Wateraid enhances lives of the disabled

As we mark this year’s Disability Day, WaterAid Ghana (WAG) joins development organisations, civil society organisations, social support groups and others to advocate  the provision of the necessary services that will enable persons with disabilities to enjoy their rights as citizens of Ghana.

As an organisation that transforms lives and improves the health and livelihoods of marginalised communities by providing  water, sanitation and hygiene( WASH) services, WAG has witnessed the initiatives that some physically challenged persons could take when given the right support and opportunity.

Per the 2010 population and Housing Census, three per cent  of Ghanaians have some form of disability. This represents about 737,743 people.Interestingly, 70 per cent of persons with disabilities live in rural areas and as a result, experience disproportionately high rates of poverty. WaterAid Ghana is familiar with these communities.The latest GoG WASH data showed that currently, rural areas have 81 per cent  water coverage and only eight per cent  for sanitation coverage as compared to the urban areas which have 93 per cent  and 20 per cent  water and sanitation coverage, respectively.

These statistics mean that undersupplied communities have to drink untreated water from dams, ponds, rivers etc., or walk long distances to have access to potable water. They also have to defecate in the open (in the bush, at beaches etc) because they do not have basic toilets in their homes.

And this denies some children the opportunity to get education while their mothers hardly have the time to engage in income generating activities, further deepening the poverty status. 

What then happens to the disabled person who does not have the capacity to carry out many of these activities for his / her basic survival? Can you imagine a visually impaired person trying to find his/ her way into the bush to relieve him/herself or a physically challenged person walking about five kilometres  to collect water?

These were some of the challenges that Madam Salomey Konyo, a 65-year-old visually impaired woman used to face at Nwinso- a community in the Birim North District in the Eastern Region. She depended on her daughter to lead her to the bush to defecate. She had to resort to open defecation in the bush because there were no toilet facilities at Nwinso. 

She encountered several close shave situations where her daughter fled off on seeing a snake in the bush. She said when that happened, she just stiffened herself in order not to be noticed by the snake. That was the only option she had because she did not know the direction from which the snake was approaching. Luckily for her, she was never bitten by a snake but theses encounters were so harrowing that she wished she could have another alternative to defecating in the bush.

Help came in April 2013 when WaterAid Ghana, through the Obooma Rural Action Programme, ORAP, began working with the people of Nwinso to develop an action plan to solve their WASH problems. To adequately meet the WASH needs of such communities, WAG undertook a baseline study to collect data on the peculiar characteristics of Nwinso. Five people were identified as PWD and a clear understanding of the forms of disabilities within the target population emerged to inform our planning.  

Guided by our equity and inclusion values, WAG also ensures that all community groups, including the disabled persons are  represented in the Water and Sanitation Management teams  (WSMT) in communities(committees formed to manage Water and Sanitation activities in communities). The baseline  survey at Nwinso revealed that there were five manual boreholes which were slow and that water-borne diseases such as bilharzia and other skin infections were common but there was no clinic in the community.

WaterAid then mobilised the community members and took them through some exercises to support them to initiate actions that will improve their standard of living with regards to WASH. After raising the awareness, the community members, especially the youth groups, built toilets for the disabled in the communities.

Today, as we celebrate Global Disability Day, WAG  appeals to all development agencies to ensure greater efforts are made to ensure that development processes to make sure that persons with disabilities to help realise the overall objective of the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in activities of all sectors of the society.