In remote regions of Ghana year round streams are rare and ground water is often inaccessible, so communities collect rainwater in dugouts but these are now drying out for several months at a time due to climate change. This means villagers, especially women and young girls have to walk very long distances to find often un-safe water, disrupting their education and work.
We are helping to resolve this problem by working with our local partner Saha Global to expand and rehabilitate dugouts to ensure villagers have a sustainable source of clean drinking water. All the dugouts we are renovating are linked to small water treatment centres run by local women supplying clean drinking water to village residents.
In January this year we funded work on deepening and expanding a dugout located in Tacpuli, in the North-East Gonja District. Vetiver grass and trees have also been planted around the dugout to reduce evaporation during the dry season.
With the support of members of the local community, the works progressed quicker than planned. By the end of July the project was complete, with the official opening taking place in August.
Hopefully the renovated dugout at Tacpuli will:
– ensure clean drinking water is available to residents all year round
– women and children will no longer have to walk long distances to source water when the dugout is dry
– children can stay in school and women can focus on other important activities to support their families
Many thanks to everyone who has donated towards our work in Ghana, we are really grateful for your support.
