La Isla Network partner film “Qatar’s Building Boom: Too Hot To Work” won the Documentary Film Award at the Paris Independent Film Festival. The festival took place April 24-29.
The film, “Qatar’s World Cup Building Boom: Too Hot To Work,” leads with the story of Surendra Tamang, who left Nepal in 2015 to work in constructing the stadiums and related infrastructure for the World Cup. He worked in Qatar’s hot and humid environment for five years. “During the time I was there, many people collapsed from the heat. I’ve seen some die from the heat,” he said. Now, Tamang is being treated for chronic kidney disease in a hospital in Kathmandu. There, he is joined by hundreds of others who are going through the same as he is.
Time journalist Aryn Baker, and photojournalists Ed Kashi from Talking Eyes Media and Tom Laffay worked together to create the project, which includes an article and film.
The team came together years ago under the auspices of La Isla Network and CEO Jason Glaser, who had encountered chronic kidney disease of non-traditional causes (CKDnT) among sugarcane cutters in Nicaragua. Since then, the mission of La Isla Network and its partners has been to protect workers in a changing climate through the development of systems that eliminate preventable occupational safety and health hazards — like excessive heat. At LIN we believe that it is paramount to highlight the health problems workers face, and to use that information to prompt private and public policy change. CKDnT is merely one of a constellation of easily-preventable health problems workers experience when private and public partners do not implement common-sense protections in the workplace.
Ed Kashi is honored to receive the award.
“The recognition represents the impact of what powerful visual storytelling, in collaboration with committed activists, can achieve to move the needle. CKDnT is a pressing health issue that has tragically affected hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. My hope is that through this award there will be greater awareness about CKDnT. I hope the awareness will inspire healthcare professionals to collaborate with us to tell more stories.”
La Isla Network is the leading global occupational health research organization and consultancy dedicated to protecting workers in a changing climate. We are generating, supporting, and executing evidence-driven solutions to protect workers from heat and other occupationally acquired injuries and illnesses, especially those driven by climate change. In the process, we work closely with employers and workers to understand the specific contexts of their industry to adopt the gold standard of worker protections to the reality of their site-specific situation. LIN works collaboratively with decision makers and choice architects to improve working conditions, support worker health, and create tailored policies and procedures to ensure occupational protections are being adequately and effectively implemented at all levels. To learn more about La Isla Network and donate to our cause go to https://fund.laislanetwork.org/general/
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