For the River

This is a song I found about a year ago.  It is called For the River and is by Wanlov.  Usually he does satirical songs with FOKN Bois.  I do recommend you check out the other songs, some of them are really funny and the beat changes with most of them.  This post, however, is about For the River.  It is a song about water and waste.  Wanlov sings that he wants to “go bath for the river” but then explains that he can’t because when plastic came, it polluted the waters.  In polluting the waters, it is now a bad idea to bath, since most rivers are far too polluted.  They even name a few of the major rivers in Ghana and how polluted they are.

This song shows how everything is linked in some way.  WaPreG is about waste prevention.  The thing is, waste prevention isn’t just about the street being pretty.  It is about preventing pollution of waterways, soil, organisms, etc.  One point I learned in Garbage Island a few weeks ago is that plastic particles are found throughout our bodies.  This could be acceptable if the plastic was not active, however another point in the film is that as plastic breaks down, it becomes active.  The way it becomes active is that it becomes a kind of magnet for toxic particles.  That is the problem with plastic pollution in terms of when it breaks down.  Sure, we cannot see this, but it really does make a difference.

Though our bodies are an important part of pollution, this song is about water.  In Ghana, most people have to buy pure water, which is quite wasteful due to the sachets' one-time use, if they want safe drinking water.  The problem is, many people cannot afford this, so they drink polluted water.  Where they get this water depends on their location, but one thing is sure: the more polluted the water they drink, the worse it is for their health.  In Montreal, I have spent a few years working with TAPthirst, though admittedly I have greatly reduced my involvement in recent months.

TAPthirst (tap drinkers against privatization) is an initiative dedicated to promoting awareness of the social, environmental and monetary costs of the bottled water industry, and water privatization as a whole. We aim to empower people at a grass roots level by supplying them with the information and tools necessary to question the bottled water industry and its impacts on our environment, health and communities. In doing this we hope to bring people one step closer to ethical water consumption in the fight against privatization of one of the world’s most important resources.

Our major goals are to eliminate bottled water from the University campus, improve infrastructure of public drinking water (i.e. improving numbers and maintenance of fill stations/water fountains) and educate the public as to the realities of water privatization, on both a local and global scale. 

I couldn’t change it because I find it is so eloquently written.  When I first came to Ghana and realized I wanted to work in Ghana, I saw how water and waste are interlinked and that was something I wanted to bring together in my work.  With Alfred and WaPreG, I am working primarily with waste, however our success will be a success with water in terms of at least pollution.

Because of the water pollution in Ghana, TAPthirt’s kind of initiative cannot take place.  WaPreG wants to change that.  By preventing waste, we are preventing further water pollution.  What is important to remember is that considering the amount of time it will take for the waters to come anywhere near clean, we need to make the change now.  And just a note, by clean, I don’t mean purified.  I mean allowing the water system to run its course, which is a natural filtration system.

And now a quote by Joe Henderson:

Our favorite: a former garbage dump converted into a riverside park. I first ran there more than 30 years ago when a marathon passed through this park that later became home to Pre's Trail.