Rotary Global Grant support three communities

Three communities in three different districts with a total population of 12,500 now have access to potable drinking water, courtesy of a $50,000 Rotary Global Grant.

Each of the communities now has a borehole fitted with a pump, an overhead tank to facilitate radiation-aided distribution to three locations with three taps each.

In addition, each of the communities is having a sanitation project of its choice currently being built out of the same grant.

Communities

The communities include Kojonyah in the Lower Manya Krobo District, a centre for the performance of the Dipo rites in the Manya Krobo area, which is getting a cleansing house with eight showers.

The other two communities, which are both getting a six-seater water closet toilet facility each, are Amanfro in the Akuapem North District and Dunyo in the Ga South District.

A team of nine Rotarians belonging to two clubs in the United States whose contributions were matched by Rotary International under the Global Fund arrangement, have visited the country to familiarise themselves with the projects they are supporting. The clubs are Dallas Rotary in Texas and Houghton Rotary in Michigan.
Dental clinic

The team, which include a dentist and a dental surgeon, also organised dental clinics last Friday and Saturday for the communities of Amanfro and Dunyo respectively. A total of 836 people needing dental care were seen while 112 had teeth extracted either as a result of toothache or dental malformation.

Dr Ted Fields, the dental surgeon who is also an implant specialist, noted a high level of dental malformation which he described as “double row” which he corrected at Amanfro. He explained the cause as the retention of milk teeth which forced the permanent teeth to form rather crookedly.

The beneficial communities were full of admiration for the dexterity of the two doctors which enabled them to handle the high number of people that turned up.

They were also impressed by the devotion of Dr Elizabeth Aquaye Kwarteng, the dentist, who, despite nursing a seven-month old baby, managed to spend five hours each day to attend to the needs of others for free.

The incoming president of the Dallas Rotary Club for the 2016 / 2017 Rotary year, Michael Perry, who acted as spokesperson for the visitors, expressed delight at the amount of projects their modest contribution was providing for the three communities who genuinely needed help.

Rotary Club of Accra West
He praised the Rotary Club of Accra West, which put in the application to the Global Grant on behalf of the communities, for providing effective monitoring and ensuring that the people derived maximum benefit from the amount provided.

To prove to the Rotarians how much difference their contribution would make, the chief of Kojonyah, Nene Aryetey Bana, took the visitors to the only well which, until their intervention, had been the sole source of drinking water, to show the level of its deterioration which required the cessation of its use.

He thanked Rotary and gave an assurance that small contributions would be levied for the use of the water facility to ensure proper maintenance.