The big smile on the motor bike belongs to Mavis, our microcredit manager. Many Ashanti women are reluctant to be seen on bike and motorbikes, but Mavis loves it, She needs to travel constantly from village to village, and the bike will speed things up no end.
Shop quality Ashanti Development honey, making its first sales. Congratulations to Dawn and Paul for working out a terrific project, which is seriously increasing the income of local people. Honey is now produced from 102 hives across sixteen Ashanti villages.
Early this week, a little ceremony took place in Gyetiase – the unveiling of a bust of Ashanti Development founder David Williamson. It was David who finally worked out how to get clean water to the village, and he was much beloved by the community. He would have very touched to know that the village commissioned the bust and is determined never to forget him.
David’s daughter, Dawn, is standing near the bust, and we’ve put in one of the last photos of David for comparison!
The Adontenhene of our village recently sent us a plea for help. He said he was going deaf, which must be a problem for a Chief who’s work includes judging disputes.
So last December volunteer Mark gave Nana Adu an on-line hearing test, using his laptop. And this month, volunteer Elisabeth took him out some prescription hearing aids. We’re told he likes them a lot.
PS Spectacles courtesy of SpecSavers
The wonderful SpecSavers fund-raisers ran a skittles evening to raise money for their sponsored village, Mpantuase-Nkwabrim. No less that 73 people turned up to support them and they raised nearly £400.
It’s been a great day for eyes in Gyetiase. SpecSavers sent us thousands more secondhand specs, and they’re going like hot cakes.
Our friend Mark brought a ‘Google Home’ to Ghana last month. It’s the size of a doughnut, and tries to answer questions by searching for information on the web.
In the little village of Gyetiase, it was a wow – everyone wanted to have a go. Mark mounted it in a box on the back of a church, and day and night we could hear voices asking questions – for the name of the President of Ghana, or who Michael Essien was, or what was the capital of Togo, or just to be told a story.
In a recent speech, our Founder Martha Boadu called on Ghanaians to always think outside the box in their quest of developing the country.
More about Martha’s speech, and some photos
Last month in Ashanti, we talked to the farmers of Mpantuase Village about the agricultural training and support they were getting. They seemed very well versed, and all knew to watch out for the dreaded army worm, which can destroy crops at the snap of a finger.
Here’s a picture of our meeting, and a couple more of Mavis paying them their loans. They will use the money to buy tools and tubers, seeds, wellington boots and agro-chemicals, and then repay it after the harvest.
This tree was made out of 500ml water bottles – about 200 in all. It won a competition and raised £150 for our new project to ensure no child in our villages suffers from worms.
