Introduction
At the end of October 2012, a group of 20 Central the water of the Oder River, and visit the Berlin water
Asian journalists gather in Berlin. It is cold, rainy, and for treatment plant and a geodetic laboratory in Potsdam.
many their first time in Germany. For some, it is the first
The next time the participants meet is in early spring
time they have left their home countries. Here, far from on the outskirts of Almaty, in the foothills of the Tian
home, they will study global water issues, learn about Shan Mountains. The venue is the Alatau Sanatorium,
German water management projects, and meet some once the exclusive holiday retreat of the nomenklatura of
of the world’s leading experts on water questions. The the Kazakh Communist Party. The journalists are already
seminar, which includes journalists from several coun- working on the draft of their articles, and they argue
tries, allows the participants to set aside the views of the with one another late into the night, doubting, hesitating,
question they are accustomed to at home and take the rewriting their copy every evening, and yet taking great
opportunity to examine water questions from the “other satisfaction in the progress of their work. The remnants
side of the border.” This exchange of views will result in of the winter snow crunch beneath the feet of journalists
a collection of articles which the participants already be- as they debate ideas in twos, threes or even fours on the
gin to work on in the first seminar.
traditional night-time walks around the lake.
In Berlin, everything is new and unfamiliar: the housIn the following months, work intensifies. Some visit
es, the streets, the people, the language. The seminar neighbouring countries for the first time in their lives,
program is packed: even at mealtimes the participants to see the upper or lower reaches of the river they grew
must wear simultaneous translation devices so they can up on or the neighbouring part of their valley. Others
listen to the next presentation by a renowned environ- set off to unknown corners of their own countries, seekmental expert.
ing to understand how people live in small villages on
For most of the journalists, water issues are already a dry stream beds or in flooded fertile valleys, where they
familiar topic, but working on an international team is a get their drinking water from, how much it costs – and
completely new experience. At a seminar on the first day, whether it is worthwhile in current economic conditions.
the participants are asked to imagine how their country Several participants collaborate on articles, reworking
is viewed by its neighbours, and everyone learns a lot, paragraphs and negotiating phrasing dozens of times.
their horizons widened. But the most important thing re- Photographers and editors desperately try to figure out
mains water, including the management of trans-border the names of unfamiliar places, matching texts to photorivers, water-saving technology, and international policy graphs of distant mountains and remote villages.
on water resources, and finding agreement and common
You hold in your hands the work of 14 journalists and
ground here is not always easy. The participants head to two photographers from Dushanbe, Bishkek, Tashkent,
Brandenburg to learn how Germany and Poland share Osh, Almaty, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Our
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