Projects

It's the women. They are the ones who have to sweep around the home, usually twice a day, and they do NOT have brooms as we know them. They gather a handful of grasses and then have to bend at the waist to sweep away the debris. Imagine this with a baby attached to your back ... or if you are elderly and can barely balance while standing upright. Full-length brooms have been made by a couple of our sponsored student graduates. They are far more durable that the manufactured brooms that can be purchased in Ghana.

Our classrooms all have "chalkboards" (actually, it is black paint over the lumpy bumpy hand-made bricks) and we had put a whiteboard into each classroom several years back.  Of course, with the climate and daily use, the boards eventually need to be replaced. You see, they aren't actual dry erase boards, but rather we made do with what was locally available: shower stall boards.

We had two boards that were still in use, as you see in the photos, but desperately needed to be replaced.

It is really difficult to teach a subject that requires the students to have supplies. Why? Because the students can't afford them.  We decided to help the math teachers because it was impossible to give the kids hands-on knowledge of how to draw and measure angles when none of them owned a protractor, compass, or ruler.

We purchased 50 math sets!

Thanks to our friends for making this possible:  Ines Howe (in honour of Anthony and Christophe), and Judy Ignatowitz (in honour of Donna and Ron Jamieson).

WATSAN - Water and Sanitation

Ever since we started our DSDO sanitation and water journey, we have had a WATSAN committee in place to oversee the entire operations of the town toilet facilities and the water system. In November, there was an extensive overhaul.

It was time for a refresh!  This sports court at Dekpor Basic School is used pretty much all day, every day!  From the students at school to the after school town teams, the multisport court is a hot commodity!

There were many back-straining man-hours put into resurfacing and repainting...but gosh, it looks great!

Face it...poop happens!  And, to be perfectly honest, we're really glad it is happening IN the town toilet facilities. Brutal truth -- open defecation is a very real health health hazard in many rural areas.  We've built the facilities and it has taken a long time to gradually get people to use them, so we are actually rather pleased with ourselves when the holding tanks need to be pumped out!  We consider this a big win! Four of the buildings were looked after between November 30th and December 4th:  Yia #1, Yia #2, Yia #, and Dome.

We never know what is going to end up in this album!  Here is where we show some of

With years of heavy use, furniture inevitably ends up requiring repairs. Here you see some of October and November's work in progress. 

With approximately 800 students enrolled at Dekpor Basic School, we need to have somewhere for them to sit!

 It is with many thanks to Susan and Tony Anderson that we were able to get this done.

Woohoo! We have ourselves an instrument storage room now! All instruments have been inventoried and now there is a designated, secure place to keep all these beauties! Thanks to Susan and Tony Anderson for making this possible.

Back in 2011, Andrew Sanderson gave