We’ve got a lot of books in Gyetiase that aren’t really appropriate for the children. So recently we invested a bit of money in books recommended by our librarian, Alex Adjei. Here’s Alex receiving them from the Adontenhene, Nana Adu.
News
Big News
After umpteen years and no end of energy, Gyetiase finally has a clean water supply. The water comes from a borehole which the MDA drilled at Tadiesa. The District let us take it over, and Nicholas and Clement have just finished organising pipes and pumps to take it uphill to an overhead tank just where the road from Tadiesa turns into Gyetiase.
Congratulations to Ashanti Development Italia
A few days ago, Ashanti Development Italia finally raised all the money it needs to complete its clinic in Adutwam village. It wound up the process with a fund-raising dinner, dedicated to the memory of Davide’s mother and Mr Marfo. There is a video at http://ashantide.org/grandi-risultati/ of local Ghanaians, who include some of Master’s children and their friends and families, performing traditional dancing at the dinner.
Our Italian sister organisation now plans to send its own volunteers to Ashanti. If Gyetiase is known by the locals as The London of Ashanti, Adutwam will presumably soon be known as The Bologna of Ashanti. When you’re next in Ashanti, look out for local people speaking English with a mixture of strong Ghanaian and Italian accents.
PS. Ashanti Development Italia was amazed to be rung recently by a Ghanaian man living in Italy, who wanted to thank them for sponsoring his home village, Adutwam. Adutwam has at least 300 inhabitants – so what a coincidence that one of them should be living somewhere near Bologna!
A Letter from Nana Gyamfua Aduako II
The photo is of Nana Gyamfua Aduako II, Queen Mother of Kwahu-Tafo, who has written Ashanti Development a wonderful thank-you letter for setting up a microcredit project in her town. Here’s what she says: –
I have heard … about the very remarkable generosity of your ‘Yen Daakye’ programme here in our town, under which Ashanti Development started a Microcredit Scheme in October 2011 to assist Kwahu Tafo women to make a modest start in business or build upon their current achievements.Nana (Humphrey Barclay, Kwahu-Tafo Development Chief) tells me that during Isebail McKinnon’s recent visit the number of women registered under the scheme and now collaborating in self-supporting groups has risen to 80. This is an astonishing benefit you and your colleagues have brought to us, and on behalf of the women in the town I, Nana Gyamfua Aduako II, Queen Mother of Kwahu Tafo, want to express my profound appreciation of your choice of Kwahu Tafo, and your persistent and successful efforts to develop skills and opportunities for our women. I understand that the group system offers the participants not only mutual support but also training in a way that is very encouraging to them as citizens seeking to stand on their own two feet.
I have also learned that to run your scheme you recruited one of our very own townswomen, Miss Felicia Asabea, and as her Supervisor Madam Elizabeth Gyimah, now to be succeeded by Madam Ernestina Owusu Ameyaw. I am very happy to salute them all in celebration of your collaborative success.
Dear Ms David, Kwahu Tafo will always be grateful to you, and the ‘Yen Daakye’ founders Isebail McKinnon and Jennifer Kavanagh, and all your good people. Thank you all so much. I would like to take this opportunity to wish your organisation the greatest possible success wherever it operates, to congratulate you on so faithfully rewarding your donors’ interests, and for sharing so much with our small town.
Ghana Sings for Padua Primary School
Ashanti Development Italia is very active and have now collected enough money to finish the clinic they’re building at Adutwam village.
ADI recently visited the school at Padua which is twinned with the primary at Adutwam. At Padua, they gave a sort of lesson about Ghana, explaining how people live in Adutwam. They invited some Ghanaian friends along, who sang and danced for the children, all wearing their traditional dresses. Children and teachers alike were very impressed.
If you’d like to see a video of the occasion, made by Antonella, go to http://ashantide.org/grandi-risultati/
Awanya Village Chief Gets What He Wants
37 household latrines, probably used by over 370 people, have now been completed at Awanya – a village so desperate for latrines that the Chief rang us persistently on his mobile till he got what he wanted.The latrines were sponsored by our Crowdfunder friends, with extra help from one generous donor. Completion of the first 37 marks the end of the first phase of the work at Awanya. The picture shows work starting on Phase 2.
Gyetiase Eye Clinic
The clinic at Gyetiase is pretty well finished. We’re looking for a part time eye nurse and a part-time optician to screen a short list of cataract patients. Dr Peter Osei-Bonsu, the Komfo Anokye Hospital eye surgeon, will then visit twice a month to operate.
Meanwhile, Nana Ab Roy (see his picture below) is starting to collect secondhand spectacles in a big way. We plan to buy in lenses of different strengths and set up a little workshop to glaze these into the old frames. Unless they’re very poor – and I don’t know how we’ll determine whether they are or not (suggestions welcomed) – people will be asked to buy their new spectacles for a very small sum of money.
We expect people to come from far and wide to get their spectacles at the clinic, and we’re hoping the money they pay for them will make a substantial contribution to staff costs in Gyetiase.
At last – clean water at Gyetiase
One of our biggest projects right now is to develop the borehole drilled a couple of years ago in Tadiesa village. It provides enough good quality water not only to meet the needs of Tadiesa, but also to be pumped uphill to supply Gyetiase too. The photo shows (no, not another household latrine…) the pump house at Tadiesa, and next to it you can see the beginning of a tapstand.
Master’s Death
We are very sorry to announce that Mr HK Marfo, otherwise known as Master, died ten days ago in Kumasi Hospital.
Master was Ashanti Development’s first volunteer in Ghana, and worked for us for many years, initially with no pay. At first he was responsible for all our work, from building the ground floor of the clinic at Gyetiase, to acting as line manager for staff, organising free school meals and looking after incoming volunteers. As a former headteacher, he was always specially concerned about improving education in the villages and delighted when we began to try to address this problem.
Master’s role as Ashanti Development’s representative in Ghana was sometimes difficult, but sooner or later he won everyone round through his steadfastness and persistent good humour. He was 100 per cent honest and reliable and always did exactly what he promised. In all these ways, he gave Ashanti Development a flying start in life. We shall miss him greatly in the years to come and never forget him.
If you would like to send a message to Mrs Marfo, please do so below and we will see she gets it.
Four Friends and Two Villages
Four friends recently joined forces to sponsor the neighbouring villages of Dadease and Mpenya in Ashanti. Ashanti News 19 tells the story of how, having funded household latrines, they set up a small jewellery-making business for the women in Dadease and are now selling bracelets and necklaces in the UK.
It’s hard to think of a practical way of providing clean water for these two villages. Boreholes are unlikely to be successful and rainwater harvesting is extremely expensive. The four friends are now experimenting to see whether local people can be persuaded to use filters for their drinking water. This is certainly not a perfect solution, but it’s a lot better than drinking polluted stream water and if the experiment is a success we’ll apply it in other Ashanti villages.
Finally, two of them, Dawn Williamson and Paul Bloch, plan to ride tandem through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam following the Mekong, starting in January. They have set up a page www.mycharitypage.com/mekongtandem to raise money for their villages. They would really appreciate any contribution you could make.