For the last ten years, the communities have been meeting regularly to discuss the work of the water project. As the time for the completion approached it was necessary to finalize the management procedures and systems of the Zongo Water Project. AMURT studied the operation of other water projects in the district to learn about their difficulties has worked well.  We visited Mafi-Dekpoe, Mafi-Kumase, Bakpa-Newtown and Adidome water projects. The Adidome project appeared to be running more successfully, and the directors were happy to advise us. AMURT and representatives from the community had many meetings with the director who guided us to set up the management.

Each community selected their candidates to be stand pipe attendants. They all attended a seminar with a representative from the Adidome Water Project. They learnt about reading the meters and calculating the cost for various size containers, and how to keep simple accounts and deal with common problems that crop up while selling water.

Adiekpe Standpipe number 5 (above) has sold more water than any other standpipe. Here the Standpipe Attendant is settling the weekly accounts with the meter reader.

Since operation started the standpipe attendants have done a very good job.  They all get a percentage of the sales, and are careful to open the taps at the fixed times, 5 to 7 in the morning and 4 to 6 in the evenings.

The project got a welcome boost from the newly appointed District Chief Executive for North Tongu District. He visited on several occasions and has donated a quantity of diesel to help the project until it can stand on its own feet.

The consumption in most communities was higher than projected, demonstrating the very deep need for water throughout the communities.

COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINICS - SEMINAR ON MATERNAL HEALTH

The community clinics in Seva and Adalekpoe have been stable and saw a steady expansion of services. Volunteers from abroad continued to make important contributions to the clinic and to the community through our health education programs.

In November we welcomed Susan Crowther an experienced midwife from the UK. She spent two weeks in Ghana and was super busy teaching the whole time. In Seva, Suniiti gave four days of seminars to six staff members from Seva and Adalekpoe.  We also invited local T.B.A.'s (Traditional Birth Attendants.) They are older women who help deliver babies at home in the villages, some of these women are very experienced, having done deliveries for as long as thirty years, but without any formal training. The Seva Seminars were attended by eight village T.B.A.s. They all participated enthusiastically and contributed a lot to the program. For some it was their first opportunity to learn and get their questions concerning maternity care answered by a professional.
  

Practicing resuscitation on the last day of the seminar

Susan supplied the clinics with various procedures and charts to improve the data keeping and service of the maternity care in the clinics and she intends to make a follow up visit next year. 

After Seva, Susan taught seminars to the staff of the AMURTEL clinics in Domeabra and Akwakwa.  She represented AMURTEL UK, who has taken the decision to help the clinic in Akwakwa with the construction of a staff quarters.

We are looking for other people with skills  to come and help train the staff in the village clinics. So if you or someone you know are interested in the African village experience while at the same time doing some great service, please contact us.  Our aim is to elevate the standard of the clinics and make them models.

SEX EDUCATION FOR TEENAGERS

Teenage pregnancy continues to be all too common in the villages in the Volta Region. It's heart breaking to see girls being forced to drop out of secondary school to have babies they are not prepared for. Even worse is the fate of those who fall victim to local quacks and witchdoctors, with their dangerous concoctions to induce abortion.  We have been told of girls losing their lives as a result of these illegal abortions, but the quacks pay off the police and carry on. We have had several girls in a bad condition coming to the Seva Clinic. Desperation forced them to accept the dangerous prescriptions of the quacks to end their unwanted pregnancies.

In July we organized programs in the secondary schools in the area. GeorgAnna, a nurse volunteer from Alaska in the US, lead the programs along with Bernice from the clinic staff. The interest among the teenagers was very great and the relief at getting an opportunity to speak about these matters was apparent. The subjects of sex and contraception are never discussed in the home or in the school, so the teenagers find out what they can from their peers.  Misinformation and misconceptions abound with tragic results. During the programs, emphasis was placed on making the teenagers express themselves. The volunteers prepared posters to aid in the teaching.

In November and December, the volunteers, Jennifer and Abigail from the UK. and Pip from Australia continued meetings with teenagers in the villages.  In Ghana everyone love Nigerian movies, and when one of the volunteers discovered a Nigerian movie that covers the topic of teenagers and sex in an informative and educational way, we sought out the movie. Showing the movie �Winds of Change� attracted a lot of interest. There is no electricity in the village, so a movie is a rare treat. The story tells of a school girl that gets pregnant and then she gets AIDS. It's a sad story, but it makes the young people think more deeply about what could happen if they are not very careful. 

OTHER NEWS FROM THE CLINICS

AMURT in North Carolina, USA sent 600 pairs of sorted reading glasses to the Seva Clinic. With the help of eye charts we can now help people select glassed to help them read again.  

BURKINA FASO 

S.M.I. MOBILE OPERATION STARTS

After more than a year of preparations, the S.M.I. Mobile program has started. Currently 18 midwives and 11 health promoters trained by AMURT in cooperation with the local Department of Health, are active in remote village in Deou department in Oudalan province.  The SMI Mobile was made possible through the grant from the Norwegian Government through AMURT and AMURTEL in Norway. Sister Liilamayii worked hard to make this happen.  AMURT took two abandoned vehicles, the old AMURT truck and the old ambulance of Deou, and combined them into a new functional vehicle equipped to serve as ambulance and for SMI Mobile. The SMI Mobile is a key component of AMURT's Midwifery and Safe Motherhood Program for the remote villages. Every month the SMI mobile team will visit six villages. All the pregnant women in the village have their pre-natal examination and all the records are kept carefully.  This is followed by meetings and classes about health issues relating to maternal health, like hygiene, nutrition and family planning and AIDS.   Now with help from Norway we also have an audio visual set, with generator, TV and VCR, and a set of educational videos to make the teaching more engaging.   The program started in October.

SPECIAL PROGRAM

In December a special program of advanced training was held for all the village midwives and health promoters at Deou. At the end there was a feast with prize distribution for the most active midwives and health promoters. The prize was voucher for medicines to be redeemed in the event of illness in the family.  Everyone received a t-shirt. A musical troupe was hired for entertainment and a special meal was offered for all the participants. By the standards of the desert village, it was a grand event.

CEREAL BANKS FOR FOOD SECURITY

This year the world's attention was drawn to the Sahel region by the famine in Niger. Food shortages and famine is a yearly occurrence in the Sahel also in the Oudalan province including the desert regions covered by AMURT's activities in Deou department.  This year AMURT, Dada Rudreshvaranandaji has revived the cereal bank program in Deou.  The local farmers can sell their millet and beans to the cereal bank. Then during the lean months before the next harvest, they can buy back the grains at a low price. It's during this period, when the store from the previous harvest is exhausted,  that the merchants speculate and inflate the prices, causing people to starve.  A portion of the grains is reserved to be distributed to the poorest people in extreme need.  In December seven tons of grains were bought and stored in the cereal bank.

Buying millet at the cereal bank in Bisseri

 
Visit AMURT Africa's website