Auure Ayuune’s family lives in Abeekdoone village, in the Talensi-Nabdam District in the Upper East Region of Ghana. The Upper East Region is considered the poorest and most remote region of the country. The need for development in the region is impossible to ignore.
The population of Abeekdoone village is about 300. People live in mud houses scattered far apart to allow enough space for farming. In the dry season, which lasts about seven months, the landscape is dry and barren. Families are constantly struggling to find enough water for consumption and other uses. Their struggle is at its worse at the peak of the dry season, when the stream dries up and people must dig deep into the ground in search of water. Community members, especially the children, are often sick due to malaria, stomach ache, diarrhea, and dysentery.
Auure Ayuune’s wife, Amiideesina, said her family’s water needs per day equal about 10 basins. The water they get each day is used for crucial needs such as cooking, drinking and washing of utensils. Currently, they can only get four basins from their unprotected water source. This leaves them with a short fall of six basins every day. The four basins is further reduced to two basins during the peak of the dry season (March) when their pond dries up and they have to travel to the main stream, about three miles away from the village. Her family baths only irregularly and animals have to stray far looking for water.
Madam Amiideesina says she obtains two basins in the morning, spending up to 40 minutes to fetch each basin. In the afternoon, it takes her one to two hours to fetch the same quantity as in the morning. The reason for the longer time in the afternoon is longer lines. ”As a result of this, her children are usually late for school. She complained that the major forms of sicknesses are stomach ache, diarrhea and dysentery.
Water.org is currently three months underway on a clean water project for Abeekdoone village. We’re working with our local partner, Rural Aid. Thank you for your support, which is enabling us to bring clean, accessible water to Abeekdoone!
This story is part of our Giving Thanks: Story of the Day series that will run through the end of 2009. There are countless reasons to celebrate clean water and we want to bring you some of the first-hand accounts of its life-saving, life-changing impact for those we serve around the globe. We invite you to join us and give thanks, give water, give life.
