A Borehole for Taha
Residents from Taha community live without a basic need most of us take for granted: clean water. The dam water that Taha residents are drinking on a daily basis is riddled with diseases, causing extremely poor health in the community.
Project Goal:
$7000
Currently Raised:
$7000
Progress:
100% raised
Location:
Northern Ghana
Will Benefit:
932 people
Proposed Implementation Date:
January - February 2010
Taha Borehole: has been fully funded!
The Story of this Project...
Health in Taha community is rather dismal.
"Sometimes we get stomach aches because the water we have for drinking isn’t healthy"
- Mariama, Taha resident
The community members frequently suffer diarrhea, dysentery, and numerous other bacterial and parasitic diseases because diseased water is all they have access to. The construction of a borehole in Taha will eradicate a great number of health problems that community members are facing. Without health, the residents of Taha have no chance of pulling themselves out of poverty.
Taha is a rural community located in Ghana’s Northern Region. The majority of residents are subsistence farmers, who trade and sell their crops in order to survive.
The village is located approximately 15 km from the nearest urban centre, which it is connected to by a dirt road.
The community is currently getting water from two different dams that are each about a 10 to 15 minute walk away. Women spend their days walking back and forth from their homes to the dams, in order to ensure their families have enough water to drink, cook with, bathe, wash dishes, and to tend to their livestock. Women and girls also spend one day a week washing their families’ laundry at one of the nearby dams.
The dam water that Taha residents are drinking on a daily basis is riddled with diseases. Mothers express that their children often complain of stomachaches, although most families cannot afford hospital fees so they are never treated. As one parent put it, “Here in Taha we are aware that our water is no good to drink, but what choice do we have?” Until the community has a clean source of drinking water, the level of health experienced in Taha will remain poor.
"In the dry season, the water we drink becomes so dirty it is practically mud"
- Ayisha, Taha resident
The provision of a borehole will provide Taha residents with clean water for the purpose of drinking, all through the year. Before the borehole’s construction, citing is done in order to ensure that the borehole is located in a spot where it will have a high yield of water. The drilling truck is then hired to come and drill deep into the ground, until groundwater is reached. The drilled hole is filled with pipe, after which a pad is constructed on the surface to prevent contamination with surface water. Lastly, a pump is attached so Taha residents have access to clean water, improved health, and a better life.
*Goal amounts may change due to inflation and/or exchange rates.
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