Michael - Malaria

We were to meet Michael at Anum earlier this week and then Michael was going to travel with us on our journeys the rest of the week.  However, the day before we arrived at Anum malaria flared with Michael.

Malaria never goes away - you always have it.

Rev Asante brought Michael to Accra in another car from us and Michael rested Wednesday night and all day Thursday.  We spoke to him a few times and no doubt Michael was not feeling well.

Michael showed up for the meeting yesterday, and although not 100%, he looked much better and stronger..

Malaria is a way of life in Ghana.

Meeting Recap - Look Around the Room

 We met yesterday at the PCG HQ in the OSU part of Accra located on the street Kukuhill Circle.

At the meeting were Teiko, Rev Amfo-Akonnor, Rev Asante, Regina, Rose, Michael, Chalmers, Rev Daniel Opong-Wereko, and Rev Samuel Nyampong.  Rev Nyampong attend Clean Water U over 10 years ago and is a big supporter as well as engaged in what LWW is doing in Ghana.  Rev Nyampong was clerk of the PCG for many years, as well.  Rev Opong-Wereko was Director of Development and Social Services prior to Rev Asante.  I met Daniel on my first trip to Ghana.

Why Are These People Here

When I looked around the room yesterday, it struck me pretty quick that that only person in the meeting whose job it is to work with us, grow the number of sites, etc. is Teiko Sabah.

Rev Amfo-Akonnor, Rev Asante, Regina, Rose, Michael, Chalmers, Rev Daniel Opong-Wereko, and Rev Samuel Nyampong all are in the room because LWW water treatment systems and health education for those in need in Ghana is “their” mission / “their” giveback.  Reverends Nyampong and Amfo-Akonnor have been involved for well over 15+ going back to when they attended Clean Water U.

Michael, Regina, & Rose all have full time jobs here in Ghana.  So their time this week was at the expense of family and work.

Now we have Dave & Julie Parks from Kansas that put in a system in May ‘22 in Kumasi.  They had a great experience and want to be involved more.  Dave is one of LWW’s top 103 (water treatment system) instructors/experts and Julie is a board member of LWW.

Special group that is growing!

Meeting Recap - Opportunities

 We met yesterday at the PCG HQ in the OSU part of Accra located on the street Kukuhill Circle.

At the meeting were Teiko, Rev Amfo-Akonnor, Rev Asante, Regina, Rose, Michael, Chalmers, Rev Daniel Opong-Wereko, and Rev Samuel Nyampong.  Rev Nyampong attend Clean Water U over 10 years ago and is a big supporter as well as engaged in what LWW is doing in Ghana.  Rev Nyampong was clerk of the PCG for many years, as well.  Rev Opong-Wereko was Director of Development and Social Services prior to Rev Asante.  I met Daniel on my first trip to Ghana.

Opportunities

Not a short list.  We have an opportunity with an additional funding partner, a pending discussion with a group from the USA that digs bore holes in Ghana, and a micro-investment group in the USA that would like to have discussions with us about funding more systems.

There are another 5-7 sites on the Ghanaian team’s list of potential sites.

 

Meeting Recap - Train/Retrain/Repeat

 We met yesterday at the PCG HQ in the OSU part of Accra located on the street Kukuhill Circle.

At the meeting were Teiko, Rev Amfo-Akonnor, Rev Asante, Regina, Rose, Michael, Chalmers, Rev Daniel Opong-Wereko, and Rev Samuel Nyampong.  Rev Nyampong attend Clean Water U over 10 years ago and is a big supporter as well as engaged in what LWW is doing in Ghana.  Rev Nyampong was clerk of the PCG for many years, as well.  Rev Opong-Wereko was Director of Development and Social Services prior to Rev Asante.  I met Daniel on my first trip to Ghana.

Training

As we learned in 2019 at the LWW Operator’s Conference here in Ghana, training is at the top of the list for sustainability practices.  The sites are more effective than I would have believed in keeping the water rooms clean, organized and working along with making sure they water rooms have inventory of filters and common parts.  Again - every water room operator has a direct line to to Michael - how…because before Michael leaves the installation/build of the water room he writes his phone number on the wall with a big fat sharpie!

Health education and retraining of new administration persons are in need of a break through process change.  The good news is that Rose and Regina have settled into their role as In- Country Educators (ICE).  This is a role we identified in 2019 as important and during the pandemic the Ghanaian team worked on getting this role staffed with the two best people around.  This week of (re)training sessions really demonstrated the power of the education and uses for the treated water.

We identified two strategies that the Ghanaian team is going to work on: 1) a productive format for conferences going forward - such as maybe an operator & educator conference and then an admin conference with locations like Presbyterian Women’s Center (Abokobi), Ramser Training Center (Abitifi), College of Education (Akropong), etc.  This would make the meetings smaller, but more accessible with higher participation. 2) It’s time for Regina, Rose, & Michael to find/train other Reginas, Roses, and Michaels (***see post on Michael and malaria).

The Ghanaian team is going to step back and see what is possible to move training to the top of the sustainability pyramid and keep it there.

Meeting to Recap - Commitment

We met yesterday at the PCG HQ in the OSU part of Accra located on the street Kukuhill Circle.

At the meeting were Teiko, Rev Amfo-Akonnor, Rev Asante, Regina, Rose, Michael, Chalmers, Rev Daniel Opong-Wereko, and Rev Samuel Nyampong.  Rev Nyampong attend Clean Water U over 10 years ago and is a big supporter as well as engaged in what LWW is doing in Ghana.  Rev Nyampong was clerk of the PCG for many years, as well.  Rev Opong-Wereko was Director of Development and Social Services prior to Rev Asante.  I met Daniel on my first trip to Ghana.

Commitment

We spoke for a long time about the attributes that make an excellent site excellent, a good site good, and then sites that aren’t in either group yet.  The attribute that we continued to circle back to was “commitment”.

The Ghanian group helped us understand that for 100s of years West Africa has been used to other nations bringing/giving to West Africa everything from the Volta Lake Dam to highways to buildings to hospitals/clinics to schools to water systems to money!  The Dutch, Germans, French, United Kingdom, United States, China, Japan, and so on.

The problem with this 100s of years of “gifting” is two fold 1) almost most of the time its what the “gifter” wants to see and not necessarily what West Africa can use effectively; and 2) there is typically no provision for sustainability.

Our commitment discussions centered getting key stake holders (my term) engaged and committed before and early with the water treatment system and health education.  LWW process is to get the admin (of the location, i.e. headmaster, general manager, pastor, etc.) committed along with the site having a water committee.  These committed groups are great for sites up to a certain size.  However, for the larger schools, like the Sr Presby schools, there needs to other groups committed.

Rev Amfo-Akonnor (Kofi) told a story about the Presby school in Koforidua where the PTA (Parents Teacher Association) has been led by the same man for over 15 years.  The school administration and the PTA do not want to see a change in leadership because the man makes the PTA work and the PTA makes the school work.  Point is - even though these larger Presby schools are boarding schools, the parents need to be engaged and committed to a primary requirement of treated water.

Another group that needs to be committed in the larger Presby schools are groups like maintenance, science department, etc.  Maintenance is clear (sort of).  Although the LWW system is maintained by the trained operators who have direct access to Michael - the system depends on raw water flow and electricity.  The schools don’t always have the best processes and urgency when electricity goes out or raw water flow is interrupted or priorities for raw water flow.  Anum lost 75% of its raw water flow to the campus - the action was for the school to repipe the remaining raw water flow to the boys wash room - every other need was “dry”.

The Ghanaian group is going to work on expanding the site selection process to include going deeper past the Presby school’s administration and water committee.

Classroom of song…

 

Memphis connection at the school in Cape Coast….

 

The Dutch football superstar, Memphis Depay, is a supporter of Cape Coast School for the Deaf.  Memphis’ father was Ghanian and Memphis spends part of the offseason in Ghana giving back.