Naaga-Chaaba gets mechanised borehole

Naaga-Chaab, a community in the Kassena Nankana Municipality in the Upper East Region can heave a sigh of relief after many years of struggling for water.

This is due to the provision of a mechanised borehole by AYEYA, an organisation into the production of skincare products manufactured from shea nuts.

Hitherto, residents in the community relied on a single borehole to fetch water for their daily activities. Due to the pressure on the facility, residents, especially women and children, queued for hours around the borehole, a development which resulted in children going to school late.

Genesis

AYEYA, as part of its operations, buys shea nuts from cooperatives of local women in the community for the production of various natural skin care products. As a way of giving back to the area, the organisation works closely with the community to identify a pressing need and subsequently address it.

Fortunately, the residents in the Naaga-Chaaba community settled on the water challenge, hence the provision of the borehole to address their age-old challenge.

The primary objective of the facility dubbed: “AYEYA Water Project” is to ensure that the community has continuous access to safe and clean water for household and other activities.

According to the organisation, by addressing the acute water scarcity in the community and the region as a whole, the project seeks to improve public health, enhance educational outcomes and contribute to the overall well-being and development of the community.

 The new mechanised borehole

Rationale

Inaugurating the facility, the Director of Operations and Marketing at AYEYA, Brenda Orelus, said the absence of the water project placed an unbearable burden on the community.

She stated that without water there was no life and that the intervention was to support women and children on the spot instead trekking long distances to nearby water points to fetch water for domestic use.

She said: “As an organisation we are committed towards improving the living conditions of the communities we work so as to sustain the relationship for our mutual benefit,” and stressed that AYEYA would continue to make positive impact in communities within its operational areas”.

She used the occasion to charge the residents to use the facility very well and more importantly maintain it to last longer, and said: “We want the people to take pride in the project and ensure that it is sustained to stand the test of time.

 Necessity
An American football linebacker, Jeremiah Owusu Koramoah, underscored the importance of the provision of the water facility as it had brought a basic life necessity closer to the people living in the community.

He commended AYEYA for coming to the rescue of the people as it would eradicate the struggle of the residents in search of water and further entreated them to keep it clean to prevent them from contracting sanitation-related diseases.

 Other speakers

In an interview, Nancy Atiba and Ernestina Amanzue, both residents, welcomed the water project as it was a timely intervention to bring relief to particularly women and children in the area.

They said the era where they had to wake up at dawn on a daily basis to move out of their houses in search of water had been brought to an end.

The Paramount Chief of the Naaga Traditional Area, Naaba Orlando A. Awuni, who graced the event, lauded the organisation for coming to the rescue of the community.

Further, he entreated the community members to value the project and put in place a plan to regularly maintain it for the benefit of future generations.

Writer’s email:gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh