Need for balance

The Special Report on page nine of your July publication has prompted us to write to you. The article is a poorly writ ten piece heavy with vitriol and personal bias. Although in essence Field touches on some of the major development prob lems in South Tarawa and more particu larly those in Betio, the facts are exag gerated half truths using highly value

laden language full of negative implica

tions and meanings.

Firstly the statement that the residents of Betio have no sewage is not true some of the residents do have connection to sewage, traditionally the beach has been used. Yes, there is limited access to piped water as it is for the rest of the Tarawa residents. What Field does not point out is that Kiribati has no supply of surface water at all and relies on rainfall and the fresh water lens under the atoll islands.

Historically water has been and will continue to be a scarce commodity. The usual practice here is to use wells and most houses or family compounds have access to well water.

What Field does not report is that a huge project designed to address water supply and sanitation issues has just begun with the first component - institu tional strengthening of the Public Utili ties started, the community education section due to start in October and the engineering work early next year. This project has been four years in the design and development process and a few sim ple questions could have gained a bal anced perspective on what is under way to reduce the water and sanitation prob lems and the work the government of Kiribati has begun to resolve these issues. Betio is overcrowded and we have been unofficially told it has the

same population density as Hong Kong.

The government of Kiribati is work ing on turning the tide of outer-island to

Tarawa migration through active policy

of developing infrastructure and resources on key islands.

Re-settlement programmes and activ ities are also well underway on the Line Islands as were mentioned but there are other policies at work. Examples of this are the project islands of the Kiribati Solar Energy Company, the outer island activities of the atoll Seaweed Company and the building of nine outer island Junior Secondary Schools.

The foul smelling local concoction that the mothers sit around smoking is imported tobacco. Cigarettes are sold cheaply here to offset the falling sales elsewhere. Given the huge public anti smoking pressure in the western world, developing countries have become tar geted by tobacco companies faced with a declining western market.

A good piece could have been written on the ethical practices of cigarettes packing now illegal in the western world being sold up here or that products that are rejected in the western world due to environmental and health concerns con tinue to be sold in the Pacific.

The most offensive "and untrue sen tence in the whole article is: “Almost nobody has a job and as each day wears on the men pass their time in a haze induced by the thousands of cans of VB beer consumed, mainly in spartan drink ing pits.” Beer is not free and in order to buy it, cash is needed - if they are not working then this vitriolic statement is, in itself, a contradiction. Betio has a high percentage of government housing housing you can only get if government

employs you.

It is also a major industrial and shop ping area with a mix of private sector and government departments. All of these business and organisations do actually employ people. For those men who make their living in the subsistence sector, you

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From previous page will see them lying on their kia kia (raised sleeping platform) during the middle of the day - a sensible thing to do in the tropical heat anyway. This reveals Field’s ignorance of the Pacific Island wide subsistence sector.

The majority of those “lazy and idle men” were probably out fishing or gathering food on the reef during the low tide while we were sleeping the night away. For many here on Tarawa, the traditional activity of night fishing is not a recreational sport but the responsibility and burden of feeding a family - life here can be very hard, sub sistence work is not conducted during the business hours of nine to five. The Foundation for the People of the South Pacific has been working in partnership with the government of Kiribati for 16 years. We could have provided infor mation and statistics on activities and

programmes which have been of positive benefit in the areas of health, environ ment, child survival, food security, and reproductive health, to name but a few.

Nor did the ministry of environment and social development or the two South Tarawa Urban Town Council initiatives on solid waste and environmental issues receive comment or acknowledgment by the writer. Along with the positive bene fits of the westernised cultures, there has also arrived an equally bewildering array of negative benefits. Kiribati like every other country in the world (western countries as well) is struggling to find new ways to deal with an increasing complex array of issues. Kiribati is no different to any other country; it is though one of the countries where it is not easy to hide issues (thank goodness).

This is not to deny that there are major issues regarding sanitation, water supply, HIV/AIDS, health and overcrowding but the article totally ignores the many and

varied initiatives and activities that are working to alleviate these. The worst aspect of this poorly researched and sarcastically written article is that it presents Kiribati and its people as idle, slothful and uncaring about themselves or the future of their children. And that is simply not true! The article had little journalistic value; it cannot be called current affairs or even human interest what indeed was the point of it?

The 161-Kiribati staff.

Foundation for the People of the South Pacific (FSP-K),

Tarawa, Kiribati