by Erin Odom
James Hill has been filming a documentary on cleaning the water in a small town in Argentina since March 2006. He hopes to finish “Troubled Waters” by March.
In the small Argentine town of San Antonio de los Cobres, 80 percent of the women die before the age of 50. Both male and female residents suffer from various skin diseases, cancers, stomach problems and other health issues. It’s no secret what is making people sick: Like many other Argentine towns, San Antonio de los Cobres’ water is poisoned with arsenic.
Without the proper resources, there has been nothing the townspeople could do about it.
But for the town whose future has felt hopeless for so long, 2011 looks full of possibilities, as a former Mooresville family is helping San Antonio de los Cobres get clean water.
Family sees opportunity to make a difference
Jim Hill, founder and director of the Mooresville-based missionary agency HIS Heart Missions, first learned of San Antonio de los Cobres’ water problems while on a tourist trip about seven years ago.
The town of about 5,000 has known of the poison in its water for many years but doesn’t have the money to purchase a filtration system, said Jim’s son, James. Most of the town’s citizens cannot even afford to buy bottled drinking water.
In 2005, Jim and his wife, Cathy, began raising money to purchase a filtration system that would provide the entire town clean water. That year, he and a team of scientists conducted an extensive study and confirmed the water’s arsenic levels are dangerously high.
It was on that trip, he said, that Jim met a man whose story touched his heart and confirmed his efforts to provide the people with clean water.
When Jim told the man his hopes to make arsenic-free water available for the entire town, the man began to weep. He lifted up his shirt and showed Jim a large scar he had from a surgery meant to repair damage done from drinking the poison-laced water since childhood.
He told Jim he worried about his family’s health and had given up hope for the future.
“He embraced me and thanked us for what we were doing,” Jim said. “Because he knew that his son was drinking water laced with arsenic every day.”
Son films struggles, progress for documentary
James Hill films footage for his documentary, “Troubled Waters,” in San Antonio de los Cobres in Argentina. Since graduating from Mooresville Christian Academy in 2000, he went onto study film studies at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
It’s been more than five years since Jim and Cathy began working on cleaning the water in San Antonio de los Cobres. And almost since the beginning of their clean water project, their son, James, has filmed their efforts for a documentary he’s producing called “Troubled Waters.”
“I was excited about being able to work on a project with my son,” Jim said. “But more than that, I was excited about the possibility of drawing attention to this health issue that shortens the lives of tens of thousands of Argentines as well as others around the world.”
James graduated from Mooresville Christian Academy in 2000 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in film studies from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. His idea to produce a film based on his parents’ clean water project came after watching a documentary during one of his college Spanish classes.
He started production on “Troubled Waters” in March 2006.
“The movie focuses on Jim’s struggle to provide clean drinking water for a town, but it’s really about what happens when you actually see something that’s wrong and you step out and do something about it,” James said. “Within and through that story, I want it to reveal that there is a problem with access to clean drinking water worldwide.”
James is hoping to finish “Troubled Waters” by March and aspires to enter the film in the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. If accepted, “Troubled Waters” will have its official release at the festival in the winter of 2012, but James anticipates the possibility of doing a test screening this summer in Mooresville.
Hills consider the project to be personal, too
To the Hills, the Argentine people are family.
While James considers Mooresville his hometown, he spent much of his childhood in the South American country. He married an Argentine native, Carina, in 2004. The couple has one daughter, Amaris.
Jim’s daughter and James’ sister, Mooresville resident Novah Sosa, also married an Argentine native, Luis. The couple has four children.
The fact that Jim has Argentine grandchildren has made the project even more personal to him, he said. He recounted once seeing a little girl in San Antonio de Los Cobres who reminded him of one of his granddaughters, Victoria.
“I thought to myself if Victoria lived here, I would make sure she did not have to drink water laced with arsenic,” Jim said. It was then that he decided to try doing something to remedy the town’s water problem.
In 2010, the Hills finally finished raising the $70,000 needed to purchase a water filtration system for San Antonio de los Cobres. They hope to have the system installed by February. And James will be there to wrap up his filming, so others can see how one Mooresville family’s efforts have changed an entire Argentine town.
More people die from not having clean drinking water than anything else, James said. “I want the documentary to inspire people to do something about this problem.”
Want to learn more?
James Hill is raising funds for the completion of his documentary, “Troubled Waters.” For more information, visit his IndieGoGo page, watch the film’s trailer, or go to HIS Heart Missions website.
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