Residents in the village of Nafa Nkwanta, Ghana, have access to clean water thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
The project, part of the Salesian Missions “Clean Water Initiative,” provided a new water source benefiting 36 people who are actively involved in rearing livestock and other farming activities. Indirectly there are 320 people in the village who benefit as well.
The borehole was drilled by the main road which allows farmers to have access to potable water on their way to their farms. Leticia Gyan, a community resident, said, “It has been our dream and we have been praying about it. It is really difficult to find drinking water here when the stream dries.
Sometimes we have to go to Senase, a community 7 km (approximately 4.3 miles) away, to get some water for drinking. So, we have to ration it otherwise. When we finish it, we have to walk through hills and valleys to reach Senase in order to get water again. I think now we can also bathe. I am very happy. We are all happy.”
U.N.-Water estimates that worldwide 2.2 billion people are living without access to safe water. One in four primary schools has no drinking water service, with students using unprotected water sources or going thirsty.
In addition, U.N.-Water notes that more than 700 children under age 5 die every day from diarrheal disease linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation.
In 2021, more than 3.57 million people in Ghana lived in extreme poverty, the majority in rural areas. Those living on less than $1.90 a day in rural regions reached nearly 3.3 million, while 278,000 extremely poor people were located in urban areas.
Rural poverty remains widespread in the dry savannah region that covers roughly two thirds of Ghana’s northern territory. Small-scale farms suffer from a lack of infrastructure and equipment, both of which are needed to shift from subsistence farming to more modern commercial farming which would yield greater incomes and a chance to escape poverty.
