Ashanti Scholarship Scheme, Waiting for Daylight, the Problem with Poverty, and Problems with Plastic
News
Christmas Presents Sorted
We’ve been sending our dressmaking school in Ashanti items to copy which we think might make good Christmas presents. The school is run by Kofi, who trains 14 or 15 single mothers and they’re all excited by this new project.
We’re not really up to on-line selling yet, but some of our volunteers are running stalls in different parts of the country in the run-up to Christmas. We also sell most Saturdays in Camden Market, London but best ring us first and check if you’re thinking of going.
Kofi’s making cushion/duvet covers, hats, hairbands, bags and the items in the photos below. 
New Project Planning
Nothing much going on in Ghana, but there’s a lot of rain coming down.
Here in London we went to visit the brilliant Orchid Project to ask for some advice on tackling female genital mutilation, which is practised by some of the tribes who are coming south and settling in Ashanti. These include the Fra-Fra, Dagati, Komkomba and probably a whole lot more we haven’t yet identified.
Orchid gave us a video and for starters, we’re going to run this in our clinics for waiting patients, and ask the nurses occasionally to interpret and maybe even to start a discussion. We also decided to try to educate communities about the terrible consequences of FGM at the same time as we’re training them in health and hygiene. It may depend on finding a senior person in the tribe to support us. We’ll have more thoughts later but would welcome any suggestions.
A Great Day
We had a great walk on Saturday, all nine miles of it. Father James of St Pancras Old Church gave us tea, chocolate cake and his blessing before we set off and a record number of people attended – 28. Donations are pushing £2,000 and still going up.
Our thanks to everyone who came and everyone who sponsored a walker. You all helped make it a wonderful day.
Better Sight from Switzerland
We are lucky to include BasAid among our donors. The organisation is based in Basle and funded by chemical and other major companies.
Not only have they funded many of our projects, but they are now collecting secondhand spectacles and shipping them to Ashanti for our eye clinic. Apparently on days when the clinic is operational queues start to form at 3am. At 8am the queue is closed and people trying to join after that, many of whom have walked for miles to get there, have to go home till next time.
Here is BasAid’s Kwaku Marfo presenting the latest batch of secondhand spectacles to Ashanti Development’s Nicholas Aboagye.
Double Donations
Piped Water for Mprim
In 2014 we gave one water filter to every household in Mprim village, where we’d lost hope of finding a good location for drilling a borehole. We expected the filters to last for five years and told the villagers many times that they would have to pay for replacements themselves.
In fact many of the filters are still in good condition today, seven years later, and the water authorities have recently extended a pipeline to Mprim. Water only flows in it once a week, but it is just enough to provide drinking water to the community. The filters, which are manufactured by GrifAid, have done a brilliant job in tiding the village over till a better solution came along.
Ashanti News 43, June 2021
A year in the life of the farm support project, Climate change in the Ashanti region, Solar power in the villages, and other stories from Ashanti Development
A Taste of Ghana 2021
Thank you to everyone who came to our party last Saturday. The rain held off, the sun came out, the food was great – and it was so good to see so many donors and volunteers and supporters again.
Coming to a Compromise
There’s been a long-standing debate about two different points of view in relation to our clinic at Gyetiase-Nsuta. One part say it’s essential to build a wall round the clinic. Otherwise, they say, the animals will rub up against the existing walls and leave them very grimy.
The second part says that walls are scary, people may be frightened to come to the clinic if it’s got a wall right round it. Better to leave it open.
For now, we’ve reached a compromise. We’re going to do a bit of landscaping, plant some trees and see how we feel later. Any views would be welcome.
