#78 - NEW WATER PROJECT - upper guinea forest well

This is the last well we finished.  WE NEED ANOTHER ONE........Isn't it beautiful?

We would love you to partner with us and Joey/Patti Romero as we build together water wells and share the Gospel of Jesus with those who need both kinds of water, fresh and living.

Lets do this!

THE NEXT WELL is a bore hole that will serve around 225 in an area about a ten minute walk from my house.  The peoples are from the Ewe speaking tribe and currently use water from a hand dug well that goes dry during dry season.  Hand dug wells suffer from e-coli contamination that is primarily introduced by open livestock feces (chickens, goats, etc.).  There is not one single open well that will not test positive for e-coli.  They serve to spread polio, typhoid, dysentery, cholera, malaria just to name a few.  Salmonella will infect all wells several times a year when lizards, frogs, etc. drown in the wells.  More children die from intestinal tract diseases and malaria than all other causes.  Additionally, small children occasionally fall into open wells suffering death and/or permanent disfigurement from injury and drowning. 

General information for the area.  This area of the Upper Guinea Forest is owned by the Ashanti tribe family called Adansi.  It was won in battles prior to Ghanaian independence and awarded by the Central government to the Adansi’s when independence from Great Britain was gained in 1957.  The Adansi’s started logging the jungle decades ago and encouraged share croppers to grow cocoa afterwards.  All the peoples in the areas approved for wells are share croppers who lease Adansi land for a share of the cocoa.  The per capita income is less than $150 annually.  The richest farmer in Kotokata grosses about $1,500 US annually from his cocoa.  His farm is much larger than most.  The government is the only buyer and sets the prices well below market.  The farmers are totally at their mercy.  Large families are necessary help for farm labor.  Unfortunately, most farm land is already leased and when children mature the family farm cannot support them.  Education needed to compete in townships for skilled labor and white collar jobs is sorely lacking.  Thus, Therefore has strived to provide in this area.  We have 300 students in preK through grade nine and hope to build a high school for trades.  Ghana is building in the cities at a rapid pace and the skilled labor needed is a constant demand that we hope to tap into. These jobs can provide as much as $12-$15 a day in wages which is far above what a farmer makes.  The main attraction to the school is unfortunately not education.  Farmers who do allow their children to attend commonly pull their children out for days, weeks and even months at a time to work the farm.  The main attraction is food.  We feed all our students.  Sponsors from the US have helped us with this need but our success at raising enrollment has produced a shortage of funding for our students.  I know your area of interest is water that is sorely needed, but if you would consider education as a need I assure you that the benefits reach farther than the eye can see.    

The Gospel is presented in all our ministries.  It is much needed.  The cultural values that you and I have come to appreciate are not currently present.  Ghanaians value peace well above justice.  Peace has helped keep war at bay but lack of justice has served to grow corruption.  The idea that the poor are of value just does not reside in the hearts of the people who hold power.  Gifts are given by the poor to an insatiable rich elite.  Me and you would call it bribery.  The rich use appearance and position to leverage wealth from rich and poor alike.  In short, personal character and performance are of little value in the Ghanaian mind.  Personal appearance and position like that valued by New Testament Sadducees and Pharisees are held in high regard here.  They need Jesus.

WE WILL UPDATE YOU  THE COMPLETION OF THIS WELL ASAP.  

For Christmas this year - if you are blessed and in abundance, consider giving a donation towards helping bring both FRESH water and LIVING water to those in serious need of both.  Joey Romero and his family and team are delivering both and get 100% percent of all donations received.  

Blessings to all this Christmas -  Marius & Wendy Landman, M.O.R.E. Project