Letters

Tarawa not appalling?

Where would journalism be without a touch of hyperbole? Commonly we accept a degree of writer subjectivism as an embellishment to the facts because it cre ates a suitable mental picture for the reader.

Yet Michael Field’s “article” (Tarawa main islet in appalling state, July 99) shows elab oration of near cosmic proportion.

Imagine if you can “great piles of human excrement everywhere.” Err, excuse me, what are we talking about here, people or elephants? I believe the average human stool would be maybe 3 inches by 2 inches across, 1 inch deep. To create a “pile” would mean roughly 20 - 25 humans stand ing on the same spot and making their deposit. Hard to believe?

There’s no denying the abject state of the environment in Betio (and much of South Tarawa) and its effects on public health. Quite simply there is not yet the infrastructure in place to cope with the influx of imported materials and people.

Kiribati, even in its far flung location, is as subject to the strains of globalisation as anywhere. And nowhere is this more evi dent than in Betio (which, by the way, had a population under the 1995 census of 10,300, not 28,000).

Yet the implication that “just about any where does” as a toilet is crassly over-exag gerated. Contrary to the article, Betio does have a sewage system (albeit arcane) serv ing those who can afford to construct prop er toilet and connections. Many people can not pay for toilet facilities and therefore have to use the beach. But except for those living in bush areas on outer islands, people do not freely excrete anywhere as the arti cle implies. They merely take the only option open to them.

Whilst I understand the picture that the report is trying to paint, unfortunately it has become obsessed with shades of brown and has failed to look for other brighter colours.

These include the SAPHE project that aims to address sanitation and public health problems, progress in developing environ mental protection legislation and various educational and awareness schemes that are slowly changing local habits. At least there

fore there are silver linings, unlike the sce narios for sea level rise.

Michael Phillips,

Kiribati