when the water ends

Following the news coverage surrounding the worsening famine and refuge crisis on the Horn of Africa, I learned recently that a fellow Vassar alum had directed a stimulating sixteen-minute documentary last year about this issue. Titled When the Water Ends, Evan Abramson examines the devastating impact that drought has had on the neighboring tribes of Kenya and Ethiopia and the severe challenges that it will continue to pose to the region going forward. The documentary points out that the challenges of water shortage aren't of course limited to Africa although it's hit the hardest. It's a global problem, which promises to worsen due to climate change and a growing world population. Indeed, sizable areas of the American South and Southwest have been suffering from a lack of water for years.

As temperatures rise and water supplies dry up, semi-nomadic tribes along the Kenyan-Ethiopian border increasingly are coming into conflict. When the Water Ends focuses on how the worsening drought will pit groups and nations against one another. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/clients/when-the-water-ends-for-yale360

MediaStorm, the producer of this documentary, has also completed a number of other projects focusing on challenges of the human experience. Check out more of their work here.