Over the years. one way or another, I have tried to capture the beauty of water through watercolour painting. I've tried to feel, through this medium, what water means to me when it is rough and powerful, dominant and demanding. But, its still and reflective moods really entice me to continue; its ability to show colour and form and to respond to a breeze by rippling and fracturing light.

But while I romanticise abut the beauty of water and over-water my plants, today's grim reality is that in our world, a child dies every 15 seconds from water-related diseases. In some places women trudge for hours to find drinking water suit¬able for their families and somewhere else the earth cracks with its thirst or cries with the pain of salinatlon.

Association with the Peace movement has taught me that wars are not fought over ideologies, cultural differences and religious divides (at least not predominantly), they are fought over resources: today 'oil', tomorrow 'water', (even now 'water' in the Middle East). But natural resources are not possessions to be fought for - they are for all. To have the sky and the sun, the coast line, fresh water and wind is a human right, an animal right and an earth right Fresh water is a 'right' denied to some and in danger of being denied to more in the future unless we are aware and work for change.

The fate of a fish was brought to my mind when I was a small child reading Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. "Ah me, dry or be eaten," said the fish, I am every bit as much dependent upon water as that little fish, Like him, like the earth, let me not 'dry' (or 'be eaten' for that matter!).

The facts mentioned in this reflection are taken from Oxfam's newsletter Horizons Vol 3 No 2 May 2003.