The residents take precautions to avoid contaminated water, some still run into unforeseen problems. Rhonda Snell's opinion on why her children and grandchildren are getting sick is that, "when the kids walk in the water, they stir up sediment and the bottoms of their feet act like sponges and it (the toxins) goes up through their feet into their bloodstream. Lisa Hornstein-Kunkel/Alexia Foundation
Today’s photo of the day is from Lisa Hornstein-Kunkel’s 2004 student award of excellence project, “Sovereignty In Native American Montana.”
The image is an excellent detail with a very narrow depth of field. The feet are tack sharp and on them you can see every bit of dirt and pebble as well as the wrinkles from a long time spent in the water. The face of the person carrying the child and all of the background are a blur.
The family in the story suffers from a number of illnesses. The patriarchs blame the sicknesses on the water near the house which has been contaminated by mining. The children are not supposed to swim in the water near their house. Presumably, the individuals in this image have driven the 45 minutes off the reservation to reach uncontaminated water.
