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The Conversation

Factual: Life Stories

Two women from different parts of the world share the stories of their lives

Two women from different parts of the world, united by a common passion, experience or expertise, share the stories of their lives.

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The Conversation: Mothers Fighting for Clean Water

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L LeeAnne Walters (credit: Michael Gleason Photography/Goldman Environmental Prize) R Phyllis Omido

Mothers Fighting for Clean Water

BBC World Service - The Conversation, Mothers Fighting for Clean Water

Two women who fought lead poisoning in Kenya and the US

Nelufar Hedayat speaks to two mothers who became activists in Kenya and the US, to save their children and communities from lead poisoning.

Their children became sick, and they wanted to know why. Nelufar Hedayat brings together two women who identified toxic water supplies that were poisoning their children and their communities.  

Phyllis Omido is a Kenyan activist who won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015. Phyllis was working for a smelting factory in Mombasa, when she found out that her breast milk was giving her baby lead poisoning. She then discovered that the toxic waste had entered the local water supply and was affecting the health and lives of 3000 people living nearby. She fought for the closure of the factory and is now suing for compensation for the villages.  

LeeAnne Walters led a grassroots citizens' movement in Flint, Michigan in the US and exposed a water crisis. She wanted to know why her twins had a rash and hair loss and why their water had turned brown. LeeAnne started gathering evidence and proved that since the water supply had been changed, rates of lead poisoning had increased. She also won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2018 for her campaign that convinced the state to stop using unsafe water.

(L) LeeAnne Walters (credit: Michael Gleason Photography/Goldman Environmental Prize)
(R) Phyllis Omido (credit: Phyllis Omido)

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