We use cookies on this website. By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy and for us to access our cookies on your device.
[[An activist in Ghana is swimming the nearly 500-kilometer-long Volta River, including Lake Volta, to bring attention to worsening water pollution. Yvette Tetteh, who will swim several hours per day for over a month, is also collecting water samples along the way to test for pollution. Senanu Tord reports from Lake Volta, Ghana.]]
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptGHANA WATER POLLUTION SWIM (TV/R)
HEADLINE: Ghanaian Activist Swims Volta River to Spotlight Water Pollution
TEASER:
PUBLISHED AT: 04/13/2023 at 4:27 pm
BYLINE: Senanu Tord
DATELINE: LAKE VOLTA, GHANA
VIDEOGRAPHER: Senanu Tord
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Schearf, Bowman
VIDEO SOURCE(S): VOA Original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO X
TRT: 2:42
VID APPROVED BY: mia
TYPE: TVPKG/RADIO
EDITOR NOTES:
((INTRO))
[[An activist in Ghana is swimming the nearly 500-kilometer-long Volta River, including Lake Volta, to bring attention to worsening water pollution. Yvette Tetteh, who will swim several hours per day for over a month, is also collecting water samples along the way to test for pollution. Senanu Tord reports from Lake Volta, Ghana.]]
((VIDEO-VOA: YVETTE TETTEH SWIMMING THE VOLTA RIVER - VARIOUS, TETTEH))
((NARRATOR))
Ghana’s Lake Volta is the world’s largest man-made lake by surface area and activist Yvette Tetteh is swimming its entire length as part of her swim across the Volta River’s almost 500 kilometers.
In less than a month, Tetteh swam 300 kilometers, up to 14 per day, to raise awareness on Ghana’s worsening water pollution.
((Yvette Tetteh, Activist, (English, 21 secs))
“There is no action that people take unless they care. And so, what we are doing with the swim is just basically bringing people into the experience of what it feels like, what it is to be in these absolutely incredible parts of Ghana, and to show them it is worth it to bring our attention to the space. To make sure that we are preserving the beauty.”
((VIDEO-VOA: RESEARCH BOAT- VARIOUS, TETTEH, TEXTILE WASTES - VARIOUS, DZOBO))
((NARRATOR))
Tetteh is accompanied by researchers from the Or Foundation, which is supporting her swim and advocates against textile waste.
They are collecting water and air samples along the way to study what is driving water pollution.
Ghana imports about 15 million pieces of second-hand clothes each week but the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change says about 40% of it ends up in landfills and then in water.
((RADIO INTRO: Edwin Dzobo is the Or Foundation’s spokesman.))
((Edwin Dzobo, Or Foundation Spokesman, (English, 20 secs))
“The number of clothing tentacles at the beach fronts and water bodies has increased over time. Now, microfibers and chemicals from these clothing, these items of clothing that are overrun across the beaches leach into the water and end up polluting the water for the communities that live in and around the water bodies.''
((VIDEO-VOA: POLLUTED WATER, SCIENCE RESEARCH - VARIOUS, AYESU))
((NARRATOR))
The United Nations says 76% of Ghanaian households are at risk of drinking contaminated water.
Ecological researcher Joseph Siaw Ayesu is leading the Or Foundation’s team.
He says the team hopes its research will cause clothing manufacturers to be held accountable for waste products shipped to Ghana, and that this will be done through a system known as Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR.
((Joseph Siaw Ayesu, Ecological Researcher, (English, 25 secs))
"The main aim of the OR is to push EPR policy to the global north, that is Europe and America, for the harm being done to us by manufacturing clothes and pushing it down the line for us to face the consequences. And so, the data that we get, it’s evidence."
((VIDEO-VOA: YVETTE TETTEH SWIMMING THE VOLTA RIVER - VARIOUS))
((NARRATOR))
Tetteh says by completing the swim she hopes to inspire others to protect the environment, one stroke at a time.
((Senanu Tord, for VOA news, Late Volta, Ghana.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
LAKE VOLTA, GHANA
Embargo DateApril 13, 2023 17:56 EDT
Byline
((Senanu Tord, for VOA news, Late Volta, Ghana.))
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
