Penny, Author at Ashanti Development

The Eye Of God

Onyameani means The Eye of God. It is the name of a very pretty village we visited last month. When we arrived, the community were waiting for us and were dancing to pass the time. They were very friendly and welcoming, though we smelt alcohol on some of the men.
The village stands on the site of a cocoa farm, destroyed by fire in 1983. The inhabitants are northeners, recruited long ago as labourers by the owner. There are about 400 of them. They are polygamous and there are many more children than adults.
We assumed that the village’s title referred to a small, round pool of stagnant water, full of frogs and turtles, from which the people drank. They told us that every week one or other family had to visit hospital, but they hadn’t made the link between the water and their health.
We’ve since found a sponsor to pay for a borehole, and the village has been visited by our doctors, shown in the photos. They’re going to need a lot of help to reach any sort of stability.

Second sight

Here’s a little interview with Mr Fuseini Amadu, Chief of Galiba Village, 75 years old, who has just had a second cataract operation, thanks to Hands International and the MCEC.

Nana Fuseini used to live in Yendi, Northern Ghana, where he farmed yam, cocoyam and maize. He is a member of the Dagomba tribe and his first language is Dabani rather than the Twi spoken by local people. He came south to Ashanti to find an easier life about fifteen years ago, when climate change made farming in Yendi very difficult.
He has two wives who bore him fifteen children, but five died. He is a Muslim.
In Galiba, he also farmed and his crops included maize, yam, groundnut and cow peas. As he got blinder he stopped working as he was afraid he’d hurt himself. Also, he stopped being able to distinguish between weeds and the crops he’d planted. He spent one year at home. Now he is back on the farm.
Ashanti Development operated on one eye some time ago. Now the other has also been operated on. He says both operations were successful, though the second eye looks as if it has hairs in it.
He prays for prosperity always to follow the donor. He prays God to bless everything he does. He says he is a human being so he can only say his thanks, but he knows that God will hear them.

Lending a helping hand

We’ve been given an amazing donation from the Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS), to be spent on cataract operations in the Ashanti.

Our home village, Gyetiase, has an eye clinic with an operating theatre, funded and equipped by SpecSavers. When we have identified enough patients who need cataract operations, we employ surgeons from Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to come and operate on them. We are eternally short of money to do this, and often turn away patients through lack of funds.

HANDS International, working with the Muslim Community & Education Centre, has given us funds for large numbers of operations, and we are eternally grateful to them and in particular the HANDS founder, Professor AG Billoo.

The same but different

We’re currently building latrines in two villages, Afromano and Bobin. Now that the rains are with us, work in Aframano has come to a halt. The roads are very bad, sometimes impassable, and it’s terribly difficult to work in these conditions. On top of that, Aframano is a long way from town and people have picked up very limited building skills, for example, they have to be taught to make mud bricks.

By contrast, in Bobin, all the mud bricks were made sometime ago and when the rains are light construction can continue. Bobin people are really keen to get latrines, as they’ve heard over and over from other villages that latrines and hygiene training mean that diarrhoea will disappear. So they’re determined to continue work whenever it’s humanly possible. Here are a few pictures of how they shelter their half-finished latrines from the weather.

The value of training

Dave, our teacher-trainer, has been working via Skype and Whatsapp over the last few weeks, delivering training to all eight District circuit supervisors plus two teachers from the schools for which each has responsibility. The training focused on specific techniques which teachers are expected to use when planning their lessons. It aimed to further increase pupil talk and engagement.

Dave’s working closely with Samuel, one of the circuit supervisors whom he feels is amazing in his understanding of what’s required and how to deliver it. Because of Samuel, Dave feels able to spend a lot more time at home in UK.

More training in each circuit and in individual schools will follow, with teachers trained to share techniques in their own school and to assist colleagues in lesson planning. The circuit supervisors will monitor this work and will be given small amount of money for transportation and refreshment costs.
Samuel has sent samples of lesson plans produced and Dave reckons this method of teacher-training is great value for money.

Walk in the sun

Yesterday was a great day for walking. Twenty of us met at St Pancras Old Church to do our annual walk down the Canal to Limehouse. We sometimes talk about changing the route, or perhaps walking in the other direction down the Canal, but everyone seems to like the walk just as it is.
Some people came from a long way away – Cambridge and Fleet, for example – just for the walk. We’re very grateful to everyone, but to them especially.

Night lights

More photos of the distribution of solar lamps, kindly donated by BasAid. We’re not told which villages were the beneficiaries, but from their clothes one could guess that the people are settlers – people who’ve come south because it’s too difficult to maintain life in Northern Ghana and the Sahara. Settlers are usually exceptionally poor, so the solar lamps must be a great bonus. Apparently there was such a scramble for the lamps that at one point the Chiefs and community leaders had to be brought in to restore order.

Good luck comes in pairs

Thanks to the generosity of Mark and Judy, we started work on two new villages last week, Afromano and Bobin. In a few months time, each household will have its own latrine, and the whole community will have been trained in health and hygiene.

The effects? Babies will cease to die from water-related disease, and about 1,000 villagers will stop suffering from diarrhoea for five days in seven. This will leave everyone with much more energy to work their way out of poverty.

The first three photos show Nicholas telling Aframano about their good luck. The others show him telling Bobin.

Pens4Kids

Our tree-planting project relies on school children to look after the saplings for three years after which, if the sapling is doing well, they are given some small gift.

The photos show Bonkron primary school children receiving pens as their reward. We’re very grateful to Pens4Kids for giving us the biros. The children love them.

Heartfelt thanks

When people asked taxi-driver Emmanuel why he worked so hard, he explained that he was saving up to pay for an operation for his little daughter, who had a hole in the heart. Volunteers Dawn and Paul immediately offered to fund it, and here are some pictures of the child, who is doing well after the operation.