Ghana- Wells

 Engage Now Africa has been hard at work since 2011 installing high quality wells that provide clean water to thousands of villagers in Northern Ghana. Northern Ghana is the poorest part of Ghana and our wells are located in three different districts 1-2 hours outside of Bolgatanga, Ghana. These areas were determined to be where villages need access to clean, continuous water most.

When ENA and Ayindisa, LLC. discovered that three out of five wells in these regions were not functioning and did not have any water in them they knew they had to react. Some wells have not worked for over a decade. Most of the existing wells were built with good intentions by local governments and other NGO's, but without a proper plan or contractor so they only functioned for a brief time.

Below are pictures of the old, existing wells...

 Most were not functioning and if they were the water was not clean or safe to consume.

Process of Drilling Wells

ENA works with a drilling company in Ghana that specializes in digging high quality wells. They have a machine that locates water within each village and drills deep into the earth where the long term water supply is. This ensures year round water availability through both the dry and rainy seasons. They are guaranteed for life by the company and any needed maintenance or repairs are done with original manufactured parts by this company. The company also tests the water to make sure it is safe to drink once it is found. If the water that comes back from lab is determined to be unsafe then they provide the necessary medicine and treatments to ensure the water safe to drink.

Below are pictures showing the process of drilling the wells.

The best location for a long term water source is located and drilling begins.

Water is struck!

The site is capped off and a cement foundation is built around the site.

Once the foundation is set, a high quality pump is installed and clean water can be easily and continuously pumped as needed.

Well Maintenance

In order to ensure the wells are properly maintained, ENA organized community maintenance and well care taker committees that help keep the wells clean and in good working condition all year. The villages themselves donate time and some money to help with maintenance of parts so as to be responsible and invested owners of their wells. This pump was not charity. It is an investment and partnership with Engage Now Africa and the Community. Groups are typically organized in youth groups, adult groups and elderly groups so the whole village is involved and participating in keeping the well clean and safe from damage or abuse.

Ghana Well Timeline

Well 1: First Ghana bore hole well was completed and commissioned November 25^th, 2011 in Yarkibisi, Ghana with donations from Engage Now Africa and Ayindisa, LLC.
Wells 2-5 were all made possible by generous donations to Engage Now Africa.
Well 2: completed March 11, 2013, outside Bolgatanga, Ghana.
Well 3: completed March 12, 2013, Bongo Soe, Ghana.
Well 4: completed March 13, 2013, Binbinibisi, Ghana.
Well 5: completed March 26, 2013, Tondonsubego, Bolgatanga, Ghana.

Dedication Ceremony and Celebration

After each well is completed, ENA and villagers have a dedication ceremony followed by a celebration. One can only imagine the joy these villagers must feel after receiving such a life changing gift.

Below are pictures displaying the dedication ceremony for the well inYarkibisi, Ghana.

Villagers gather to demonstrate how it's used and to celebrate!!

Villagers were overcome with joy for the life changing blessing of having easier access to clean water. After this particular dedication ceremony, a group of women and children gathered together to dance, celebrate and shout the phrase "water is life"!

This past March, Engage Now Africa & Ayindisa, LLC. staff did a follow up site visit to and check on the well in Yarkibisi, Ghana and meet with the community. 

Below is the personal account of this visit by Chris Gay (Director of Operations for West Africa)...

"One year and 3 months has passed since this well was dedicated and it continues to pump an estimated 500-600 gallons of water a day. For two and a half hours I watched villagers, children, older women and men collect water to drink, wash, bathe and give it to their animals. The pump and water flowed non-stop. Water truly is life and this pump has changed the village in significant ways.

The first thing I noticed immediately was that the community had planted a garden at the end of the well where the excess water runoff is collected. It was beautiful to see this garden that never used to exist. Now the garden has pumpkins and other vegetables growing for the community to share and eat.

I also noticed how clean the whole area was and how good the pump looked and how it was still working.

 Older women told us how their backs do not hurt anymore because they are not carrying water for long distances. Parents and children told us how the can now bathe both in the morning and evening (before they could only bathe 1-2 times a month). This ability has especially made the children more awake and prepared for school as well as given them more time to play, work and study instead of wasting hours a day or missing school because they had to fetch water. They can wash their clothes much more frequently and easier, give water to their animals, drink freely for themselves and much more."

Ethiopia- Microcredit Clay Stove Success Story!

 

We would love to introduce you to Nugi Chuquala.

 

She is one of Engage Now Africa's many micro-credit success stories! 

Nugi is the mother of three children and lives in the village of Bekejo.  Thanks to a small micro-credit loan and business training from Engage Now Africa, Nugi's life has been greatly impacted and improved. Before Nugi joined the Bekejo Women's group, she had a handmade clay stove that many women in her village would borrow.  Following her training, she had the idea to turn her ability to make clay stoves in to a small business. It wasn't long before business was booming!

 

In Nugi's own words she said "My product now prefer by many and my business is growing and I am happy now ." 

 

 Before their clay stove business, they were struggling to make ends meet and feed their family. They feared their dreams of sending their children to school would never become a reality.

 

 For the first time, all of their children are attending school. They no longer struggle to feed their family and they also reported that their health and overall well being has improved because they can now afford nutritious food.

 

 

"I will like to thank Engage Now for all they did for Bekejo women and for me."

 - Nugi Chuquala

Ethiopia- Shama Laka High School

Due to the increasing need for higher education opportunities, ENA is proud to announce that construction of their first high school has begun in Shama Laka! 

Shama Laka is located at top of a 10.5 mile road. The closet large city is 35 miles from the school site.  The students are having to walk 3-4 hours each direction to the current high school.  Girls are not allowed to attend due to safety 

Shama Laka will provide high school educations to both girls and boys living in 12 villages with the hope that more will attend next year. Right now, each classroom is standardized to hold 60 students. But because of the high demand for higher education, we expect each class will have 80 - 90 students. That means ENA will be able to provide education to 320 - 360 students in the first year alone. But we expect this number to increase annually. 

We will keep you updated with pictures throughout the construction process!

Ethiopia- Marijke's Story: An inside look at an Ethiopian home

Marijke, one of Engage Now Africa's staff members in Ethiopia, shares one of her favorite memories from this year's Ethiopian expedition. Her story gives us a wonderful inside look at an Ethiopia home. Her story is below...  

"My favorite memory of the week we spent working in Gerbichu is our visit with the leader of the women’s group.  She’s a single mother with two children.  She lives in a simple, rectangular home on small fenced-in plot.  A partial wall and a curtain divides the interior into two rooms. 

When we visited her home to discuss where to put the drip-irrigation vegetable garden we planned to construct, it started to rain.  She offered us shelter in her small home.  So we all crowded into the one room and sat on small stools, low benches, and two stacked bags of grain. The room was dark.  The house had no glass in the window, so she closed the metal shutters and door to keep the rain out. 

After the rain passed, we thanked her and left, but not after having admired the pictures she had on her walls: pictures of her children, and of herself with her children.  Pictures of a more efficient cooking stove design.  Pictures of a drip irrigation garden.  She was building that stove next to her house.  She was getting that garden – we built it later that week.  She’ll show both to others in Gerbichu.  She will teach them how to construct their own.

Life has not been easy for this woman.  But she takes every opportunity to learn about something new.  She is eager for anything that can make life better and to share that knowledge with the other women in the village.  Leadership is sharing knowledge and ideas.

 It was very humbling to receive the gift of shelter from the rain.  Even more so, because she seemed to happy to be able to offer it."
                                                   -Marijke

Sierra Leone- Lyn Maternity Health Center

We are excited to tell you about Engage Now's Lyn Maternity Health Center in Bo, Sierra Leone!

 

Engage Now Africa has funded the maternal clinic since it officially opened in 2007. Over the past five years it has become the fourth ranked maternal clinic in all of Sierra Leone due to its professional and sanitary environment that provides excellent midwifery and maternal care.

 

The Lyn Clinic is proud to have already provided quality maternal care to over two thousand women over the past five years. The clinic continues to deliver 30-35 babies a month with a very low maternal death rate compared with Sierra Leon's average of 2,100 deaths per 100,000 live births, one of the highest in the world.

The Lyn Clinics maintains careful antenatal care and specific post natal care as its core objectives.

Antenatal care Includes:

1. Pregnancy diagnostics, clinical examination and pregnancy t est kits

2. Follow up of pregnant women: diagnostics of risk pregnancies, and monitoring of fetal growth

3. Screening, prevention and treatment of malaria and anemia

4. HIV/AIDS screening of mothers

5. Link with government HIV/AIDS program to supply kits for rapid test screening

6. Counseling and HIV/AIDS support of mothers.

Post-natal Care Includes:

1. Follow up and monitoring of mother and baby.

2. Infants growth and health charting

3. Immunizations

4. Screening new born for HIV/AIDS

5. Refer them to HAART Clinic
 

We are in the process of organizing HIV/AIDS education programs for young girls, targeting the youth before they are sexually active. We are also fund raising to be able to fulfill expansion and improvement needs which continually grow as the demands on the clinic increase.

 

The Lyn Clinic is a warm and happy place always filled with pregnant women and their children were been born there and is one of the many services Engage Now Africa is proud to provide to the women of Sierra Leone!

 

 

 

Ethiopia- 2012 Expedition Recap & Highlights

What a wonderful expedition we had in June, 2012!

 

      We had 15 participants that worked very diligently in a village called Gerbichu outside of Debre Zeit about 90 minutes outside the city of AddisAbaba Ethiopia.

 

     Our main project was to build on to an existing school by creating two additional rooms, floating cement floors, plastering and painting the walls bright,vivid colors, and building desks. The group also put together many school bags for students and providing a variety of school supplies to decorate the walls. One of the highlights of working at the school, was holding class each day for children at 10 AM and 2 PM. We provided various lessons from topics from English to math, colors and animals to shapes. The children are so eager to learn, and they waited in the schoolyard for hours until it was time for their class. I am sure that this is a memory that they will always cherish. A highlight for me is always to put a fresh, bright, clean T-shirt on each boy, and a skirt or dress on each girl. It's like having our own little Christmas. They're so happy to have one thing that is new and so proud to be walking home with their school bags. The children truly radiate love kindness, and goodness. They are why I go back again, and again.

 

     One of my favorite activities of the week was providing all of the supplies for a wonderful art and craft project. The children learned how to use watercolors, glue and glitter, feathers, colored pencils, and to be creative with the Myriad of supplies. It was so touching to watch each child leave the school building with their own personal work of art. We know these pieces of art will be hanging in their huts for years to come.

 

      We also worked with the mothers group and providing menstruation kits, and instructing them how to use them for themselves and for their teenage daughters. This will truly be life-changing.

 

     Thank you to everyone that helped with the family gardens, and other special projects on some of the neighboring farms. The village people are always so appreciative of the different things that we have the opportunity to teach, and to share with them.

 

     I hope that you can join us next year for your own life-changing experience. Come to Ethiopia and feel the love!!

 

                                                      Kimberly Woods

                                                      Expedition Co-Leader

 

Please enjoy some pictures and highlights of the Ethiopia 2012 Expedition...

Gary Coleman (Board Member for ENA) and expedition participants painted the interior in one of the additions to the school, as well as a mural on the outside of the school.

Expedition participants each helped to teach many school lessons to children in the village.

Diana Bingham (Director for Engage Now Africa) building and staining desks for the school.

Larry Bingham (Board Member for ENA) coordinating the school building and painting project.

Kimberly Woods (Expedition Leader and Board Member for ENA) playing with school children while they lined up and waited for school to begin.

Expedition participants helped hand out new school clothes and backpacks to all of the children in the village.

 Expedition participants helped install a garden in the village using an irrigation system.