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