go. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472927727449-HUM8BN6CJP0F6ZVFTC37/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania MELANIA - In response to the companies’ and the government’s denials Melania, a Kahama resident, has been collecting these photos of people who claim to have witnessed the killings or lost loved ones during the evictions. “…This one was there when it happened … this one lost her son … this one went back afterwards to try and dig out his friends … this one lost her home and her grandchildren …” A number of organizations have been calling for an independent inquiry to resolve the controversial issue including Amnesty International, the Council of Canadians, Mining Watch Canada, the New Democratic Party, Friends of the Earth, and Rights and Democracy. But when an international NGO fact-finding mission attempted to visit Bulyanhulu to investigate the allegations they were barred from entering the area by an armed roadblock, they reported that they were intimidated by the police and were given the impression that they were “under surveillance and could possibly be apprehended.” Melania’s two eldest sons, Jonathan and Ernest were among the fifty-two miners who were allegedly buried alive during the evictions. The family owned the pit that they were working in at the time, so Melania lost her livelihood as well as her two children in August 1996. In a recent report published by religious groups in Tanzania it estimated that “that the concentration of gold mining in the hands of large multinational companies at the expense of small-scale artisan miners has put 400,000 people out of work.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472925676897-VLJY2O8F5LUMM3EXS2XR/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472927055911-DWEI2V72Y0K1UXQEPBLQ/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania DEATHS IN NYAKABALE - Residents of Nyakabale have compiled a list of 36 deaths since the mine began operations in 2000 which they link to the chemicals from the mine. “The first unusual deaths,” according to resident Stefano Lufungulo, “occurred shortly after the Geita mine began operating … a family of four died after eating a dying rabbit they had caught near the tailings dam. Since then, a number of women have had miscarriages.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472927153192-HZ6IO6SLLKNFDKGDU2QU/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania HEALTH - Research compiled by Manfred Bitala in his masters dissertation, which has been approved by the University of Dar es Salaam, has concluded that “Nyakabale Village and the immediate environment are severely polluted by heavy metals from gold mining activities of Geita Gold Mines” posing high risks to “human health, livestock and other terrestrial and aquatic life and potentially to Lake Victoria Basin at large.” Bitala calculates that the heavy metals concentration in the soil in Nyakabale is up to 6,000 times above acceptable levels set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Similarly the concentration in plants is 9,000 times above the acceptable level. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472926733337-GRVISX4EO3TN91WI8YS9/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania DEUS - Deus had worked in the Bulyanhulu mine as a supervisor for five years when he was in an accident in 2006 where a big rock fell on him. His coworkers pulled him away in time to save his life before more rocks came falling down. Barrick’s Bulyanhulu Gold Mine boasts “one of the most up-to-date and well-equipped and staffed medical clinics in Tanzania … being operated not only for the benefit of employees and their families, but also to provide assistance to the immediately surrounding communities.” Despite these declarations, Deus had to be flown to Dar es Salaam waiting for a total of 18 hours before receiving any treatment. His arm eventually had to be amputated, but he vividly remembers the doctor telling him that if he had received treatment earlier it would have been a very simple procedure to save his arm which any trained doctor would have been able to perform. For a career-ending injury, Barrick eventually agreed to give him 10million shillings (9,000CAD) in compensation, far less than the 600million shillings (550,000CAD) Deus had estimated he should receive based on international standards. Barrick made several promises to him, including that he would get a plastic prosthetic arm which they flew him to South Africa for. But when he tried on the arm he found that it was only 3% functional and that they wanted to charge him 16million shillings (15,000CAD), which he could not afford. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472926276098-93MW26VEVLQVR64XEP64/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania RUKINDO - Rukindo lives in the IDP camp in Geita along with the other 258 Mtakuja villagers who were displaced to make way for the Geita Gold Mine. This picture was taken shortly after a court hearing in Dar es Salaam in their case against the company. Rukindo and three others had travelled 1300km to make their case. But they were never even given the chance to have an audience with the judge as the case was thrown out of the court after a suspicious meeting behind closed doors between their attorney, the judge, and the team of lawyers representing the company. In the unlikely event that they can afford to continue with the case, they will have to start all over again. Almost immediately after receiving this bad news, they received even worse news as a letter arrived from the local government of Geita informing them that the inhabitants of the camp were about to be evicted from the area they had been occupying for the past year. Once again, the displaced have to start all over again and try to rebuild what little semblance of normalcy they had attained in the past year. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472926638774-8BQRS1TVGWVY8KMFD07B/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania ALEX WITH HIS WIFE CHRISTINE AND THEIR SON SPENCER - Working in the mine twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for ten weeks before getting a one week break – for 1,926 shillings (1.75CAD) an hour – took a severe toll on Alex’s body. Alex had been receiving medical treatment for several months for his ailments; he was lying in his hospital bed, unaware of what was happening back at the mine, when he received his termination letter. According to a letter from his doctor at the Bulyanhulu Medical Centre, Alex was suffering from “painful defecation, lower abdominal pain, passing blood stained stools, [and] mass protrusion per-rectum”. His treatment was never completed and he continues to suffer from many physical problems. He is unable to work; he barely even has the strength to carry his son Spencer. The family has been surviving on the money Alex had saved up while working at the mine. But these savings will not last much longer and they do not yet know what they will do when it does run out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472928035484-Y9PGZJ9NHTTE33AWAYTI/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania BUCHARD, RESIDENT OF KAHAMA: “I want you to tell people in Canada: We know Canada; We know the history of Canada; We know the Canadian people are good people; We know they believe in human rights. But what this Canadian company is doing here is just terrible. Before, we were happy. We lived normal lives by Tanzanian standards. But now people here are really suffering. It is very difficult to make a living and feed our children here. A lot of us have lost our homes, loved ones, and livelihoods without receiving any compensation. There should have been an independent investigation into the killings a long time ago. But at this point, all we want is for the company to just sit down at the table with us so we can discuss where we can go from here. But they never listen to us, and they are lying to people in Canada.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472926380231-BHIHRW26EYHZZ47Q9RRL/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania MUSTAFA - The government’s Prevention of Corruption Bureau is investigating a corruption scandal involving the compensation for some 900 people who were displaced to make way for AngloGold Ashanti’s Geita Gold Mine in Geita. Mustafa is one of the complainants; here he is showing documents that state that he was promised over 60million shillings (55,000CAD) in compensation which he has never received. AngloGold admits that 875 people have not received the compensation promised to them, but they claim to have given government officials the money needed to make the payments in 1999 and blame these officials “in their lust for money” for the disappearance of the funds. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472926156578-K9FJ9OQRWCQ45FONPKJL/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania MWAJUMA - All 258 of the villagers were dumped in a one-room abandoned building in the middle of the night one year ago. The Christian Council of Tanzania and Norwegian Church Aid heard about their situation and have provided the group with the tents they now call home. In an interview with the Norwegian Church Aid, Faida Gerald says, “we have lost a lot of things including our sense of belonging, clothes and other household materials. What hurts most is that they buried even already harvested crops, which we would have sold to get some income to buy food and take care of our children.” Their sense of loss is intensified by their feelings of betrayal by their own democratically elected government, as Faida contemplates; “I wonder what they have given to the government to subject us to all this.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472926551435-0CMX5PVNDQ8POL8CBJ94/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania FABIL - Fabil used to work at Barrick’s Bulyanhulu Gold mine until 26 October 2007, when Barrick fired 1,374 of its workers en mass. Official accounts, as reported by Reuters, stated that the workers were fired for going on an illegal strike. But according to Fabil and George Mandia, the then Chairman of the workers Union at the Bulyanhulu mine, they were not on strike when they were fired. They claim that there had been ongoing negotiations between management and the union for several months as the workers were concerned about the unfair treatment of sick and injured workers, racial discrimination between Tanzanian and expatriate workers, and unrealistic production and safety targets, among other things. On the 25th of October, the day before being fired, they argue that they had all worked their regular shifts; they did not walk off the job in protest as Barrick reported. After the regular work hours, with the permission of the management, the union had organized a meeting inside the mine site for the workers to discuss these ongoing negotiations. The meeting was disrupted when 68 armed riot police officers moved in causing a panic among the fleeing workers. “There is no humanity in the way they have treated us!” Fabil insists, “they make us promises while we are of use to them. But then, if we become sick, or old, or start to complain about our rights, then they just spit us out like a chewing gum that has lost its flavour.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472926852606-6JBWGLDQCG3YT2QUKY2W/image-asset.jpeg Tanzania MWITA - The Mwita family lives in Nyamongo next to Barrick’s North Mara gold mine. The waste rock on the edge of the mining pit can be seen just behind their huts here. Ongoing violent conflict between the mine and local communities have created a climate of fear for those who live nearby. Since the mine opened in 2002, the Mwita family say that they live in a state of constant anxiety because they have been repeatedly harassed and intimidated by the mine’s private security forces and by government police. There have been several deadly confrontations in the area and every time there are problems at the mine, the Mwita family say their compound is the first place the police come looking. During police operations the family scatters in fear to hide in the bush, “like fugitives,” for weeks at a time waiting for the situation to calm down. “We had never experienced poverty before the mine came here.” They used to farm and raise livestock, “but now there are no pastures because the mine has almost taken the whole land … we have no sources of income and we are living only through God’s wishes.” They say they would like to be relocated, but the application process has been complicated, and they feel the amount of compensation they have been offered is “candy.” http://www.praxispictures.org/philippines daily 0.75 2016-10-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475254024280-8VQ50B51DBQ4JUMYBDL5/image-asset.jpeg Philippines THOMAS - Eighty years old, Thomas used to bathe in the Mogpog river every day when he was younger. His body is now covered with skin discolouration which he started developing about forty years ago when Placer Dome’s mine was in full operation. Marinduque has never been able to afford conducting a full medical survey of the island, but smaller studies have shown that, of 59 children tested, every one of them had unacceptable levels of lead in their blood, and a quarter of them had dangerous levels of cyanide in their blood. Soil and air samples also showed unacceptable levels of dangerous chemicals. When Placer Dome left Marinduque, they left behind them the mess from years of dumping mine waste into Calancan Bay; the island’s two main rivers of Mogpog and Boac were poisoned by separate dam collapses in 1993 and 1996; a population suffering from heavy metal contamination; stripped forests; and a nine-hole golf course. The province never saw a single centavo of the profits that Placer Dome raked in. When the first dam collapsed in 1993, the flash flood of toxic waste swept away Thomas’ treasured cow and he nearly drowned. With the San Antonio Pit now on the verge of collapse, Thomas knows that his home will be one of the first ones swept under by the coming flash floods, but he has nowhere else go. With his already deteriorating health, he stands little chance of surviving. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475256524502-X5R3C9Z113IR634FHCYJ/image-asset.jpeg Philippines ALANGAN - Ramon, of the Alangan tribe in the village of Kisluyan, in Mindoro. Kisluyan is one of 26 indigenous villages that face the threat of displacement if Crew Minerals (now Intex Resources) opens up a nickel mine on their ancestral land. Although many of the indigenous peoples in the neighboring villages are opposed to the mine, it has proven difficult to organize the groups to show their unified opposition and stand up for their rights. Traditionally the Alangan have been averse to confrontation. Crew has taken advantage by forming their own group to pose as representatives of the affected indigenous communities to sign documents consenting to the mining operations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475256981316-88Y4A8W7PUHW72RKMIXY/image-asset.jpeg Philippines As the sun sets over the mountains of Benguet province, Lilia and Trixie walk along Lepanto’s airport runway near their home where all the gold is flown out of the province. The pattern has been repeated many times across the Philippines; the companies come in promising to bring with them jobs, development and prosperity. In reality, the experiences of the people of the Philippines show that large-scale corporate mining destroys, pollutes, and disrupts agricultural economies, and displaces indigenous peoples. While the mines do generate a great deal of wealth, local communities rarely see any of it. The global demand for these metals have been skyrocketing, and the mining industry is booming. Yet, in places like the Philippines where these metals are found, the effects will be felt for generations. Families are being torn apart, indigenous cultures are being eroded, livelihoods lost, and ecosystems destroyed –– all for someone else’s treasure. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475253014675-QO1RT8NXTBGP03AKEEE7/image-asset.jpeg Philippines REMY - Remy washes her laundry in the poisoned Mogpog River in Marinduque. In 1993 one of the tailings dams of Placer Dome’s copper mine burst sending tons of mine waste raging down the river in a flash flood sweeping away homes, people and livestock. Three years later a second collapse sent waste in the opposite direction destroying the Boac river. Fifteen years on both rivers remain biologically dead and contain dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. Dead trees and other debris can still be seen all along the rivers. But people here have no other water sources to rely on. The company continues to deny any responsibility for what was the worst industrial disaster in Philippine history. After being ordered by the government to clean up their mess, the company responded by packing their bags and sneaking out of the country. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475256888528-6IYIBAWGAIN808RC80W8/image-asset.jpeg Philippines Albert has worked for Lepanto for fifteen years trying to support his family of ten. But his wages are not enough to support all of them so his wife has had to leave for the city with their four oldest children to sell fruit in the market. Many of the men risking their lives underground say they feel exploited as they struggle to provide for their families while the company profits in the millions. The miners have no masks to protect them from chemicals and dust, they work wearing nothing but helmets, boots, and briefs (because of the heat underground), and they have to pay for their own treatment when they fall ill. But Albert has no doubt that it’s a sacrifice he’ is willing to make. ““My family””, he says, “”are my inspiration.”” Together with his wife, they are putting their children through school in the hope that they will have better lives. It is this hope that gets him out of bed every morning to go back underground. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475254096972-0K4C3Z2IAWJ8ULDHI82W/image-asset.jpeg Philippines Wilson was a fisherman living in Calancan Bay in Marinduque where Placer Dome used to dump its mine waste. Over a period of sixteen years, Placer Dome dumped 200million tons of mine waste into the shallow coral-rich bay despite vocal opposition from the community. Many years ago Wilson went out into the bay with a small cut in his leg. As a result, Wilson suffered from mercury poisoning rendering his legs useless. One leg has been amputated, the other one will have to come off as well. The president of the company, John Dodge, continues to maintain that “the fishermen of Calancan Bay “have not suffered in any way because of the tailings disposal.” Before, most of the 15,000 villagers in the area made a living from fishing in the bay for a few hours every other day. Now, there are more fishermen than fish, and the men have to go far out to sea everyday. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475253531243-AR3W1Q4406DBSJHW25OS/image-asset.jpeg Philippines “Look, that dam could break at any time, maybe next week, maybe tomorrow, I don’t know. But I do know that when it does happen, my house and my family will probably be destroyed. And just like last time, the company will deny responsibility. I want that picture to exist, so that people can know what happened. For that, I would be willing to sacrifice myself.” With that a brave Marinduqueño snuck a photographer in the back of a truck into Placer Dome’s old copper mine, successfully evading the armed guards still protecting the property. Here D stands in front of the San Antonio Pit, containing the millions of tons of mine waste which will eventually come crashing down on his home. His determination to put himself in harms way for the sake of this documentation is a stronger testament to the anxiety Marinduqueños have to live with than any picture can offer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475256586009-K8TKULX5VDWZTH9V63UP/image-asset.jpeg Philippines LUNINGNING - Luningning, of the Alangan tribe, with her granddaughter in the village of Kisluyan. The Alangan are one of 8 indigenous tribes in Mindoro, known collectively as the Mangyans. The Mangyans, who once occupied the whole island, are peaceful people who shy away from confrontation. As more and more settlers began moving to the island, the Mangyans were gradually pushed higher and higher into the mountains. Now, with the proposed opening of the mine threatening to push them off their land, they are left with nowhere to go. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475256763737-4J76OM9BI7DDR3PKQJ2E/image-asset.jpeg Philippines INTIMIDATION AND EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS - A broad coalition of Mindoreños have united in their opposition to the nickel project to form ALAMIN (Alliance against the mine). ALAMIN has organized numerous peaceful demonstrations to show their opposition. However, members and supporters of ALAMIN have been subject to intimidation and have even been accused of being dissident-terrorists. The Philippines is one of the hot spots of the so-called global “War on Terror,” so such accusations are not to be taken lightly. As documented by Amnesty International and the United Nations, human rights abuses have been reported all across the Philippines against legitimate political and environmental activists. Since the current administration of President Gloria Makapagal-Arroyo took office in 2001, there have been over 700 reported extra judicial killings of such activists. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475252893430-QMXJMIF562AQJ0D72168/image-asset.jpeg Philippines CONTAMINATED WATER - Just a few meters past the dam, contaminated water (left) – carrying with it cyanide, lead, copper, and mercury – joins together with the clean water (right) coming from the mountain springs into the river system. Many mining sites in the Philippines are located in the mountains that act as watersheds for the surrounding river systems, which poses serious threats to those living downstream from the mines. The dangers surrounding mining are exacerbated in the Philippines by the additional risks from the high rainfalls, frequent typhoons and earthquakes, all of which increase the strain on the tailings dams making leaks almost inevitable. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475256658134-PTIYNNUZBLBGMPWOXG94/image-asset.jpeg Philippines Maximo is the oldest member of Kisluyan and the acknowledged leader of the community. Maximo’s biggest worry is for the future generations. Living in relative isolation high in the mountains, the Mangyans have done well to hold on to their culture despite increasing external interference. The Mangyan are one of the only indigenous groups in the Philippines that have managed to hold on to their traditional script, which they continue to pass on to their children. For the Mangyan, their land is the very foundation of their identity. Generation after generation, the Mangyans have been taught to care for their land; “”we take care of the land, and the land will take care of us.”” Many of them worry that disaster will befall them if their lands –– especially their ancestral burial grounds –– are desecrated. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475253179889-GQY2JNAQHBM38LQHCV11/image-asset.jpeg Philippines SULEY - In Cervantes, a few kilometers down river from Lepanto’s gold mine, Suley sits in the middle of her barren farm which has been contaminated by the toxic chemicals that have leaked out of the tailings dam and into the river system. Her farm has been barren for ten years now. “If it wasn’t for the mine, we would be living a good life”,” she says, ““but now, life is very hard.” Before, Suley’s abundant farm more than adequately provided for her entire extended family. Now they are barely able to provide for their basic needs. Every year they try replanting fresh seeds hoping that the soil will eventually regenerate. They will do so again this year, but after ten years, nothing has changed. According to the Save The Abra River Movement, the siltation and toxic pollution of the rivers deprives communities in Cervantes of about 7.33 million kg of rice worth US$2.27 million per annum. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475256937169-1C9SUVNUKJ58I5T9SYD3/image-asset.jpeg Philippines Lilia’’s husband, Peter, had worked at the Lepanto mine for seventeen years when all 1,787 workers went on strike in 2005. The workers were on strike for three months demanding better wages, benefits and job security to reflect the dangers of their jobs. Management refused to meet their demands and responded by firing the 19 union leaders behind the strike, including Peter. With Peter unable to find work now, the burden of supporting the family now falls on the shoulders of his wife Lilia, sitting here with their daughter Trixie. Lilia has no formal education so her prospects are limited. The only real option available to her is to work abroad as one of the millions of Filipino domestic servants employed all over the world. “”I would like very much to work in Canada””, she says, ““it must be like paradise there…do you know anyone who needs a house worker?”” But even in places like Canada, she knows Filipino domestic workers are alone and vulnerable. About one month before this picture was taken, she heard reports about a girl from the neighboring town of Ifugao who was murdered while working as a domestic servant in a mansion in Toronto. But apart from her personal safety, what troubles Lilia most is the thought of being separated from her family. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475254147978-67X5D5H7CFNXZK5X6W8G/image-asset.jpeg Philippines FOOD SECURITY - Pili, Mindoro, Henry (second left) and his family enjoy a meal consisting of rice, fish and vegetables. The province of Oriental Mindoro is ranked third as the province which produces the most food in the Philippines, and is known as the “food basket” of the southern Luzon region. The food security of Mindoro is under threat, however, by Crew Minerals’ (now Intex Resources) proposed nickel mine. The proposed mine site is located within a critical watershed area that provides the irrigation for 70% of the province’s vital rice fields and fruit plantations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475253424571-AXGE5ACM9JQAKC3AIKXS/image-asset.jpeg Philippines ”Imagine…being forced into a situation where you lived in a house…and a contractor puts a huge swimming pool up on your roof. You then suddenly receive a secret report that says the roof can cave in at any time and the water can drown you and your children who live below!…How would you feel if you had no other place to live? If you feel desperate, you have just put yourselves in the shoes of…almost 100,000 villagers in my home province of Marinduque.” –Congressman Edmund Reyes from Marinduque. The San Antonio Pit contains millions of tons of mine waste being held back by failing dams. According to a leaked document from Placer Dome’s own environmental consultants, “failure of the dam is a virtual certainty in the near term”. When the Philippine government ordered Placer Dome to make the necessary repairs, and clean up the mess from two previous dam failures or face criminal charges, Placer Dome responded by pulling out personnel from the Philippines without a word to anyone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472937218839-JVUCVA5GB20NOUPAAQRL/image-asset.jpeg Philippines Scorched earth in Marinduque, Philippines. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475252836556-G12JE08LRQ2MREECX44N/image-asset.jpeg Philippines TRIXIE - Trixie looks down at the tailings dam for the Lepanto gold mine in the province of Benguet, where the toxic waste from the mining process are dumped at a rate ranging between 1,500 and 2,500 metric tons per day. This is the third dam built here after the previous two collapsed. According to a fact-finding mission led by British MP Clare Short, as of 2003, there had been 16 serious tailings dam failures in the Philippines in the past twenty years. Additionally, over eight hundred mine sites have been abandoned and have never been cleaned up. Cleanup costs are estimated in the billions of dollars and the damages caused are irreversible. This particular dam has been completely inadequate against the torrential downpour during the yearly rainy season and is especially vulnerable to earthquakes as Benguet is directly above a fault line. For years the chemicals have been leaking out into the nearby river systems. http://www.praxispictures.org/ngorbob-our-land-is-dying-and-so-are-we daily 0.75 2016-09-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472937505062-W9NX8EARG9H696NBC86C/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We NGORBOB: OUR LAND IS DYING AND SO ARE WE “The climate has changed. There is no water here, nothing. Our land is dying and so are we” Ngorbob elders. Ngorbob is a small Masai village near Arusha, Tanzania. Ngorbob has been severely hit by drought in recent months. They have not seen rain for over a year, and as a result their farmlands and livestock are dying. Many of the residents of Ngorbob have already been forced to leave their ancestral home in search of water and work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472939006181-6UBFTAZ8ZJXRH630M6DD/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938706628-I57KONBRBV0IGPVXO5QL/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We SEARCHING FOR WATER AND PASTURES - What little remains of the communities' livestock are on the move everyday to find grazing land and water. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938959004-TRW699HRL3CHZJAJMXL4/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We NAEMA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938106601-1NLQ8VUY970WPXH2QJ6A/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We ARID LANDSCAPE - Zawadi looks out at the arid landscape surrounding Ngorbob. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472937730897-FM0E0NRRG61WXMVSHBSY/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We COMMUNITY OF NGORBOB - The community of Ngorbob gathers to explain their situation, surrounded by their now barren farmlands. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938251856-09PA7KJSCQZS8BP3129M/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We ABANDONED HOME - Many people have been forced to leave their ancestral homes, a decision not taken lightly, in order to survive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938362274-CYHV6CUNCJGSAWLAB6JQ/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We SOIL EROSION - The parched earth has altered the landscape surrounding Ngorbob. Once green fields have eroded leaving the area dangerous for the local children like Baraka. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472937659958-PRWICGYP4FCCC1QOQ3KK/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We DRIED UP RIVERS - An aerial view of the drought. Dried up rivers and dust storms are all that remain on this once fertile land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472937822296-6TVOK3243J0QD0XA4920/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We KADOGO AND HER SON LAZARO - "We have nothing to feed our children. Our livestock don't produce milk anymore, and neither do we." - Ngorbob women https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938750785-V41ZEGPJC37VQCLGOI9D/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We COLLECTING HAY - Eva, Zawadi, and Furaha collect hay in an attempt to keep their livestock alive. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938015465-W743RCEC1S6O6EN3QZW3/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We PARCHED EARTH https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938163978-JC0TBRIXIFTD6I09SZ28/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We SEARCH FOR WATER - Every day the youth have to go in search of water to keep the community alive. They leave home at sunrise and, if they are lucky, they return home just before sunset. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938568208-0KNWYWXIE6OUBM2XET0S/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We KOKOYA AND GRANDCHILDREN - With the young and able-bodied having to journey farther and farther to find water and employment, the children and elderly are left behind in the village. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938931726-L6098O0GKEMYJQRFPKB6/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We LIFE ON THE MOVE https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938983563-5IKTUH7JZ21UA270AHF0/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We YUSUFU https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938839501-JJ43BO553GKPPY4Z3ARS/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We Traditionally, the Masai measure their wealth and well-being by their land and their livestock. But both are dying so the Ngorbob elders say: "we don't even feel like Maisai anymore, the climate changes have destroyed us." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938286070-TDPNPG0N9CE5Z6TM2FA3/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We FARM TOOLS - "We haven't seen rain for almost a year now, so our farmlands have all dried up and died." - Ngorbob elders https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472938460495-PRZTZACLTVAE46PSF55M/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We Dangerous Ground The parched earth has altered the landscape surrounding Ngorbob. Once green fields have eroded leaving the area dangerous for the children. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1472937922267-0UK2MKZ50PJ3NFAX4GHG/image-asset.jpeg Ngorbob: Our Land is Dying and So Are We EVA WITH EMPTY WATER JUG. http://www.praxispictures.org/village-community-banking daily 0.75 2016-09-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473214553084-Q2N3VRRJ5T4SE7F1G3GO/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking DEBORAH - Deborah's mother joined a VICOBA group in Mugusu in order to invest in her clothing shop. Because business has been going well for Deborah's mother, Deborah is now going to school and getting an education. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473214382099-3GYNP8DH700VJLY6XZOH/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking CHRISTINA - Christina sells rice in the Geita market. Her mother was a member of VICOBA and passed her shares on to Christina when she moved away. Christina has big dream for herself and her family, right now she is only a few months away from completing the construction of their new home. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473214469846-77M40GBTONDNPWDZBYNW/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking PRISCA - Prisca sells charcoal in the market in Geita. She used to be a manual laborer so she is much happier now buying and selling charcoal. The work is easier, physically, and earns her more income. With the income from her business, her family has been able to build a home for themselves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213656247-XAA3RY8I2U6K5GWT7W8G/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking Bilihusi is a VICOBA member in Lushoto who has taken out loans to invest in her farm. She raises goats and a cow and sells beans and potatoes in the Lushoto market. She is now able to grow all the food she needs to provide for her family of five. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473214273637-BW8NKUULP3D7JRH6MSS1/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking ZUENA - Zuena joined a local VICOBA group in 2007 and took out some loans to invest in her tailor shop. This investment has paid off for her as her business has grown and she now employs four of her neighbors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213899125-OAFMLZBWJANEERIAEG2H/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking ZIANA AND CLEMENT - Ziana owns a small guest house and tea shop in Geita. Her business helps meet the basic needs of herself and her five children, and she is managing to send her children to school. Ziana is HIV+, as is her youngest son Clement (pictured with Ziana here), so without the support of her local VICOBA group, they would be in a very difficult situation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213565192-CTOOK8QWYK7W5YVI70CD/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking BILIHUSI - Bilihusi is a VICOBA member in Lushoto who has taken out loans to invest in her farm. She raises goats and a cow and sells beans and potatoes in the Lushoto market. She is now able to grow all the food she needs to provide for her family of five. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213946176-3ZGPP2DX00H4E12DB209/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking OMAR - Omar is a member of the Tumaini VICOBA group made up mostly of people living with HIV. The group decided to start a jointly owned poultry farm, allowing them to share the responsibilities and benefits. The group has already made a profit and plans to expand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213477164-6B9ERJ8FIJ7S78AC8VC0/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking COMMUNITY BANKING - VICOBA groups are usually made up of no more than thirty community members. Each member puts in a small amount every month and can take out loans when needed. Most groups also set aside an emergency pool, to provide support for members with a form of insurance. The following images show some of the ways VICOBA members have put their loans and newly acquired skills to use. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213782356-1141FAM0WE7I3XHH0XOY/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking FARAHA - Faraha sells vegetables in the market in Lushoto thanks to a small start-up loan from her local VICOBA group. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473214033321-UHN3IAR7KRVOJMVXJHUV/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking UBIRI WOMEN'S GROUP - Upendo (left) and Asha (right) are members of the Ubiri Women's Group is Lushoto. The groups makes fruit juices and jams. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473214508148-9Y480YYFBML1YHREGMXS/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking SARA AND FRIENDS - Sara (top centre) co-owns a small beauty salon in Geita, Tanzania. Regina, Joyce, and Jessica are three of her regular customers, coming back once or twice a week to get their hair done and exchange the latest gossip. Sara says that she is now able to provide for her family and send her two children to school. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213838242-8HQN2Y6JADXQM8VJKW9O/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking GROWING FAMILY - The Christent family has grown since they joined a local group. They already had two children and have adopted four orphans, providing a safe family environment and ensuring a better future for all of them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473214432058-MOIMO0Y6KE9DDDRH209U/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking REGINA AND HANA - Regina, with her daughter Hana, is a facilitator for a VICOBA group in Geita. she sells fish and vegetables in the market. She is especially greatful for the business training she recieved when she joined, giving her the entrepreneurial skills that she lacked before. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213211732-QBO9VQEUY218SWMXHK4M/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking VILLAGE COMMUNITY BANKING “My life and family has changed, but the whole community has benefitted too because if you educate a woman – one lady – you are educating the whole community.” – Hadija, VICOBA member in Lushoto, Tanzania. IN TANZANIA, Village Community Banking (VICOBA) provides a structure through which communities are able to organize themselves, provide skill-sharing, and capacity building in an effort to combat poverty. Inspired by Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank, the idea behind VICOBA is the belief that poor people have the skills, capabilities and abilities to improve their own economic development and social welfare. In a field that is increasingly becoming dominated by corporate models of development, these stories provide examples of alternative models that are based on the dignity and ingenuity of the people. These women-led initiatives empower communities to find local solutions to their own local problems. These often-untold stories of community role models transforming their own communities are at the heart of a stronger, more inclusive, healthier and more socially just model of international development. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473214115730-NTLOK4AGC8GRQYMFEA8Q/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking UBIRI WOMEN'S GROUP - Upendo is a member of the Ubiri Women's Group in Lushoto. Here she is putting the finishing touches on their latest batch of passion fruit juice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213985929-XT6YDPOEOQXY7WTX3LDI/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking MWANAISHA - Mwanaisha is a member of the Tumaini VICOBA group in Magugu, Tanzania. Like most of the other members of the Tumaini Group, Mwanaisha is HIV+ so being able to support herself and afford the medical treatments through her participation in VICOBA has been especially important. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213724552-2GKMV5Q9TK8H0UTSXZ2I/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking HADIJA - Hadija is a member of a VICOBA group in Lushoto, Tanzania. Thanks to a loan from her VICOBA group, Hadija was able to start a poultry farm and grow vegetables, which now provides all the food needs of her family of four. "I no longer have to buy and food for the family, except maybe rice sometimes. It makes me very proud to be able to support the whole family on my own." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473214582833-DS8QIEAOBMFAPZSHN0FF/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking VILLAGE COMMUNITY BANKING https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1473213360540-LUMQVG9ZX5RJFGG8SN3W/image-asset.jpeg Village Community Banking ELIZABETH - Elizabeth is a VICOBA facilitator in Arusha, who helps new VICOBA groups get started. VICOBA is structured in such a way that people are organized in groups and trained in various skills to build up their capacity to provide for themselves. http://www.praxispictures.org/featured-videos daily 0.75 2016-09-09 http://www.praxispictures.org/the-breathing-lands daily 0.75 2016-10-15 http://www.praxispictures.org/someone-elses-treasure-guatemala daily 0.75 2016-09-07 http://www.praxispictures.org/grassy-narrows-river-run daily 0.75 2016-09-07 http://www.praxispictures.org/kanawayandan-daki daily 0.75 2016-10-13 http://www.praxispictures.org/kisluyan daily 0.75 2016-10-15 http://www.praxispictures.org/featured-projects daily 0.75 2025-02-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1474059519241-26VS9WTZ9VP1INELZ35Z/image-asset.jpeg Projects COP16 CANCUN, MEXICO https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476565870240-3XL2HL5O7GZJI4ONMBTN/image-asset.jpeg Projects COP21 PARIS, FRANCE https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476565938131-S0BTV7NJ8V1NK355I81N/image-asset.jpeg Projects COP15 COPENHAGEN, DENMARK https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1492737531103-WJ0RF5PEA0D618R835VT/image-asset.jpeg Projects PARTNERSHIP RESILIENCE AND POSITIVE CHANGE IN TANZANIA (Photo Essay) Tanzania 2016. In this exhibit we share photos and stories of several women, men and children impacted by CPAR’s Farmer Field Schools and Junior Farmer Field Schools in Bunda District, Northern Tanzania. These provide a glimpse into the efforts of farmers, communities, students, and their schools to integrate sustainable approaches to food production and livelihood development by: encouraging gender equality; through alternative energy production, such as biogas; and with village community banking (VICOBA). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476567334022-NIM2T4ERMK7L22HBP8JK/image-asset.jpeg Projects UNITED NATIONS PERMANENT FORUM ON INDIGENOUS ISSUES https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476297934569-Q7ZHFU9FMZ9WXDEUUWH4/image-asset.jpeg Projects VILLAGE COMMUNITY BANKING (Photoessay) “My life and family has changed, but the whole community has benefitted too because if you educate a woman – one lady – you are educating the whole community.” – Hadija, VICOBA member in Lushoto, Tanzania. IN TANZANIA, Village Community Banking (VICOBA) provides a structure through which communities are able to organize themselves, provide skill-sharing, and capacity building in an effort to combat poverty...(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1474058576716-EKU21KKVQAI3MV6ROTCG/image-asset.jpeg Projects COMPREHENSIVE MULTIDISCIPLINARY CLEFT LIP AND PALATE CARE (Photo Essay) Peru 2014. Transforming Faces and KusiROSTROS have been working together since 2012 to provide decentralized comprehensive cleft care at five Community Rehabilitation Centres (CRCs) in impoverished, peripheral areas of Lima, Peru. Core to their work is the understanding that cleft lip and palate, a common birth anomaly, can be successfully treated through a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach. To do this they fund, collaborate, consult, and train local cleft teams that include audiologists, dentists, nurse coordinators, orthodontists, social workers, speech therapists and surgeons. Transforming Faces encourages medical professionals to practice in their home countries, and builds the capacity of health systems to improve the quality of life of their citizens...(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476381733684-NG0U7Z7G3UZF9LGIG9OD/image-asset.jpeg Projects INTERNATIONAL PEOPLE'S HEALTH TRIBUNE (Photo essay) The Health Tribunal was initiated by community members of San Miguel Ixtahuacán. Using community testimony, scientific research and human rights organization’s knowledge to examine how the presence of Goldcorp’s mining operations have affected community residents. Over 600 people were in attendance from across Guatemala, as well as Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Canada, and the USA...(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476554153429-AHHEJDNXSKO446LEEE54/image-asset.jpeg Projects PARTNERSHIP RESILIENCE AND POSITIVE CHANGE IN NEPAL (Photo Essay) Nepal 2015. Learn about the work of Women for Peace and Democracy-Nepal, and World Accord, to empower marginalized women and their communities. See how women in rural Nepal have re-built their homes and lives following the devastating 2015 Nepal earthquake, and witness ways Nepali women are transforming their communities through long-term socio-economic development programs...(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1474061038772-OEDCBVZTM6SXZ5W6XZKS/image-asset.jpeg Projects GUATEMALA (Photo Essay and Video) Within the Department of San Marcos, in the western highlands of Guatemala, the Marlin Mine is located along the border between the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa. These communities are largely composed of Indigenous Mayans who speak their traditional languages in addition to Spanish. 85% of the mine is located in San Miguel Ixtahacán, where the population is mostly Mam-Maya, one of the larger Mayan subgroups.Sipakapa is inhabited mostly by the Sipakapense, one of the smaller subgroups...(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1474315993776-8RW3KP867NWESMLVBW8V/image-asset.jpeg Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1474060640718-G78EGEUUIHFLBX9WOQI2/image-asset.jpeg Projects PHILIPPINES (Photo Essay) The record of large scale mining in the Philippines is nothing short of disastrous. The extraction of these treasured metals comes at a high price. People who were already marginalized and living in poverty to begin with are losing what they most treasure – families are being torn apart, livelihoods destroyed, ecosystems ruined, and ancient indigenous cultures are being eroded...(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476494132040-3YPVS5R0WE9DBQ5UJ8VH/image-asset.jpeg Projects REMEMBER THE LAND (VIDEO) In May 2011, 150 people from around the world gathered in Toronto to consider the impact of Canadian mining in their communities. Remember the Land is the story of that gathering -- the story of peoples from the Global South who are engaged in struggles to protect the land that they know and love; the land that sustains them materially, culturally and spiritually; the land that has its own deep, inherent worth. (11:11 minutes) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476566956122-0DXRK0WWVYMFM2KVFGFC/image-asset.jpeg Projects SIPAKAPA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476333376148-780U6RP3BEU4TMJUX7LH/image-asset.jpeg Projects WHERE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN? (Music Video) From the CD BEAUTY AND HARD TIMES. With passionate wisdom, the powerful lyrics of Mama D Horizon Dancer are set to imagery illustrating the global reach of humanity's inhumanity. (5:46 minutes) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476556055607-CG4DXGPA2ZVSRG4FB5S2/image-asset.jpeg Projects NESKANTAGA: WE LOVE OUR LAND (VIDEO) In the heart of the world's largest intact boreal wetland, a tiny First Nation community is fighting to protect their lands, water and way of life. Governments are refusing to listen and a giant mining corporation is determined to mine the Ring of Fire on Neskantaga land. (12:25 minutes) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476566824566-E2QGPUUVP64SWPODT5NX/image-asset.jpeg Projects STREET PHOTOGRAPHY https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476567136729-Q1FU83AIP6O6TZH9Y2KJ/image-asset.jpeg Projects PHILIPPINE LEARNING TOUR https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476494312473-YIEA5JGNLMUQPGTC7TWC/image-asset.jpeg Projects TAR SANDS HEALING WALK (Video) July 2014. At the Tar Sands Healing Walk, Elder Taz Bouchier talks about the impacts of the Tar Sands on Indigenous people in the Athabasca watershed. The walk covered 14 kilometres along Highway 63, where it loops around the Syncrude site, just north of Fort McMurray. (4:48 minutes) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476494273188-HBLMC7WQJYWZCI3DGS9Y/image-asset.jpeg Projects KISLUYAN (VIDEO) High in the mountains of the Philippine island of Mindoro, members of the Alangan tribe live in the village of Kisluyan, on the same land their ancestors have lived on for generations. Kisluyan is one of 26 indigenous villages that face the threat of displacement by the Mindoro Nickel Project, a proposed open pit nickel mine on their ancestral land. (5:49 minutes) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1474059327903-W7RBDR9OQQV1TA3IMM7Y/image-asset.jpeg Projects PEOPLE'S CLIMATE MARCH - NYC, USA https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476565564245-6I1NGGI7XI7802CYJDC6/image-asset.jpeg Projects MINING INJUSTICE SOLIDARITY NETWORK https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1474060000359-Y5AN0UZRA4X05AY7IVB6/image-asset.jpeg Projects TANZANIA (Photo Essay) The following accounts of mass displacements, violent confrontations, lost livelihoods, exploited workers, and contaminated ecosystems raise serious questions about the mining industry in Tanzania and internationally. The focus here is on communities surrounding the Bulyanhulu and North Mara Gold Mines, both owned by the world’s largest gold mining company Barrick Gold, and the Geita Gold Mine, owned by the third largest gold company, AngloGold Ashanti...(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476494301363-B72AAADMSWIOKLJKK9MS/image-asset.jpeg Projects THE BREATHING LANDS (Video) The Elders of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation say the water flows through their blood, and their bodies are built of the trout that swim in these clean rivers and lakes. Taking care of their watershed is a relationship at the core of who they are as an Indigenous Nation, it is a responsibility handed down to them from the Creator through the teachings of their Elders. (28:26 minutes) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476298590034-Z0CU7T8ND3T46DOPK3O4/image-asset.jpeg Projects NGORBOB: OUR LAND IS DYING AND SO ARE WE (Photoessay) “The climate has changed. There is no water here, nothing. Our land is dying and so are we” Ngorbob elders. Ngorbob is a small Masai village near Arusha, Tanzania. They have not seen rain for over a year, and as a result their farmlands and livestock are dying. Many of the residents of Ngorbob have already been forced to leave their ancestral home in search of water and work...(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1474060210220-TZMP9JF43IY39JTWA28B/image-asset.jpeg Projects WORKING CHILDREN AND YOUTH AS ACTIVE EMPOWERED CITIZENS (Photo Essay) Peru 2014. The ‘Children Lead the Way’ program seeks to empower working girls and boys to become active citizens, and to access dignified work. It does this by providing access to quality and relevant education and protection from exploitation, and by encouraging and enabling working children and youth to participate in programs and policies that affect their lives. Through the ‘Children Lead the Way’ program in Peru, working children and youth have access to after-school tutoring and technical and entrepreneurial training. They are also encouraged to participate in peer leadership activities and to engage in public affairs as a part of the National Movement of Working Children (MNNATSOP)...(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1474060522873-HLD0JRU03BW0IHEOTZZ1/image-asset.jpeg Projects INTRODUCTION (Photo Essay) Someone Else's Treasure includes the stories of affected communities in Australia, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Papua New Guinnea, the Philippines, and Tanzania. In an effort to better understand the true cost of an industry that shapes the world around all of us, the focus is on the externalized - the men, women and children that have been left out of the equations and are therefore forced to pay the price for someone else's treasure....(more) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476565965690-80PKL4JURZLIEQI37M8U/image-asset.jpeg Projects PEACE http://www.praxispictures.org/read-me daily 0.75 2016-03-04 http://www.praxispictures.org/someone-elses-treasure-contents daily 0.75 2016-10-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476409275209-T21KGTA34GC1RRS6ZWJX/MarinduquePresentation12.jpg Someone Else's Treasure Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475607956856-XPW5CI8W1B7QYJJ60FW5/image-asset.jpeg Someone Else's Treasure Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475610072379-9AVOFTEGBY35JI8XPNTY/image-asset.jpeg Someone Else's Treasure Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476405163329-KLLNJQ8FCGWKM0CEJLPL/image-asset.jpeg Someone Else's Treasure Contents NESKANTAGA: WE LOVE OUR LAND (VIDEO) In the heart of the world's largest intact boreal wetland, a tiny First Nation community is fighting to protect their lands, water and way of life. Governments are refusing to listen and a giant mining corporation is determined to mine the Ring of Fire on Neskantaga land. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476385012295-5VJDURUGAVQH4WWE2Q54/image-asset.jpeg Someone Else's Treasure Contents KANAWAYANDAN D'AAKI: PROTECTING OUR LAND (VIDEO) Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) has governed and cared for their Indigenous Homeland, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Aaki, since time before memory. In 2008, KI's Chief and five community leaders were jailed for refusing to allow mining exploration which threatened KI's water supply. The remote First Nation community succeeded in fighting off mining exploration by Platinex Inc. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475608232630-5Y7KGEGWYU8M3W3NNSJX/SET031.jpg Someone Else's Treasure Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475609983510-JFMQ04TT6LWNUXNFB450/image-asset.jpeg Someone Else's Treasure Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1475608271552-L5NNPUN09FLFPTI51UCC/013.jpg Someone Else's Treasure Contents https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476482026554-VPRYNBX7C1KBCQ39VBKC/image-asset.jpeg Someone Else's Treasure Contents KISLUYAN (VIDEO) High in the mountains of the Philippine island of Mindoro, members of the Alangan tribe live in the village of Kisluyan, on the same land their ancestors have lived on for generations. Kisluyan is one of 26 indigenous villages that face the threat of displacement by the Mindoro Nickel Project, a proposed open pit nickel mine on their ancestral land. http://www.praxispictures.org/contact-1 daily 0.75 2016-10-15 http://www.praxispictures.org/where-are-all-the-children daily 0.75 2016-10-15 http://www.praxispictures.org/smi-health-tribunal daily 0.75 2016-10-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476376684782-3IQXDFOHXQUE20ZQ42TQ/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal "My main concern is that the municipal and federal govs have given concessions without consent. Where are we going to go? What will happen to us? Because we are the owners of our lands. And these companies are coming in and imposing mega projects on our lands. We are in resistance, we have carried out community consultations to say that we don't want the company on our lands. We want to continue to care for and love our mother earth." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476376574468-29OKXABG6BJR9WFP71KB/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Matias Lopez: "I want to talk about what has happened - discrimination – manipulation – prostitution – criminalization – pollution. The workers have beaten me up. When they were under the influence of alcohol, they came to my home and threatened us with sticks that had nails and different sort of weapons to hit us. They took my food. and then they hit me. Two young people went and dragged me and they dragged me. They started beating a friend who was next to me." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377181957-YASZ2M73EV07YKPIE9VM/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Rodolfo Arteaga from the Siria Valley, Honduras. "I worked for 8 years in themine. I saw them burning the boxes which contained cyanide. For four years I breathed this in. It has given me problems in my fingers and in my toes. I am not well. I have been infected. I have chronic leukemia and I will have to take that medicine for the rest of my life. if I don't take the medicine, I won't survive." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378173000-T8OQJCNZ1PUJJU8E18EE/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal For the reasons above described, we find Goldcorp guilty for its activities in Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, which we find to be seriously damaging to the health and the quality of life, the quality of environment, and the right to self determination of the affected Indigenous and campesino communities. We also find the States, where the accusations come from, guilty of being complicit and irresponsible for not protecting the rights of those affected by mining. We also find the Government of Canada guilty for supporting and promoting in various ways the irresponsible mining investments in Mesoamerica. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377721049-NQADQ2KFGA5ULT7AKM4F/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Chrisanta Perez, from San Miguel Ixtahuacan. For the last 15 years, Goldcorp has been involved in mining exploitation in different Latin American and Central American countries, characterized by extracting gold by non-legitimate and dangerous methods which violate human rights, promoting false development projects through the manipulation of peoples in order to exploit their rich natural resources, leaving as a result damage to their health and to the environment of affected communities. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378407130-DD8IF3MEYSZSVAXOSQGE/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Of the States (national, departmental, state and municipal governments,) we demand: Emphatically ensure the respect for and enjoyment of the rights of indigenous peoples, recognizing their own traditions, cultures and decision-making. Adopting measures similar to the restrictions on open-pit metallic mining decreed by the authorities of other countries. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476376369986-BIZESPQWVBHYM6DZKOUO/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Diodora Hernandez: “They've always wanted to buy my land and have threatened me for not wanting to sell it. The mine has paid people to threaten me. Once I had my grandson in my arms, and they put a machete to my neck. My grandson cried. That is what saved my life. I have done no other crime than not wanting to sell my land. They said "why don't you die once and for all” then they shot at me, but I will not sell my land to anyone!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378140832-G8WF3X91M6TLDRSXIKXI/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal We consider that the facts presented by the witnesses and the testimonies delivered by the affected communities in their testimonies are the most compelling evidence and have sufficient substance to be considered trustworthy and accurate representations of the reality. We energetically reject the gap between the regulations and their application toward mining in Canada and in Mesoamerica. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476375702124-L2IKXW8BUY4CF0T8636V/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal The Health Tribunal project was initiated by community members of San Miguel Ixtahuacán following participation in a community-based health project. Preliminary findings of this research indicate that community members’ health has been threatened by the local Marlin Mine, a subsidiary operation of Canadian company Goldcorp, https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377947556-Y89YGG8NNNVN6DXEW6GK/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal In addition to physical health problems, there are strong testimonies that demonstrate that people have been profoundly affected in their spiritual and emotional health. They suffer from depression and loss because of the climate of fear, impotence and insecurity. As we were told: “It is a sad life that I am living”; “they go around destroying life”. It is clear that this change has traumatized both people and communities. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377919261-412CMJIA6P1YGVZON66F/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal We heard from ex-workers of Goldcorp whose health has been affected because they suffer from frequent intoxication, leaks, toxic chemical explosions, and workplace accidents due to a lack of equipment and security measures. These accidents have also led to death. One of the most notable markers of the deterioration of a community is the unmitigated increase in cantines, of alcoholism, of drug addition, and gender violence, the appearance of prostitution, venereal diseases and of HIV/AIDS. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378072328-9MY1CF9EBSFLK3E40EDI/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal In the experiences presented for our consideration regarding how Goldcorp has acted in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico yesterday and today: We see the high degree of concurrence between the different accusations around Goldcorp’s systematic strategy in the cases presented as well as the deliberate absence of will to protect the rights of people… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377364245-R0A39GADG1XS1U4SBKJJ/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Angelica Choc from El Estor: “Where is the justice for the death of Adolfo Ich? Where is the justice for German? Where is the justice for the women brutally gang-raped by so-called security forces? Why hasn’t the arrest order for Mynor Padilla been carried out? Some of us are aware, but when will we wake up as a people and see the damaged caused to us Guatemalans by transnational corporations?” do we really have a peace accord? or is this another war. because these are the exact same tactics [that were used against us during the civil war]." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378214566-S8FHNQSQCFTYCW77O3NY/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal To the communities we recommend: That they stop, using all peaceful means at your disposal, the operations of Goldcorp in your territories. This should be realized through multisector and interdisciplinary alliances and pressure on responsible bodies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476376901243-89A4V6A4ANTYL8DWGEUI/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal This development model does not favour the majority of people in the community. We produce coffee, nuts, fruit, according to the ancestral cycles. But this is being put in jeopardy for the extraction of gold. We are leaving a legacy of destruction for our children and the excuse for this impoverishment is short term employment for only 1% of the population. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378444535-PS1GNI1TNBY2KB3LNPSR/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Of Goldcorp we demand: Reparations of the damages to the health of the population, the damages to the environment, and in general damages to the affected indigenous and peasant communities. Compensation for past, present and future damages to the communities, taking in consideration that contamination is ongoing and can continue still for hundreds of years. Suspension of all mining operations in Mesoamerica and guarantees that it will not repeat the experiences described in the accusations herein. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377587942-KXK9YI15C0C59MN743TK/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal The judges read out the verdict. The judges were from different countries and are specialists in the areas of health, environment and human rights. The purpose of the court was to hear the claims and testimonials from people affected by mining operations of Goldcorp in Carrizalillo in Guerrero, Mexico, Siria Valley in Francisco Morazan, Honduras, and San Miguel and Sipacapa in San Marcos, Guatemala. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377867037-0VYFISH6GQ0E3UJ8KI51/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal In the testimonies, we have heard people talk about skin and eye illnesses, hair loss, skin rashes, miscarriages, infertility, premature births, birth defects and death of newborns, joint pains, auditory damage, gastrointestinal problems, nervous system problems, cases of poisoning that have led to death. “What is most horrifying are the children who are always sick.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377276831-OTOAW2YPYHMV3P9PRI88/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal German Chub, from El Estor, says he was shot in the back by Mynor Padilla, former chief of security for the mine owned by Canadian Hudbay Minerals, after witnessing the murder of anti-mining leader Adolfo Ich Chaman. “They have no idea what we live through, they know nothing about it. They enter violently and without shame. just like in the 60's and 70's when they massacred our parents and grandparents. The Canadian companies come to kill us. To rape us. And violate our rights. But we won't allow this to happen!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378108098-I80CP6YRYEFXIY41ZAZQ/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal …. We observe that the facts indicate that the company has not shown an interest in the quality of life for the affected population and that the health impacts constitute one of the most visible social impacts of this lack of interest. We find that the public image of Goldcorp of being a “socially responsable company” does not fit with the facts presented before this tribunal… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476376800531-RZIDJWJIO5GBCYH9PDGS/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Louis Mendoza from Honduras: "One problem you can see here is skin loss, skin problems, sores. Several years ago, one of the Goldcorp reps said that this was due to the hygiene of the local population. But people also are starting to get skin coloration, these babies were born dead. If this is what people call progress, I simply don't understand." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476375941524-2IWOW1MY30ZAG9M05YPE/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Through this health tribunal we seek to: 1. Bring attention to the broad range of health concerns that Goldcorp affected communities are experiencing. 2. Collectively engage in a popular process for greater transparency and accountability of Goldcorp’s actions in communities in which they have or currently do operate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377991989-XVYOIH9EIDHPGDOMMMXZ/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal In all cases, the mine was imposed on communities without their prior consent. As we heard: “when they arrived, they opened up a road without asking for any permission”. The testimonies illustrate how, as a result of the mine’s arrival, divisions and conflicts were created in the relationships within communities and even within families. In all cases, there has been an increase in tension, mistrust, and violence at the community level. There is a polarization and fragmentation of community life, pitting neighbour against neighbour. In addition, there is a loss of confidence in the local authorities and a feeling of betrayal by the authorities that defend the interests of the company over the human rights and collective rights of the communities. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476381150122-W82KEYCDC131LXW2MWS1/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal     SOMEONE ELSE'S TREASURE GUATEMALA (Video) This multimedia piece focuses on communities in San Marcos, Guatemala, living next to the Canadian-owned Marlin Mine. The first two songs are by Grupo Kotzic, who are from San Marcos, singing about the peoples' resistance to the mine. The third song is a live recording from inside the Church of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, San Marcos, where community members were singing a song they wrote about their experiences with the mine. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378479196-XJ8B0SW5953K061IWE23/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Verdict pronounced in the municipality of San Miguel Ixtahuacan, on the 15th day of July, 2012. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476381498894-IQQYLURGXZK75E8W5D3N/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal SOMEONE ELSE'S TREASURE INTRODUCTION (Photo essay) Someone Else's Treasure includes the stories of affected communities in Australia, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Papua New Guinnea, the Philippines, and Tanzania. In an effort to better understand the true cost of an industry that shapes the world around all of us, the focus is on the externalized - the men, women and children that have been left out of the equations and are therefore forced to pay the price for someone else's treasure. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476375784557-LLB5RQZA6UGGWPH5OTQO/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Aniceto: “This tribunal was developed to support the resistance. We are here in San Miguel Ixtahuacan, in this important event that is the International Peoples Health Tribunal. Years ago, our people, that you can see around you, began to realize what was happening. we are living through a period that we never expected. we never could have imagined that this would happen to us. so this tribunal is focused on examining the social damages that our community has been facing.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377800729-74AE4EWFPYKPKW36DTRF/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal All of the cases that have been presented have the common elements of: (a) contamination and the irreversible loss of water sources, (b) irreversible environmental devastation: disappearance of mountains, ecosystems and changes to the hydrologic cycle, (c) dust that is constantly inhaled and that contains heavy metals and toxic substances that include carcinogenic elements that accumulate in organisms, (d) affects in the chain of life: destruction of crops and soil, illness and death of wild and domestic animals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378302491-UMRGJDYTDI9OTQ82OWF8/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal To the communities we recommend: That they seek, through all peaceful means, to exercise your collective rights established in national laws and/or international treaties in order to guarantee the right to self-determination of indigenous and peasant communities. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378028630-5HSALCMKIO6UIICT4KHX/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal In repeated testimonies, we have heard the ways in which people are stigmatized, marginalized and criminalized for the simple fact that they are not in agreement with the installation of a mining operation in their territory. The authorities at the mine have not shown them respect. As we were told: “I am a despised person just because we defend the life that we all deserve”. Also, there are many threats. As we heard: “We are very afraid because we don’t know when they will carry out their death threats”. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378363261-CR2CBC74BS0SLTTKLJ7R/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Of the States (national, departmental, state and municipal governments,) we demand: Compliance with existing national legislation and international agreements, in particular those that guarantee the right to free, prior and informed consent. Creation of new regulations to protect and guarantee the rights of communities who are confronting mining and all activities that affect their well-being. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476376471252-NNBFVHD495MBF6OC0PAU/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Bamaca: "They want to use our taxes to pay for the damages of the mine, but we are a poor country, which is why we demand that the company pay for this. all of us need land to feed us, and it is sad what the mine is doing to the land. We feel as if they are killing us with fire. This struggle is not for us, but those who have not yet been born.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476381107982-PFMI4YPJ0AHWJ3HLD9SW/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal SOMEONE ELSE'S TREASURE GUATEMALA (Photo essay) Within the Department of San Marcos, in the western highlands of Guatemala, the Marlin Mine is located along the border between the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa. These communities are largely composed of Indigenous Mayans who speak their traditional languages in addition to Spanish. 85% of the mine is located in San Miguel Ixtahacán, where the population is mostly Mam-Maya, one of the larger Mayan subgroups.Sipakapa is inhabited mostly by the Sipakapense, one of the smaller subgroups. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476376321630-HLK10PZGMUS5AFZUCLF1/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Through this health tribunal we seek to: 3. Provide a space for community members to exchange knowledge and share strategies in light of Goldcorp’s impact on their lives. 4. Push for policy changes and socio-cultural shifts that bring about greater respect for indigenous sovereignty, the environment, health and human rights in corporate mining practices in our respective countries. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377766294-YI7AZKUFM7SFPUW1QCCB/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal In the current political framework that promotes economic development, extractive mining companies have found an “open door” in various different Latin American countries where their governments facilitate and allow the development of mining processes that are openly aggressive and harmful for the affected population. Currently, the extractive mining model, according to OCMAL (Latin American Mining Conflict Observatory), has created some 165 conflicts in Latin America, 35 in Mesoamerica. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476377655672-F9K06CKDOY17MQHQ8N3N/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal Congressmen Amilcar Pop (center) and Carlos Mejia (center-right) applaud the reading of the final verdict. GoldCorp is a mining company based in Vancouver, Canad,a and registered as a publicly-traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Canada is the centre for international mining corporations due to the lax regulation which extractive industries enjoy in that country with respect to health, human rights, environmental protection and labour rights, for their activities in the rest of the world. In addition, the Canadian government, through its Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Canadian International Development Agency, and other mechanisms, intervenes directly in the affairs of other governments in order to create a legal and political context which is favourable for the operation of Canadian mining companies. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476378266188-D6V7YSLRKF1LIE79JZTF/image-asset.jpeg SMI Health Tribunal To the communities we recommend: That the communities and organizations that have attended this tribunal maintain contact and organize so that they might better show the impacts of the mining operations of Goldcorp, its consequences and the future risks. http://www.praxispictures.org/tar-sands-healing-walk daily 0.75 2016-10-15 http://www.praxispictures.org/marinduque daily 0.75 2016-10-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476406359587-GSABWH3D90B8DJFODIT3/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque In 1996, three years after the destruction of the Mogpog River, Placer Dome's copper mine suffered another dam collapse sending millions of tons of mine waste in the opposite direction destroying the Boac river. Fifteen years on both rivers remain biologically dead and contain dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. Dead trees and other debris can still be seen all along the rivers. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476406236882-R69QSY299SMZ0UO4O23D/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque In 1993, in Marinduque, Philippines, one of the tailings dams of Placer Dome’s copper mine burst sending millions of tons of mine waste raging down the Mogpog river in a flash flood that swept away homes, people and livestock. The path of destruction can still be seen, fifteen years later, all along the Mogpog River, which remains biologically dead. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476406298374-87VDDFBRTLLXXN53F40G/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque These used to be thriving rice fields which have been barren since the 1993 dam collapse. Nothing has been able to grow on this once fertile land. This farm has been abandoned. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476408873113-I3GZY2VW0F8HWC4052HL/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque When the dam does eventually collapse, much of the surrounding villages will be inundated by flash floods with the contents of the San Antonio Pit which contains dangerous toxic chemicals. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476406852213-WPNJNWR3IB8JDOUHFIWL/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque Wilson used to fish in the Calancan Bay in Marinduque. Wilson recalls that most of the 15,000 villagers in the area used to make a living from fishing in the bay for a few hours every other day. Now, he says, there are more fishermen than fish, and the men have to go far out to sea everyday. But the president of the company, John Dodge, continues to maintain that “the fishermen of Calancan Bay have not suffered in any way because of the tailings disposal.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476409050859-ZAUI0UG2K0EW10HIB35N/MarinduquePresentation10.jpg Marinduque When the first dam collapsed in 1993, the flash flood of toxic waste swept away Thomas' treasured cow and he nearly drowned. With the San Antonio Pit now on the verge of collapse, Thomas knows that his home will be one of the first ones swept under by the coming flash floods, but he has nowhere else go. With his already deteriorating health, he stands little chance of surviving. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476409109568-0KQFT89VTOYP7HY5SDR7/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque “Look, that dam could break at any time, maybe next week, maybe tomorrow, I don’t know. But I do know that when it does happen, my house and my family will probably be destroyed. And just like last time, the company will blame it on an ‘Act of God.’ I want that picture to exist, so that people can know what happened. For that, I would be willing to sacrifice myself.” With those words a brave Marinduqueño snuck a photographer in the back of a truck into Placer Dome’s old copper mine, successfully evading the armed guards still protecting the property. Here he stands in front of the San Antonio Pit, containing the millions of tons of mine waste which will eventually come crashing down on his home. His bravery and determination to put himself in harms way for the sake of this documentation is a stronger testament to the anxiety Marinduqueños have to live with than any picture can offer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476409161203-5A8B0KEOMDDP4WUJV5YA/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque After being ordered by the Philippine government to make the necessary repairs to the San Antonio Pit and clean up their mess from the previous two dam failures or face criminal charges, Placer Dome responded by packing their bags and sneaking out of the country. When Placer Dome left Marinduque, they left behind them the mess from years of dumping mine waste directly into Calancan Bay; the island’s two main rivers of Mogpog and Boac were destroyed and poisoned by separate dam collapses in 1993 and 1996; a population suffering from heavy metal contamination; stripped forests; and a nine-hole golf course. The island has never seen a single centavo of the profits that Placer Dome raked in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476406580165-SB0OZ6LNNRYR4T49C5GR/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque Remy washes her laundry in the poisoned Mogpog River in Marinduque. With the two main rivers on the small island now biologically dead and containing dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, many of the residents of the island are left with no safe water supply to rely on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476408847048-C2L3XXKSSOE440HZA3U0/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque The mounting pressure being applied to the failing dam puts over 100,000 villagers below in grave danger, but there is nothing they can do. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476408795757-VRSJFMFJVT8VKL3R6YLT/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque Since Placer Dome left the Philippines the abandoned Sand Antonio Pit has gradually filled with rainwater. The San Antonio Pit now contains millions of tons of water, which has mixed with mine waste and other toxic chemicals, being held back by failing dams. According to a leaked document from Placer Dome's own environmental consultants, "failure of the dam is a virtual certainty in the near term". https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476406936200-8H3I4YW13KIM8VXF8MT7/MarinduquePresentation09.jpg Marinduque Over a period of sixteen years, Placer Dome dumped 200million tons of mine waste into the shallow coral-rich bay despite vocal opposition from the community. One day, when he was out fishing years ago, Wilson went out into the water with a small cut in his leg. As a result, Wilson suffered from mercury poisoning rendering his legs useless. One leg has been amputated, the other one will have to come off as well. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476406331713-4PQQPNV8H5DZIL4EVQ48/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque A closer look, through a hole in the wall, at this abandoned farm. No one knew for sure what has happened to the family that once lived there. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476408823603-27U2LVCVQ8H17M2OW1N7/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque The small island of Marinduque is located within a typhoon belt. Every time it rains, the pressure on the failing dam increases, making the collapse a question of when not if. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57c9a71137c581378994a45c/1476406689516-JF69Q3YZKY12ZKRFAPYT/image-asset.jpeg Marinduque An 80 year old farmer, Thomas has spent his life providing for his family by making coconut wine and raising livestock. Thomas has baithed in the Mogpog River every day since he was a baby. His body is now covered with skin discolouration which he started developing about forty years ago when Placer Dome's mine was in full operation. The island of Marinduque has never been able to afford conducting a full medical survey of the island, but smaller studies have shown that, of 59 children tested, every single one of them had unacceptable levels of lead or cyanide in their blood. http://www.praxispictures.org/remember-the-land daily 0.75 2016-10-16