Returning Home, A Short Documentary
Film by Megan S. Lee | InfoNile
The Flipflopi visiting remote communities in Uganda, Lake Victoria | ©UMBER Studio + The Flipflopi
Since 1950, plastic pollution has increased exponentially from 1.5 million tons to roughly 322 million tons in 2015. If current projections continue, we expect there to be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.
However, it’s not only our oceans that are at risk due to plastic pollution. Our freshwater sources are also particularly vulnerable. Never has protecting these upstream water sources been more important as recent research found that over 80% of ocean plastic comes from the world’s rivers.
Water pollution in Lake Victoria | ©UMBER Studio + The Flipflopi
With this in mind, Flipflopi turned their attention to Lake Victoria, the world's largest tropical lake and the source of the great River Nile. Decades of unsustainable production, consumption, and disposal of plastic pollution is threatening the Lake and her surrounding ecosystems. With four million people depending on the lake, monitoring the health of the lake is critical.
In March 2021, The Flipflopi set sail amid a global pandemic to raise awareness of the issues of plastic pollution. “We met with business leaders, community leaders, conservationists, policy-makers, academics and school children, in order to highlight the impact of plastic pollution on the lake and other environmental challenges it faces, and what we can all do about it,” says Co-Founder Ali Skanda.
InfoNile’s short documentary film by journalist Megan S. Lee features Flipflopi’s journey around Lake Victoria as it sailed nearly 1000 kilometres around Lake Victoria to bring together communities in the fight against plastic pollution.
"The eye-catching Flipflopi boat is an exemplar of East Africa’s grassroots ‘artivist’ movements which have sprouted to address problems that governments have failed to solve." Megan S Lee
This expedition stopped in the East African countries surrounding the lake; Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Each country has policies to tackle single-use plastics but differs in the levels of enforcement and items restricted.
There was cause to celebrate post-expedition. On June 25, 2021, after public awareness was raised of the problems of plastic pollution and influential names were added to Flipflopi’s petition to end single-use plastic, Uganda joined the Clean Seas Campaign. Demonstrating the country’s commitment to curbing the flow of litter and plastic waste entering lakes, rivers, and the ocean.
The colourful documentary takes you on board the Flipflopi, through the inspirational events and the long days and nights on the water. And now you can watch it too, and join us all on board the world’s first recycled plastic dhow.
Download the documentary and subtitles file.
The Flipflopi - Returning Home is available for free and fair use to educate and advocate for plastic action. InfoNile encourages the screening and dissemination of the documentary with credit given where due.
If you use this documentary online, please tag:
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InfoNile is a cross-border network of geo-journalists with a mission to uncover critical stories on water issues in the Nile River Basin through data-based multimedia storytelling. You can also write to info@infonile.org for more information.
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