The window is closing on the chance to capture the oral history of World War II, said the director of a recent historical documentary, "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru."
Depicting the story of courageous Chinese fishermen who rescued 384 British prisoners of war (POWs) amid heavy Japanese gunfire during the war, the documentary relies on the first-hand accounts of the last surviving witnesses and veterans.
During a recent interview with China Global Television Network, director Fang Li said that when he happened to hear the story of Lisbon Maru from fishermen in Zhoushan Islands, east China's Zhejiang Province, where the historical event took place, he decided that the full story must be told.
"Where did they come from? Why are they here? What happened here? So that's a very strong curiosity and also deep sad feeling about that. They're so far away from Europe, right in front of our gate. So there's a touching point. You remembered those lost lives and forgotten men. So when I return to the shore, then I heard the only surviving POW Dennis Morley, who is 98 years old already. The only [living] fisherman who rescued POWs, Mr. Lin, he is 94 years old. Then you know, the time is critical, very short. As I believe, that's the last window. If we don't do anything, we're going to lose all the oral history," said Fang.
In October 1942, the Lisbon Maru, a cargo vessel requisitioned by the Japanese army to carry over 1,800 British POWs from Hong Kong to Japan, was sunk by the U.S. army off the Zhoushan Islands in China's Zhejiang Province. Local fishermen risked their lives to rescue over 300 POWs.
On June 14, "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru" made its global premiere in Shanghai. It took around eight years to finish, as the production team interviewed more than 110 families of the Lisbon Maru survivors.
The 123-minute documentary features extensive interviews with survivors and their descendants in China's Zhoushan Islands and Hong Kong, as well as in Britain, the United States and Japan.
On the ongoing conflicts such as the Ukraine crisis and the escalating situation in the Middle East, Fang said that by making the documentary, he wanted to show the world that war can only bring suffering and trauma for ordinary people.
"I think the lesson everybody wants to learn is for any war, there's no winner. And for people, for normal people, there's no winner. Any war that happens, civilians, families are the victims, always. Not for the politicians, but for the normal people (who) suffer a lot," said the director.
Lisbon Maru documentary strives to uncover untold WWII history: director
Over 2,000 officials and experts from African countries have gathered at an annual event dedicated to water resource management in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, discussing issues related to water security on the continent and climate change to boost continental cooperation in water resources.
The 7th Cairo Water Week, held in Cairo from Oct 13 to 17, coincided with the 9th African Water Week to address problems which affect much of the African continent. The aim is to help vulnerable countries finance crucial water-security projects and elevate the issue on the wider climate-change agenda.
A total of 2100 participants and 25 senior officials from 93 countries, as well as 77 international organizations, joined the two events to focus on Africa.
"I am happy that the Cairo Water Week and Africa Water Week were combined in a truly international event. The importance here is, and we saw it in the summary, an importance of how we finance the developmental gap that Africa is experiencing in the water sector, how do we bring water back to the center stage of the climate change agenda, and how do we deal with transboundary matters that are a serious cause of conflict," said Calle Schlettwein, Namibian Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform.
Experts and decision makers intensively discussed food security, as agriculture remains the continent's most water consuming industry. The uniqueness of the event this year brought together various stakeholders, including younger generations.
"It is not a conference only for scientists, it's not only for experts. Cairo Water Week is owned by every one of these stakeholders, civil society, governments, ministers. So you see here, ministers, but here you can see school students, you see there some farmers, and here you see some NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations). That is the power of the Cairo Water Week," said Hany Sweilam, Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation.
Earlier this year, Egypt established the Pan African Center for Water and Climate Adaptation to be a knowledge sharing hub and a tool for continental capacity building. The UNESCO accredited organization offers programs and training tools to empower Africans with the latest developments in managing and reusing water resources.
"We realized that definitely we need to increase the allocation towards the water and sanitation sector under that theme because the financing gap is quite huge, about 70 percent. We have a challenge of having access to safely managed water and sanitation on the continent. We also looked at issues related to water resources management, issues related to water for infrastructure development, issues related to climate change and disaster risk reduction," said Nelson Gomonda, Director of Programs of the African Ministers Council on Water.
During the week-long conference, Cairo signed agreements with Nigeria, Kenya and Somalia to collaborate on building digital tools, smart climate solutions and jointly train new calibers to lead Africa's aspirations in achieving its Agenda 2063 goals when it comes to water security.
Officials, experts gather in Cairo to address continent’s water security
