In sub-Saharan Africa, water is the focus of daily life. This program seeks to understand its centrality by investigating the situation at Lake Ganvie, Benin, an “African Venice” where survival is threatened by environmental changes, improper sanitation, and water-related illnesses; a perceived correlation among Dogon elders between their people’s shift away from the worship of Nommo and an increase in drought conditions; the scarcity of and limited access to water in Ethiopia near the Sahel; annual mud-fishing in Mali, as malnourished locals, desperate to fill their stomachs, gather unhealthy fish in the sure knowledge that eating them will make them ill; and the worship of Mami Wata on the banks of the Volta River and the annual fetatotro, a turning-of-the-year festival. (Portions in other languages with English subtitles, 53 minutes)