Project RISE aims to share Midland Valley's pictures

Dr. Lucy Annang, investigator with Project RISE, consults her notes while talking about the PhotoVoice method and how it will help document the impact of the Graniteville train disaster on Midland Valley. Staff photo by Haley Hughes.

What has worked well, what hasn't and what work still needs to be done in Graniteville is being documented with the help of photos.

Project RISE (Restoration in Graniteville through Supportive Engagement) has given a small group of people digital cameras to carry with them for the next seven days so that they may capture different aspects of Midland Valley to develop a narrative of the area now that seven years have passed since the devastating train disaster.

The method, combining photography with grassroots social action, is called PhotoVoice.

Dr. Lucy Annang, co-principal investigator with Project RISE, explained the process during the monthly meeting of the Midland Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The pictures, along with the input of those behind the cameras, will be an effective tool to show how Midland Valley was affected by the disaster and will be shared with other community members, agencies and policy makers like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"When this comes from the words of you and other people impacted, it will carry more weight," Dr. Annang said. "We will attach someone's words to their own photos."

PhotoVoice has been used in the aftermath of other disasters, according to Annang, like Hurricane Katrina and a tuberculosis outbreak.

Jeff Jenik, who sits on the Midland Valley Chamber board of directors, asked if the PhotoVoice method is helpful in the healing process.

"It is widely used method for people to get their feelings out," Dr. Annang said.

Project RISE is looking for more people to be a part of PhotoVoice.

Interested participants should be between 18 and 65, currently live in Graniteville or in nearby communities and have lived in the area at the time of the 2005 train disaster.

For more information, call Tina Bevington at 394-6143 or Louisiana Wright Sanders at 221-6976 or The GRACE Center at 633-5004.

Haley Hughes has spent five years as the Aiken County government reporter with the Aiken Standard. Hughes, a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, hails from Knoxville, Tenn.