Photographe : Jason Taylor
Texte : Audrey Setbon
Date : Mai 2002

THE BOATS OF HOPE

Two years after the sailing of a second hospital ship, Dominique Lapierre, in the company of our photographer Jason Taylor, returned to India in order to establish an inventory and to report on a successful action. A project that has given a hint of hope to the people of the Sunbarbas islands in the delta of the Ganges river. The Islands populated by some 1 million people do not even appear on a map... Today, 4 ÒShips of HopeÓ that Lapierre has commissioned, sail on the waters of the Ganges. 

Dominique Lapierre, a famous French writer, author of several best sellers such as ÒThe City of JoyÓ discovered India when he was 18-years-old. At that time he was a reporter for the French weekly Paris Match. His love affair began with a country where splendour and tragedy intermingle. In the country of Gandhi Lapierre discovered remarkable beings who Ònever complainÓ. He knew the Òreal joy of livingÓ and Ò the real meaning to the words courage, love, dignity, compassion, faith and hopeÓ. 

This great French writer is better known for his literary achievements than for his generous heart and humanitarian efforts. However, he has been roaming the planet, hopping from one conference to another in order to speak about other projects. Lapierre is the only known author to share his royalties with humanitarian actions. Since 22 years and apart from the 4 hospital ships that he has commissioned, Lapierre has contributed towards the healing of 4 million people suffering from tuberculosis, and helped save 9 million children effected by leprosy in the slums of Calcutta alone. He has also built hundreds of wells of potable water.

His first vessel, an old fishing boat was totally renovated in 1998 and equipped with x-ray machines a stock of vaccines and a surgery block. Three more hospital ship projects followed with success and allowed men, women and children to be treated for disease, wounds from animal bites and natural catastrophes.

There were no doctors who accepted to work on these hostile grounds usually named ÒHellÕs BellyÓ. The inhabitants are left to suffer alone from Tuberculosis (first cause of mortality in India), cholera and other maladies caused by malnutrition and poor hygiene.  Today, thanks to the ÒShips of HopeÓ these people have access to vaccination campaigns, health care, x-rays and even surgery. More than 50,000 inhabitants of the region have already received medical help. A drop of water? Maybe. But as Mother Theresa said, Òthe ocean is made of drops of water;Ó

Ta•ga photographer Jason Tailor accompanied Dominique Lapierre on one of his trips to India in order to be a witness of the extraordinary work done by devoted men and women. The ships sail from one island to another awaited by inhabitants badly in need of medical help. Some fishermen or honey makers are treated for infected stings or injury. Tiger hunters having become rear but the few survivors of this endangered species often attack people. Others victim of Crocodile bites are treated on the ships. The nurses and medical staff working on the ships abandon their jobs in city hospitals and clinics in order to volunteer on the ships for six months in a row.

The entire health care takes place on the vessels. As children get treatment for malnutrition in one section of the ship, a fractured bone is treated in another. In a cabin next door x-rays are made in order to establish a diagnosis. Further a tooth is pulled or a cavity filled. The rhythm of the visits in intense. Patients show up at anytime throughout the day. It is only in the late evening that the ships throw their anchors and the medical staff gets some well-deserved rest.

These ships that sail in the waters of the Ganges Delta represent a hint of hope for these men women and children who would otherwise perish because of an infected wound or a fever.

According to Dominique Lapierre, Òfatality does not exist, there is only distress to be eased while some people refuse to face reality.  Everyone can contribute in his own way in order to bring change.Ó These are not simply words but real, concrete actions lead by a handful of people, by the side of a forgotten population. These humanitarian volunteers teach all of us a precious lesson of hopeÉ  

Captions

Photo 1 et 23 : Women fishing, in the early morning, for baby shrimps and little fish, with hospital boat in the background.

Photo 2 : Dominique Lapierre arrives on hospital boat No.1. Joined by the crew and Spanish fundraisers.

Photo 3 : Children arrive at the hospital boat for check upÉ..Amtali clinic/ Gosaba block.

Photo 4 : The hands of a young boy and old man, waiting for the clinic to open. Satjella clinic.

Photo 5 : Village elders (husband and wife) leave after having x-ray for suspected Tuberculosis (TB). Satjella clinic.

Photo 6 : A woman, who has been carried from her village by her family, waits to be seen by the doctors at Amtali clinic. She is suffering from malnutrition and asthma.

Photo 7 : Old man waits at Kumirmari clinic for a check up.

Photo 8 : One of the boat doctors fills out a prescription for a child suffering from malnutrition at the Kumirmari clinic. 

Photo 9 : Woman complaining of toothache is seen by the hospital dentist in the Satjella clinic.

Photo 10 : Child suffering from malnutrition has a prescription written by a doctor at Satjella clinic.


Photo 11 : Child with broken leg has another x-ray to show that the bone has still not set after months in plaster. The problem is due to malnutrition. Kumirmari clinic.

Photo 12 : A very primitive but effective system is used to take an x-ray of a mans arm. Boat No.1. Kumirmari clinic.

Photo 13 : Village man having x-ray on his neck. Boat No.1. Kumirmari clinic.

Photo 14 : Village man suspected of having TB has an x-ray on the boat at Kumirmari clinic.

Photo 15 : Old village man has an x-ray on the boat. He is suspected of having TB. Kumirmari clinic.

Photo 16 : Doctors and pathologists check x-ray of patient suspected of having TB. With no light box available to them, the doctors use natural light to examine the results. Amtali clinic.

Photo 17 : Doctor on boat No.1 checks x-rays as they dry, while a patient waits for her results.

Photo 18 : Old man waits in hospital boat for an x-ray, heÕs suspected of having TB.

Photo 19 : X-ray of an old man with a large tumor on his heart is looked at by doctors at Satjella clinic.

Photo 20 et 27 :Boat No. 1 at the Satjella clinic. Altogether there are four boats that work in the Ganges Delta.

Photo 21 : Hospital boat arrives at Kumirmari clinic.

Photo 22 : Boatman travelling down the delta of the Ganges in the early morning.

Photo 24 et 25 : Woman arrives in a local taxi boat. Too ill to walk, she is seen by the doctors who climb aboard.

Photo 26 : Old man throws his nets on the river bank as a local taxi boat arrives from another village.

Photo 28, 38 et 39 : Patient waits to visit the hospital boat at Amtali clinic.

Photo 29 et35 : Doctors fill out a prescription for his patient. Satjella clinic.

Photo 30 : Child suffering from malnutrition is checked over by one of the doctors. Amtali clinic.

Photo 31 : Woman receiving anti biotic injection outside Kumirmari clinic.
 
(Old woman receives medicine from dispensary at Amtali clinic.) ? 

Photo 32 : Father having his eyesight checked. Many people suffer from bad eyesight because of their poor diet. Satjella clinic. 

Photo 33 : Man has his eyes checked for cataracts.

Photo 34 : Old man with large tumor on his heart has his papers and prescription checked by doctors. Too old and weak to walk, he has been carried on a makeshift stretcher. Satjella clinic.

Photo 36 : Patients waiting with their prescriptions at the dispensary. Amtali clinic.

Photo 37 : Doctor organises his work for the coming day. Chunakhali clinic.

Photo 40 : The end of the day at Amtali clinic and the hospital boat.

Photo 41 : Local taxi waits for his customers to arrive in the early evening. Amtali clinic.


Photo 42 : Dominique Lapierre looks over the results of last years work taken on by the hospital boats.

Photo 43 : Doctors waking up to start their day.

Photo 44 et 45 : Patients wait in clinic to be seen by the doctor Amtali clinic.

Photo 46 : After the x-ray has shown the possibility of TB, the pathologist takes a sample of blood to confirm the results. 

Photo 47 : Pathologist checks blood samples for the day.

Photo 48 : Blood drop on a slide waits to be examined.

Photo 49 : Patient gives sputum specimen to the pathologist for testing. These tests will establish whether the patient is suffering from TB. 

Photo 50 : Slides containing sputum are dried for testing by the boats pathologist.

Photo 51 : After a variety of treatments, the pathologist checks the slide before examining it under the microscope.

Photo 52 : A final check under the microscope will determine whether the patient has TB.

Photo 53 : The end of another day and the cook begins to prepare food for the evening. Altogether there are between 8 Ð 10 crew on board at any one time. These include two doctors, one pathologist, captain, engine operator, two cooks and general helpers.

Photo 54 : The engine master controls the speed and direction of the engines from below. He is directed by the skipper who signals him by ringing his bell.

Photo 55 : A village woman throws out her nets to catch small fish, down river from the hospital boat. Locals rely on the fish as one of their only sources of food.


Photo 56 : After her fishing works, the woman return to her village, with little fish and shrimp.

Photo 57 : Fishing boats return to their villages after a fishing trip in the Bay of Bengal.

Photo 58 : Doctor sleeps before starting his next shift.

Photo 59 : End of the day and the boat moves down river, closer to the next days clinic.

Photo 60 : One of the boat hands lifts the anchor at the end of another day.