Hope for People's Empowerment Gives Lives to the People of Guo and Aagureteng
Water they say, is life. This wise saying informs the heading of this piece. On 15th December, 2020, I, Derbie Raphael, published an article on some major news portals including Ghana Web titled, "A Section of Guo Residents Competes with Animals for Water". The said story attracted a lot of doubts, backlash and criticisms. All these happened simply because some of the critics did not have fair knowledge of the geographic location of the area. For some of them, they criticised because they had reasons best known to them alone. God being so good, He drew some of the naysayers to the site to see for themselves the reality or otherwise of the publication.
The year 2023, appears to start on a good note for me and my people in Guo. On 15th January, 2023, my age-old prayer for portable water to the people of Guo - Bolbol has been answered. This, I refer to as a miracle. God performed this miracle through Dr. Lawrence Naaikuur, the director of the NGO - Hope for People's Empowerment.
The director who after reading the story on Ghanaweb, did his background checks to ascertain the authenticity or otherwise of the story. He could not hesitate to provide water at all cost to the people of Guo because the situation was so pathetic and disturbing.
Hope for People's Empowerment (NGO) was founded in 2019. It is a women and youth-centered Non-governmental Organisation which aims to respond to the economic and social challenges confronting rural youth and women in the Upper West Region. The NGO has the vision of an empowered society where the most vulnerable can recognize their potentials to improve their conditions for dignified living. It operates on three main thematic areas; Economic Empowerment, Participatory Governance and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
The people of Guo Bolbol, both men and women including the children could not hide their excitement the very day they spotted the drilling machine in their territory. Today, they have expressed their sincere appreciation to the Director of Hope for People's Empowerment and his team for their magnanimity. No amount of grammatical construction can express their excitement and gratitude.
According to the residents, this borehole has given them new life. It has saved them from so many water related diseases. They are optimistic that their economic activities and standard of life will realize a significant transformation as they will no longer spend much time searching for water.
The people promise their continue prayer to God to extend the life-span of Director and his team. They also pray that the Almighty God replenish all that the NGO and his team have spent to provide them portable water and bless them abundantly.
The NGO, Hope for People's Empowerment, again, drilled and handed over another borehole to the people of Aagureteng. Aagureteng is a community within the Tampelle enclave. The people of Aagureteng particularly the women, suffered for a long time to access water. This resulted in an increased in population growth within that catchment area.
The people of Aagureteng hoped and prayed unceasingly for this borehole. They were short of words in expressing their appreciation to the director of the NGO-Hope for People's Empowerment and his team.
According to the director, HOPE provided the boreholes with a financial donation from a Dutch NGO called OASEN Drinkwater.
Water Management and Maintenance committees were formed and trained in simple maintenance skills in the two communities. Their role is to carry out regular maintenance of the boreholes to ensure that their life-spans are extended.
The director for HOPE acknowledged the Nandom MP and the MCE respectively for granting his NGO-HOPE the permission to contribute to development in Nandom Municipality.
May the Director of Hope for People's Empowerment LIVES LONG!
May the NGO-Hope for People's Empowerment LIVES LONG!!
May the youth, women and under privileged LIVE LONG!!!
May Nandom Municipality LIVES LONG!!!!
derbieraphael@yahoo.com
0240371356
