News

Out with the Worms

A few days ago, we wrote how volunteer Ruth had raised enough money to provide worm tablets for 5,000 children in Sekyere Central District.
With the help of the District Health and Education Services, this week the tablets are being distributed, mainly to settler villages.
Thank you again, Ruth, for raising the money to fund them.
 
 

Down with Worms

All our thanks go to volunteer Ruth Simpson for raising enough money to buy 5,000 tablets of anti-worm medication.
Yesterday they were delivered to the Sekyere Central District of the Ghana Health Service, who are going to distribute them to children through their District Nurses. What a difference that will make to the children.

Small Steps To Development

Microcredit was the subject of a meeting between our Microcredit Manager, Mavis Bobie, and the women of Timber Nkwanta. With her baby on her back, Mavis went to tell them about Ashanti Development’s microcredit project and ask if they’d like to take part.
In case you haven’t come across microcredit, we start by helping each woman to produce a costed plan and then lend her money to set up a small business, normally in trading or agriculture.
The women work in groups, and each guarantees the loans of the others in her group. Each can have up to three loans, which she must repay with interest.
When all the debts are repaid, we move the project to a new village and start again. In Ashanti, the scheme is very popular and we know of a few women who it has made very rich.
 

For Mothers & Babies

Our wonderful sponsors, IT company Softwire, have offered to fund a Mothers and Babies Unit at Mampong Maternity Hospital in Ashanti.
The Maternity Hospital caters for 2,000 deliveries a year and is the principal point of referral for seven large clinics and many other, smaller ones. The new unit will cut out the need to transport sick mothers and babies to Kumasi Hospital, 54km away. Most of the babies die on the way.
The pictures show the bush being cleared prior to building. Meanwhile, the hospital is in a state of rejoicing.

Message for Mosi-Kura

We’re trying to persuade Mosi-Kura to dig pits for household latrines, but they’re not keen. The village just doesn’t believe that latrines and hygiene training will radically improve their health, that they’ll stop suffering from constant diarrhoea and regain lost energy. If I were in their shoes I’m not sure I’d believe it either.
 
We had the same problem when we started giving latrines to villages in other parts of Ashanti. We asked local people to contribute to the work but they really couldn’t see the point. They kept asking sensible questions like why wouldn’t we give them something useful instead, like televisions or cars. But when the effects finally became apparent we had delegations from many communities asking for latrines.
 
Unfortunately Mosi-Kura is far away from anywhere we’ve worked before and the message hasn’t reached it. The raw materials, sand and stones and wood, have all been delivered (see picture) and the craftsmen are ready, but no work’s been done. If any of the Ashantis who follow our page come from Mosi-Kura we’d be grateful if they’d have a word with the village hierarchy.
 
 
 

A Great Outcome for Mosi-Kura

Do you remember that geophysics couldn’t find water anywhere in Mosi-Kura, so we had to abandon the idea of giving the village a borehole?   Then we came across an old abandoned borehole in the village and wondered if it would be possible to repair it as an alternative.

The news is great.  The borehole has been repaired by our engineers and initial results look promising.  All the old pipes have been removed and will be replaced.  The water will be tested for quantity and quality and provided the results are OK, we’ll install a handpump.

 

Veronica Bucket

For some time now we’ve been encouraging local people to use tippy taps, a hands-free way to wash your hands when you don’t have a basin or ordinary taps.  Here’s a picture.

 

Image result for Tippy taps. Size: 175 x 160. Source: www.usefulgifts.org 

We’ve never had much success in Ashanti, partly because the village children always knock the tap over within a a few days of it being set up.

Now we’ve found a second reason.  In Ashanti they prefer to use Veronica buckets, which have a tap attached. You can knock it open with your elbow and let it run for just the amount of water you need. .

 

 

 

A Chance For Pentem

Lots going on in Ashanti, not least the extension of our microcredit scheme which gives women business training and access to small loans for trading purposes.  It’s wildly popular, and we often get lobbied by women asking for it to be extended to their villages.   When the loans are repaid they can be lent on to other women, perhaps in other villages, so the whole system is very good value.

The picture shows a meeting yesterday in the village of Pentem (famous for making excellent, very loud   drums).  The women, all socially distanced, are being told that they’re going to have a chance to join the scheme.  Apparently they’re very excited.

 

 

Delivered To Your Doorstep

A few months ago one of our donors was kind enough to fund a mechanised borehole for the village of Saviour Benin. Just a few years ago this was a very deprived village, but with the help of clean water, latrines and hygiene training they’re beginning to get on their feet.

The photo shows the bucket queue for water, and also the way the village has organised itself to sell water to other nearby villages. The borehole was very good, and they have plenty of water to spare. They will save the money for maintenance and repair, and will probably soon have money to spare for some project – building a kindergarten for example.

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