WATER IS "LEBENSAFT" - THE "JUICE" OF LIFE

With a performance called "Wasser ist Lebensaft", a choir of Austrian school children helped the IAEA, United Nations, and its global partners celebrate World Water Day on 22 March 2002. On March 22nd the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency hosted this occasion as the lead UN organization for World Water Day. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei launched the event, stressing the role of science and technology for use and management of water resources.

The concept behind the celebration was to pause and appreciate our dependance for existence on water. And what a delightful way to see it through the eyes of school children. Nine schools from Austria were asked to express their attitude to the themes of water in an extraordinary range of expressions that one could see on display. They used the medium of their choice - be it painting, video clips , or music to submit their water science projects. The works were judged by a jury and the happy winner will go in May to attend an International Childrens' Conference on the Environment to be held in Canada. Those who attended the event and the exhibition felt that children had many useful insights into the significance of water and not only in countries where clean water is taken for granted. A big part of the exhibition was devoted to the artwork of children from Uganda.

Ten schools participated in this partnership project supported by the Austrian government. It was seen not only as a technology project but a cultural process where children from the two countries found a common medium on a common subject - a small but significant step towards bridging the North - South gulf. The essays written by school children in Uganda were complex and informative. One winner from Uganda will also go the International Children’s Conference in Canada. But the long term goal that organizers of this partnership project want to achieve is a permanent dialogue between school students in Uganda and Austria - World Water Day 2002 was a catalyst in this process.

Vadim Mouchkin, IAEA Division of Public Information