Recycling lake litter, Ugandan makes innovative tourist boat

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Category: Human Interest

Listening

Unlocking Word Meanings

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.

  1. enchant / ɛnˈtʃænt / (v.) – to attract or delight someone by being interesting
    Example:

    The cafe’s design enchanted us, so we decided to stay there all afternoon.


  2. innovative / ˈɪn əˌveɪ tɪv / (adj.) – new and original
    Example:

    The architect proposed innovative solutions to the city’s traffic problems.


  3. out of the ordinary / aʊt əv ði ˈɔr dnˌɛr i / (idiom) – different or uncommon
    Example:

    His memory is out of the ordinary. He can memorize a whole book in a day and recite the exact contents.


  4. moor / mʊər / (v.) – to tie a boat so it will stay in the same place
    Example:

    After exploring the lake, we moored our boat near a huge tree.


  5. fertile / ˈfɜr tl / (adj.) – able to support the growth of plants
    Example:

    My father’s garden has fertile soil. All of his plants and vegetables are healthy.


Article

Read the text below.

Flowering plants rise as if by magic from Lake Victoria onto a wooden boat, giving it a leafy ambiance that enchants many visitors.


The initial attraction becomes more compelling when tourists to Uganda learn that the greenery emerges from an innovative recycling project which uses thousands of dirt-encrusted plastic bottles to anchor the boat.


Former tour guide James Kateeba started building the boat in 2017 in response to the tons of plastic waste he saw in the lake after heavy rains. He realized the vessel could serve as an example of a sustainable business on the shores of Lake Victoria: a floating restaurant and bar that could be unmoored to drift for pleasure.


Many who come to relax here in Luzira, a lakeside suburb of Uganda’s capital, Kampala, know nothing of the boat’s backstory. Kateeba insists it’s first and foremost “a conservation effort,” one man’s attempt to protect one of Africa’s great lakes from degradation.


Lake Victoria is the world’s second-largest freshwater lake and spans three countries. Yet it is plagued by runoff waste and other pollution, sand mining and a decline in water levels due in part to climate change.


Layers of plastic waste float near some beaches during the rainy season, a visible sign of the pollution that’s a worry for fishing communities heavily dependent on the lake.


“The fact that we had a problem of pollution as a country … I decided to design something out of the ordinary,” Kateeba said, surveying the lake horizon tinged with a green substance that indicates contaminants from a nearby brewery.


He started by asking fishermen from nearby landing sites to collect plastic bottles for a small fee. He received more than 10 tons of bottles within six months. Batches were tied up in fishing nets and daubed with solid dirt, creating the firm bases upon which the boat is moored and that are also fertile ground for climbing tropical plants.


Today, the boat, marketed as the Floating Island, can comfortably serve 100 visitors at a time, Kateeba said.


This article was provided by The Associated Press.


Viewpoint Discussion

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.

Discussion A

  • Kateeba said that the boat is one man’s attempt to protect one of Africa’s greatest lakes from degradation. How do you think the government could create more efforts like this (ex. partnering with Kateeba and others, giving incentives to innovative ideas to protect the environment)? Discuss.
  • Is repurposing trash or recycling a common practice in your country? Why or why not? Discuss.

Discussion B

  • Many who come to relax in Luzira know nothing of the boat’s backstory. In your opinion, would it be beneficial to educate the tourists about the boat’s backstory? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Name a tourist spot in your country that has an interesting backstory. What information would you share with tourists there? How would you educate them about its backstory? Discuss.