News

The Maji Water Dispenser has just been installed in our home village of Gyetiase! It is an electronic tap that allows people to collect water using prepaid WaterCards which helps to settle disagreements about how much water has been drawn and where the money went (people buy water by the jerrycan, and the profits are saved for repair and maintenance). It can check exactly how much water has been used, and ensure that the money is properly banked.

The Water Dispenser has been fixed to a brand new borehole, which appears to hold an enormous quantity of good quality water. Activity can be monitored from London, and we were told yesterday that before 11am in the morning the Dispenser had been used to sell 4,000 litres of water.

The village is very thankful.

Good news!
During our recent trip to Ghana, we visited the Mothers and Babies Unit that we built last year. We found the incubators and baby radiant warmers all occupied – 37 babies is the record monthly score – which pleased us a lot.
We were told about one mother who had given birth to a very premature baby. The baby is now at 25 weeks and having spent 14 days in an incubator now has a good chance of survival.

These photos are of Nkwanta Primary School in Ashanti. There was a hole in the roof, so all the children were sent home when it rained. We agreed to mend it, and then found the structure was not particularly safe.
So Nkwanta became a larger than anticipated project. We strengthened the superstructure, aligned the brickwork at the top and then put on a brand new roof. The children’s education no longer depends on the weather.

We managed to drill two successful boreholes in our home village of Gyetiase last month.
The photos show the second which was drilled late into the night, and struck water close to our headquarters building.

Happy new month 🙂
Today we share a photo of when Chris Hartley-Sharpe, Ashanti Development’s co-chair, was recently in Ghana and bumped into a former client of our eye clinic. The photo shows the patient explaining how grateful and how much better his life was now that he’d had cataract surgery and could see again.
Noting the non-traditional local housing in the background, the setting is believed to be of in the migrant village of Amoaman, where most of the population have walked south from Burkina Faso.

We’ve just drilled two new boreholes in our home village of Gyetiase, where the population will soon have outgrown the water supply.
Both hit water at 140 metres but we have yet to test them for water quality and quantity. We’re hoping that the borehole in the centre of the village will pass both tests, as it would be convenient for everyone, but if not we at least have the second for back-up.

On the left of the picture below is Prosper. He has been working for us for about a year now. Prosper is a graduate of agricultural college and teaches people farming, including Mariama Issah, a migrant from the Sahel. Mariama is happy because she’s just harvested her maize crop and finds she’s got over double the amount that she had last year.

People like Prosper allow for the real difference Ashanti Development can make, we are very grateful for his work.

Ankamadua latrine project is proceeding fast with the whole community working hard. So far 140 latrines are being built, of which fifty are complete.

Madam Akua is full of praise to the sponsor and asks for god’s blessing on them. She is happy that she no longer had to go to the bush in the night and early morning to defecate and so she no longer had to worry about snake bite.
See the second photo attached to this post.

Help us to continue making a difference to the health, development and livelihoods of communities across the Ashanti region in Ghana by becoming a volunteer fundraiser. See below for more details and please feel free to get in touch.

Ashanti Development was set up in 2005, when London-based Ghanaians asked their friends and neighbours for help to improve the lives of people in their home villages. These were cocoa farmers who could no longer grow cocoa because of climate change. Many were close to starvation.

We are a 100 per cent volunteers’ charity and pay no salaries and very few expenses in the UK. We employ staff in Ashanti to carry out our projects.

We are looking for a volunteer fundraiser with the ability to raise money in ways including by applying for grants from donor organisations. They must be committed to our aims and objects (see www.ashantidevelopment.org), have the ability to produce good written English and be free to offer us a few hours work a week. They must also be happy to work remotely. The role would suit a new starter looking for some first-hand experience and who we would train, or a retired person, or anyone else with spare time on their hands who wished to make a contribution to improving the lives of the very poor.

The volunteer will get no pay – just the knowledge that they’re saving lives and the eternal gratitude of thousands of Ashanti families.

We look forward to hearing from you!

A Taste of Ghana
Come and join us at our Annual Summer Party!
Saturday 6 August 2022
16.30 – 19.30
The Garden, The Tenants’ Hall
Underneath Tresham
Lambs Conduit Passage
London WC1R 4RE
(nearest Tube station: Holborn)

Ashantis living in central London will cook an authentic Ghanaian meal for you. Come and buy Ashanti gifts and souvenirs made in the dressmaking school in our home village of Gyetiase. There will also be a chance to win a raffle prize and find out more about Ghana, the charity, and how to become a volunteer.
Everyone’s welcome.
Tickets £16 (concessions £13)
Pay at the door by cash or credit card or book through Eventbrite
Eventbrite bookings £13
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-taste-of-ghana-tickets-379159274597