Eye Screening at Gyetiase Clinic
Our newest part-time employee at Gyetiase is Agnes, an optometrist who screens eyes and distributes spectacles. Her eye clinic is very popular and attracts patients from far and wide, despite the fact that they all have to pay Ghc.5 for the privilege.
This is to introduce the village of Brofoyedru, which has just been sponsored for sanitation. Nicholas says the community is very excited as for some time now they’ve been watching nearby villages getting sponsors and wishing they could have one too.
They don’t look very excited in the photo, but I’m sure they are. And there in the background, you can see our new vehicle (the old one’s been sold on). FYI, she’s a girl, and she’s called Daphne.
Sekyere Central District recently asked if we would build some latrines for patients at Kwamang Hospital in the south of the District. In similar circumstances in the past we’ve built big, concrete latrines, all very expensive. David decided to see if normal household latrines, built close together, might not do the job at a fraction of the cost. The photo shows the very start of the work.
Here are before and after photos of the Ashanti annual sponsored walk, which was held at the end of last month. Twenty of us walked from St Pancras Old Church in central London, down the Grand Union Canal as far as Limehouse. Then we adjourned to a pub, and finally caught the river bus home.
So far, the walk has raised nearly £1,500 and there’s probably more money to come.
Mpantuase has found itself a donor who initially decided to build himself a house in the village, and spend some months each year in Ashanti. Later he changed his mind and asked if he could use Ashanti Development accommodation when he visited instead.
He also decided to give Mpantuase a new borehole, and to site it at a place where our hydrogeologist thinks it will hit water. A borehole would make a huge difference to the community, so let’s hope he’s right. The photos are of the geophysics team, doing the preliminaries.
Millions of thanks to Kevin Ford, who just completed the Thames Path Challenge, walking 100km to raise funds for Ashanti Development. He got terribly injured feet, completely exhausted himself, but raised a fantastic £1,000 for us. See the video here http://vimeo.com/106176098
The Training College at Gyetiase is nearly up and running, and the photos show the sewing machine tables being made. The sewing machines themselves have been bought from John Lewis, all different colours – pink, peppermint, red, purple. We hope the students will like them.
The pictures are of Bresua Village being given the news that Richard (who swam 70 lengths on his 70th birthday to raise money for Ashanti Development) had decided to sponsor them.
Get ready for some latrine-digging pictures when the work starts.
Well, this kindergarten must hold the record for quick building! It seems the reason they’re rushing is to beat inflation, since prices on imported goods like cement are going up on an almost daily basis.
At this rate, the building will be finished by the end of the month.
Mpantuase kindergarten is coming along in leaps and bounds, with the foundations now all but finished. Sponsors Ab Roy and his SpecSavers team are due to visit in October (Ebola permitting) and maybe the village is aiming to get it finished by the time he arrives.
