Yvette Tetteh: Ghanaian Activist Swims Across Volta River to Raise Awareness of Water Pollution
Yvette Tetteh is a 30-year-old Ghanaian-British agribusiness entrepreneur and Dangme activist. She is known for being the Chief Executive Officer of Yvayva Farms and winning the Koffi Addo Prize for Non-Fiction in 2016.
Yvette Tetteh swam across the Volta River from Buipe to Ada, covering about 450 kilometers in 40 days. This is roughly like a journey from Accra to Kumasi. She did this to bring awareness to the deteriorating water pollution in Ghana.
The 350-kilometer swim was part of a project called the Agbetsi Living Water Swim. The project is tracking the effect of textile waste throughout the country and taking water and air samples each day to check for microfibers and microplastics. This is done using the same protocols as The Or Foundation team collecting samples in Accra to raise awareness about textile pollution.
Yvette Tetteh’s initiative has signified a series of groundbreaking firsts. She became the first person to swim across the Volta River from Buipe to Ada. She also became the first person to cross the largest manmade lake in the world by swimming. Additionally, the project resulted in the first solar-powered research vessel being built in Ghana. Finally, the first study of microfiber pollution was undertaken along 450km of Ghana’s internal coastline.
Yvette Tetteh’s swim and the Agbetsi Living Water Swim project are important because they bring attention to the issue of water pollution in Ghana. By tracking the effect of textile waste and taking water and air samples, the project can help identify the sources of pollution and work towards finding solutions. Yvette Tetteh’s accomplishments show that one person can make a difference and inspire others to take action.
