CURRENT NEWS
NOVEMBER 2021
HELP US CHANGE THE LIVES OF MANY GHANAIAN VILLAGERS. NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO GET WATER THE WAY THIS WOMAN IS.
WITH YOUR DONATIONS WE CAN DRILL MORE BORE HOLES TO PROVIDE FRESH SAFE WATER
How the bore holes have helped Ghana
The need for clean water locally has never been so important as this year with COVID-19 knocking on the door of many villages in Norther Ghana, with very limited health care and very few vaccinations . (Of the few vaccinations that have been sent to Ghana through COVAX , none have been wasted and they have been speedily injected into willing arms in the south )
In rural Northern Ghana most people live in small villages, in the open air, (excellent ventilation ), in large family groups (few large gatherings) with travel being restricted from the south ( limiting transmission from crowded cities ) and they have an innate fear of Pandemics. The massive Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone in 2013 shocked the world but Ghana was a frightening close neighbour and closed their borders to keep the disease out . Ghanaians remember with fear. But clean water to keep washing your hands is a luxury in many villages. Wulugu Project has been overwhelmed by the generosity of donors , big and small which has enabled us to build 38 boreholes to date , and protect thousands of lives and livelihoods
Each borehole is different with different problems (location, electricity supply, geology, weather conditions during construction) but the results are always the same . A delighted village.
A village, chosen for strategic reasons, with large population, where we have useful contacts having already built a school, with a helpful Chief, and electricity in the village, may not be able to receive a bore hole because the water table is too low .
So a survey is the first stage . When the site has been chosen, the drillers move in with their Drill , mounted on the back of a heavy truck also carrying the pipes to line the bore hole and a shiny stainless steel pump . They can bore, line and install a pump in about 3 days . Wulugu Project builders accompany them to ease their visit to very remote villages and to build the superstructure above ground. A 10,000 litre black poly tank is mounted on a block to store the water and simple pipework leads off it to a row of 5 taps fitted to a tiled wall. The whole area has a concrete base to stop spills making the area muddy and unhygienic.
Before the bore hole can be declared ‘open’ the water quality has to be tested The woman are delighted by the arrival of the bore hole , as main carriers of water , it makes their life much easier and confident that the water they are taking home is clean and safe. The arrival of the pump will change many lives , post pandemic . Collection of clean water locally will allow the women and girls more time to work and go to school. The clean water will reduce the threat of Diarrhoea, , the main preventable cause childhood deaths and other waterbourne diseases like Typhoid and Cholera and Malaria , whose mosquitos flourish in the open water ‘scrapes’ previously used for drinking water.
JUNE 2021 - GREAT NEWS !!! 2000 SHOES ON THEIR WAY
Shoes on their way to our remote communities. We had an amazing promise of 2,000 pairs of trainers and school shoes from Shoe Aid.(www.shoeaid.co.uk) Many of our school children, particularly girls, have no shoes for the very long, rough walk to school. The girls also have to make longer walks now to find clean water. The Icing on the cake was a terrific offer from Samamiah Shipping Enterprises
They will not only collect from Nottingham and ship to Ghana but carry them all the way to Northern Ghana. Once there, our team will distribute them to the neediest. We look forward to sharing photos with you!
JUNE 2021 - Desks at Cheshugu and Wayamba
We built Cheshugu last year but the opening was delayed as most schools were shut for a year. Now we have desks there too, thanks to Stephen Palmer’s legacy. Stephen and his partner Eileen have helped us almost from the very start. We are so privileged. Wayamba was our completely re-built new school, (with help from CSRC). The local M.P. was able to provide desks here. The increasing input we have from local people really encourages us and we hope it will lead to more support. We are a small charity
with a mammoth task and need all the help we can find.
Both of these schools were handed over to Ghana Education Service (GES) in February.2021. GES recruit and pay teachers and take full responsibility for running and care of the schools. But local education funding is limited and rarely includes desks.
ARCHIVE NEWS
It is calculated that we have improved the lives of well over half a million people. Our major impact is on girls and women, and this has a massive effect on all sectors. Boys, of course, benefit from schooling where there are usually equal numbers of boys and girls now. When we began, there were very few girls in school and almost none at secondary level.
In North Ghana, most charities have shut down but we hope that they will be able to operate again before too long. Wulugu Project certainly hasn’t stopped working, in fact our teams in Ghana and UK have met with obstacles head-on and done whatever was needed, as far as possible, to continue to make education more available, particularly for girls and women. Our supporters are loyal and help when they can—for example Little Melton Mothers Union gave us £100 as they couldn’t hold their summer tea party.
Recently, thanks to support from Foundation Eagle, we have built new Primary schools at Cheshugu and Guomo. Our Koldani School was one of our greatest challenges. It is easy to see why others avoid helping in our
districts.(p7 NL 2018) We have majorly repaired Sankumpe Primary, thanks to INTO Giving moving it from collapse to a strong building that will last at least 30 years.
Toilets are growing in importance now. When we first visited, there were few of these anywhere. Now we have many, including at our Koldani (thanks to Kitchen table Charitable Trust) and Larabanga (Thanks to the Hilden
Charitable Trust) schools. These, together with disabled access, were much needed and appreciated.
The Clive and Sylvia Richards Charity made it possible for Wayamba to have a complete re-build of collapsed rooms, with more much-needed rooms added. They also, together with Laing Trust, gave the wonderful headmaster at Disiga his first ever school. We built Boamasa Primary together with the school PTA, local M.P. and The Catholic relief Fund .
Virus Education
Our Ghana team, since February, have visited many of the most neglected villages. They took a generator and short power-point to explain the problem and what people need to do. ‘Wulugu’ is highly respected and is trusted to tell the truth.
Bore Holes
It soon became clear that the main problem was the lack of clean water. Many villages had no access to this, relying on ponds and lying water for drinking, cooking, washing. The same supplies were used by the many
animals, from crocodiles to wild boar. So we have managed to provide bore holes to serve 20,000 villagers. We are working on 14 more. This is a temporary departure from our usual work that is firmly geared towards
education. We are grateful to all who have helped, particularly to Wymondham Rotarians, Kitchen Table Charitable Trust, Clive and Sylvia Richards Charity and Foundation Eagle, and other individual donations.
Face Masks
Girls in our Vocational Schools are making masks at home for the villagers and some for Tamale City. These previously illiterate girls came back from slavery to learn to read, write, and understand the science and technology that help them as they train in a locally marketable skill—including weaving and tailoring. Girls were allowed to take sewing machines home to make masks. This is benefitting their families as it brings an income during the hardest of times. Ghana was advocating use of masks back in February—a long time before UK did the same.
Building New Schools
We have recently built 2 new schools and changed their lay-out to ensure that children have the extra space they need to stay safe. We were so lucky in March, right at the start of the current problems, that Clive and Sylvia Richards. Charitable Trust made it possible to provide a 9-classroom /3 store/teachers rooms at Wayamba. Our builders could work safely and villagers helped willingly with this much-needed venture. These will be officially opened in January and publicly handed over to Ghana Education Service(GES) GES take responsibility for employing teachers, maintaining the building and supplying books etc. They work in partnership with ‘Wulugu Project’ and are very aware that we are doing what we can to benefit the most neglected and inaccessible communities.
Vocational Schools
While schools are closed, key teachers have been keeping a watch over our 7 Vocational Schools, checking equipment and making sure that any insect(or larger animal) infestations are tackled
promptly.
We have just received a very kind donation from All Saints Educational Trust . This will be used to buy more practical equipment. The large numbers in our schools mean that equipment wears out, even with careful use.
Junior Highs (JHS)
After Primary, some children move to Junior High. Since only a small number were able to do this (most were still needed to help with household tasks/fetching water/ tending cattle etc) the JHSchools were distant from
many villages. This meant that girls were unlikely to enrol, as they could not safely stay so far away. Now that communities are recognising the importance of education, it is vital to provide more of the JHSchools locally.
These open doors to Senior Highs. Wulugu Project has helped Ghana Education Services by providing 12 Junior High Schools to support the best students from clusters of our village schools. The students, being older will still have to walk or bike further to reach them , but it is much easier for them now. We have recently doubled the capacity of Larabanga Junior High, thanks to Foundation Eagle (P6 2018 newsletter)
For the coming months.
We are trying to raise funds that we need to build more schools. We keep watch over all of our schools and step in at an early stage if there are any structural problems. For the past 6 years we have used a strengthened building model, ensuring that fewer repairs will be needed. But the often vicious weather and other threats mean that we must be alert.
Current Projects In The UK.
We have ‘The Wulugu room’ opening at Norfolk Constabulary Training Centre—probably November 2020.
More Support from Rotary Anti-slavery international group. They are using us as example of good practice
New initiative linking Wulugu Senior High with The Norwich School—starting mid October 2020
Working with’ Norfolk has Heart’—who are using our photos to showcase evidence of UK Aid really working well.
New bore hole thanks to Seaburn Rotary in Sunderland
‘Trade Aid’ is about to send more tailoring boxes to Ghana for our vocational schools