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yenya No: 1 is in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana and is about two
hours’ drive from Accra the capital. The community is also about 20 to 30
minutes’ drive from Dodowa with farming as the main occupation and has a
population just over 300 people with over 90% being children and youth. The
community not until last December when a Junior High School (JHS) block was
built courtesy Orphan Aid (an Italian NGO), had no access to JHS and students
had to travel 2 hours to attend school (JHS) by foot. As a result of the
demotivation factor of long distance walk, fewer children were able to attend
JHS and even with them, their performance was terrible. In terms of health, the
community has access to a very tiny clinic also courtesy Orphan Aid, which is
opened Monday to Friday and closed during weekends, so no access to
professional health care during weekends. The community cannot boast of a
single community public toilet. The only available toilet facility is the 5
tiny toilets for the staffs of the Primary (2), JHS (2) and Clinic (1). As a
result of this, community members, both young and old, students and
non-students resort to the bush when nature calls and the health hazard linked
to this practice cannot be overlooked.
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| standing beside the riverside |
The peak of their plight is the issue of water and it is really
terrible. Water we say is life but to the people of Ayenya No: 1, what is life
to majority of people is life threatening to them due to their source of water,
which is nothing to write home about. The source of water for the community
cannot be described as a river neither can it be termed as a stream due to it
being stagnant but the community choses to call it a ‘dam’. The water in
question is very dirty, smelly, unhygienic and unsafe but according to the UNDP
project on water, every drinking water must be clean and safe. The children and
women have to walk one and half miles, just to fetch this life threatening
water with containers, which when filled with water weighs 10kg to 20kg. The
dangerous side to this pathetic and sad life is, children have to walk through
the bush and also cross a major road that leads to Somanya (Eastern Region of
Ghana) to get access to the route leading to where the water is. The danger is
these children can be and are bitten by snakes on their way to and fro the
water side as well as getting knocked down by vehicles using the major road.
As if this is not enough, the community’s only source of water is
threatened by development on the land that harbours their source of water and
at the completion of the project, there will be no direct access to the water
and members will have to either walk 3 miles or more to get to the ‘river’
side. A company has bought 64 acres of land and is developing it and currently
has walls on the property and the completion of the project means denial of
water for the people of Ayenya No: 1.
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| A pictorial view of the source of water for the community |
Safe and clean water plays an important role in the lives of every
individual and it is very unfortunate and heart-breaking to see the
difficulties Ayenya No: 1 community members go through, to have access to water
that is not even clean and unsafe. The unclean and unsafe water is used for
everything in the community; drinking, cooking, washing, bathing and others.
This same water gets muddled by cows and because there is no alternative to it,
the community has to still make use of the water. The health implications
linked to the activities of these cows muddling the water cannot be ignored.
With borehole water the community will have access to safe and clean
water and the issue of unsafe and unclean water will be solved.
Poverty, hunger, health dangers and educational inefficiency on the
part of students can be linked to unsafe and unclean drinking water. Students
spend their school time having to walk one and half miles to fetch water,
becoming tired and missing lessons or classes and this affect their education.
As Nelson Mandela said “Education is the most powerful weapon that can be used
to change the world”, so how can these children change or affect their world
(community) if they are unable to attend school due to water issue. Due to the
condition of the community’s source of water people get sick and unable to go
about their normal activities; mainly farming and when farmers are sick there
will be no food and when there is no food then hunger strikes. Food production
brings economic prosperity or development, if producers (farmers) are able to
sell their products and farmers getting sick mean their inability to go to
their farms thereby leading to little or no production, which means no sales
and profit made and as a result people become poor.
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| The very path leading to the riversideClean and Safe Drinking Water for Deprived Community |
Therefore solving the issue of unsafe and unclean water for the people
of Ayenya No: 1 will not have one benefit but four; health, education, economic
and social benefits.
It is for this reason that I am pleading and calling on all and sandry
to come to the aid of Ayenya No: 1 to overcome their water problem, before it
becomes worse, which can lead to the whole community having to abandon the
village as is the case in Ayenya No: 2. The inhabitants have left the village
due to access to unclean and safe water.
A borehole water cost GH¢7000, which is equivalent to US$ 3200 or £1970 and it
will save the lives of over 300 people. Education, Health, Economic and Social
development are very essential elements in the development of every country or
community, therefore helping the people of Ayenya No: 1 will be a step in the
right direction. It will alleviate the sufferings of the people and put smiles
on their faces
Thank you
for your readiness to assist in this worthwhile initiative.
Please visit the fundraising page to donate and support this good cause to put smiles on the faces of the community.
