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Rolling Water (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Roger Bassick.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: And I'm Gillian Woodward. Spotlight uses a special English method
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Betty Skawuka has collected water for her family ever since
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: she learned how to walk. She learned from her mother.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Every day she would walk over a kilometer to the river.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: When she was a little girl, she carried a small
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: water container as she walked behind her mother and sisters.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: But as she grew older, she carried more water. She
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: would fill up a large container with thirty liters of water.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: She would then lift this container up to the top
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of her head. Betty would then walk all the way
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: back home carrying this heavy container. Betty would do this
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: six or seven times every day. She talks about how
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: she used the water.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: No one here has running water in the house, so
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: we had to be so careful with the water because
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: it was so hard to get and so heavy. Today's
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: spotlight is on an invention that is helping women in
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Africa gather water more easily. Collecting water is a common
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: practice for many women and girls in country villages in
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: southern Africa. Usually women and girls work in the home,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: men and boys work outside the home. Women may spend
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: up to twenty six percent of their time collecting water.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Women and children provide almost all the water in village.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Africa is the second driest continent in the world. Two
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: thirds of its countries have very limited access to water.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: In larger communities, the women are responsible for finding clean water.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: The women know where to find and store good water.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: But all this water collecting takes time and energy. If
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: a woman or child is spending much of their day
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: collecting water, they do not have time for other activities.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: They cannot go to school or care for sick family members.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Nelson Mandela was the first president of South Africa. He
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: once said.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Freedom alone is not enough without light to read at night.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: It is not enough without time or access to water
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: for your farm. It is not enough without the ability
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: to catch fish to feed your family.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: In some areas in Africa, women walk over fifteen kilometers
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: to get water. They have to travel twice as far
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: if it is in the dry season. But it is
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: not just the distance that is a problem. The water
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: containers are very heavy when they are full. Many women
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: carry these containers balanced on their heads. The women walk
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: with up to twenty kilograms of water on their heads.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: This weight can damage a woman's body. Women can develop
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: back and neck problems. Carrying water like this may even
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: damage a woman's waistbones, making it difficult for her to
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: have children.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Many aid groups are working hard to provide wells for
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: communities in Africa. This is important, but sometimes the wells
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: have problems. The machines that pump the water can break,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and there's not always someone close by to fix the machine.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: During dry seasons, the wells may become dry from months
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: at a time.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety two, two South African engineers wanted to
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: do something to help with these water problems. Petty Petza
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: and Johann Yonka wanted to create a new way to
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: carry water. They thought of carrying water in a wheelbarrow,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: a large container with two handles and one wheel, but
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: when they started making the design, they found that the
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: wheel was the most costly part. So they had an
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: idea to put water in the wheel itself instead of
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: in the container on top.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: So the two men began a new design, a container
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  Speaker 1: that could roll on rough ground, a container that could
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: carry more water than the women usually carried a simple
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  Speaker 1: container that would not break. Would they be able to
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: put all these ideas in one device.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: After working for some time, the men had their design.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: They called the container the Hippo water roller. It looked
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: like a large barrel, a round plastic container turned on
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: its side. A removable cover was on one side of
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  Speaker 2: the hippo roller. A long piece of metal attached to
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  Speaker 2: each side of the container.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: A person could hold onto this metal handle and push
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  Speaker 1: the hippo roller on the ground. The container acted as
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: a large wheel. It was made out of a very thick,
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  Speaker 1: strong plastic. The designers said this is why they called
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: it a hippo roller. A hippopotamus is an animal that
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: is found in the water in Africa. Sometimes it is
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  Speaker 1: simply called a hippo. It is very thick skin, like
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  Speaker 1: the thick plastic of the hippo roller.
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  Speaker 2: The hippo roller lets people carry ninety liters of water
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  Speaker 2: at a time. It is easy to fill and easy
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  Speaker 2: to clean. The thick plastic container can roll over rocks,
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  Speaker 2: sand and plants. The metal handle is made from strong steel.
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  Speaker 2: The handle can be removed to let the containers stand
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  Speaker 2: up to.
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  Speaker 1: Be filled using the hippo roller saves time. It carries
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  Speaker 1: about five times more water than a usual water container.
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  Speaker 1: For most families, this is enough water for one day.
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  Speaker 1: Carrying the water in the hippo roller is less work
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  Speaker 1: for women and children, it does not damage the person's body,
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  Speaker 1: and the container can also be used as a clean
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  Speaker 1: place to store water.
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  Speaker 2: Today, over sixty five thousand hippo rollers have been given
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: to families all across Southern Africa. Each roller costs too
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  Speaker 2: much money for these families, so the Hippo Roller organization
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: collects money from other people to pay the cost of
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  Speaker 2: the hippo rollers. Families using the hippo rollers do not
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  Speaker 2: have to pay anything.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: The United Nations estimates that at least two billion people
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: in the world do not have good access to water.
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  Speaker 1: For these people, water is difficult to get. The hippo
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: roller is helping with this problem. One hippo roller can
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: serve a family of seven people. By using it, a
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  Speaker 1: family saves time and energy that can be used for
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  Speaker 1: other work and education.
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  Speaker 2: People have even seen a change in family responsibilities because
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: of the hippo roller. The new technology is interesting and
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: exciting to men, so they are more willing to help
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  Speaker 2: the women collect the water.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: The creators of hippo rollers add that these are not
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: a permanent solution. Clean running water is the best way
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  Speaker 1: to ensure access for everyone, but the hippo rollers are
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: an excellent first step. Across the countryside of South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Zimbabwe and other nations, groups of women and men can
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: be seen walking through grassy fields. In front of them
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  Speaker 1: they push large, rolling blue hippo rollers. They push a
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: device that carries water but also carries a better life
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  Speaker 1: for them and their family.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: How do you get clean water to use? What are
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: the challenges for getting water in your community? You can
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: leave a comment on our website at www dot Spotlightenglish
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  Speaker 2: dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Blue Sky, and x.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: The writers of this program were from the Spotlight team.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: The producer was Michio Ozaki. All quotes were adapted for
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is called
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Rolling Water. Visit our website to download our free official
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: app for Android and Apple devices.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: We hope you can can join us again for the
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: next Spotlight program. Goodbye,