Sustainable Development

Probably the most key aspect of our work in Kewunor is that maintenance of all our projects remains in the hands of the local people. Project SAND believes that the development of the village must be sustainable with or without western influence. In addition to sustainability, Project SAND also aims to be as ecologically friendly as possible. Renewable energy sources will be used wherever practicable, and every effort will be made to maintain the natural beauty and charm of the surroundings. To these ends, all building work will be undertaken using traditional and local skills and methods, and this means that all repairs and maintenance can be done without undue cost or inaccessibility.

Too often, well-meaning organisations from more economically developed countries assist communities by providing assets that can only be maintained with outside help. Problems then arise when those organisations are no longer able to offer monetary support. The unique ethos and business plan of Project SAND mean that Maranatha Beach Lodge will be developed in order to attract sufficient tourist income to be in a position to meet the costs of maintaining new public amenities. This ensures the security of the community regardless of any outside influence and thus the entire development remains sustainable.

Education

The first priority is the school, which is integral to the community as a whole. It enables the next generation to gain much better education and in doing so help their own family and community. The school urgently needs to be completed, in order to enable separate classrooms for Nursery 1, 2 & 3 and to provide for as many children as possible. Eventually the goal is to provide a primary school (classes 1 – 6) in the village itself.

Sanitation

There is little or no sanitation in Kewunor. There is one non-drinking tap for the provision of running water for the entire community, no toilets of any kind and total lack of washing facilities. So, the residents use the river this leads to a high rate of water and waste related diseases which together with the lack of accessible healthcare can lead to incapacitation from work and school.

With this in mind, Project SAND aim to implement more acceptable sanitation facilities, consisting of 3 x 6 communal toilet blocks at different points in the village and harvesting rain water for drinking.

A vital contributor to the success of Project SAND is our low-cost volunteering scheme. We offer a number of placements in this idyllic area of Ghana, and in exchange for your time and skills we provide extremely low-cost board and accommodation. We currently require individuals with high quality spoken and written English and Maths to teach at the village school, and from September 2009 multiple opportunities will gradually appear to work on community building projects, in medical advice and assistance, health and hygiene education, childcare and conservation.

Volunteers are so important to ProjectSAND and the whole community of Kewunor. We feel that in return you should have the experience of a lifetime, and that it shouldn’t cost you the earth. We try and keep all our volunteering costs to a minimum with a standard weekly fee of £50 to include accomodation, food and water and airport transfers; however as we are a new charity we also ask for an optional £250 donation to help us continue all our good work – if you would like more information or to make an enquiry, please drop us an email.

Email:

info@projectsand.org

Phone:

+44 (0)7825 250 733

Postal Address:

PO Box 473,
Sevenoaks,
KENT
TN13 9JD

Presently, being such a young Charity, we are not yet registered. Unfortunately this does not happen overnight, but we hope to have this completed by the summer of 2009

Current Deficit

Prior to the intervention of Hotel Maranatha, the only nursery and primary educational facilities existed in Azizanya (~3km away by foot) and the only secondary facilities in Big Ada (~15km away). Due to the predominance of the fishing industry, the importance of education is vastly overlooked, and thus very few children or adults have ever the made the journey to school. Illiteracy is overwhelmingly high, and lack of knowledge of the English language further isolates the community.

Funds from Hotel Maranatha and Project SAND have so far established a small community school in the grounds of the hotel preparing students to begin primary class 3 in the local towns, helping with English reading, writing, and basic maths, and providing heavily subsidised food. This school currently consists of 5 complete classrooms, a school office, a fenced compound and employs 5 teachers from the local community. Although these teachers have completed sufficient high school qualifications, Project SAND gives them teaching experience that they would otherwise not have had the chance of experiencing in the absence of attending teacher training college, an opportunity which is often financially unattainable to them.

Public Benefit

In order to maximise the benefit to the community, ProjectSAND aims to set up a sanitation committee, comprising of local people, for the efficient management of sanitation. This will include responsibility for new toilet facilities, especially managing funds for their maintenance and ensuring sufficient upkeep, the import and/or provision of potable water and hygiene education of all local people.

ProjectSAND intends to install 3 blocks of 6-person Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit latrines (KVIPs), which are Ghanaian toilets designed to control odour and prevent houseflies. Specific self-composting KVIPs allow for the safe decomposition of waste. The waste is gathered in one of two concrete-lined pits and after 6 months of use, pipes are switched to the other pit. The waste in the pit that is not being used is allowed to self-compost, and after 6 months is non-toxic and safe to remove, even so far as to use as compost on a vegetable garden. If this proves successful it is intended that vegetable gardens will be built in order to provide some basis for cultivating vegetables and thus improving local diet. This further fortifies the eco-sustainability ethos of ProjectSAND, and in-line with this the KVIPs will be built using local sand and workmanship, and flushed using filtered river water. In this way, it is hoped that very little pollution or extra strain will be placed on the community environment.

Past experience of improving health by the provision of KVIPs has shown this to be an important step towards developing a healthy community environment. To strengthen this, it is also intended to teach the importance of hand-washing and general hygiene practices to the entire community as soon as possible.

Due to the total lack of potable water in the community, and the inaccessibility of any due to the waterfront location, the only viable way to increase the water in the community is to encourage its importation. The sanitation committee will be in charge of this aspect, most likely enabling the employment of a local person to transport fresh saleable water into the village. As it would be very costly to provide free water for the entire community of 850 people, it is intended that the water will be available for sale, but at cost prices to ensure maximum accessibility. The school will be provided with the means to purchase sufficient water freely for all the children attending, to foster good health from a young age, and to continue the free-feeding program already in place at the school.

Current Deficit

Prior to the intervention of Hotel Maranatha, the only nursery and primary educational facilities existed in Ada-Foah (~6km away by foot) and the only secondary facilities in Big Ada (~19km away). Due to the predominance of the fishing industry, the importance of education is vastly overlooked, and thus very few children or adults have ever the made the journey to school. Illiteracy is overwhelmingly high, and lack of knowledge of the English language further isolates the community.

Profits from Hotel Maranatha have so far established a nursery school in the grounds of the hotel preparing students to begin primary class 1 in the local towns, helping with English reading, writing, and basic maths, and providing 2 meals a day from the hotel kitchen. This school currently consists of 2 complete classrooms, a dining area and 2 partly constructed classrooms, employing 2 teachers from the local community. Although these teachers have completed sufficient qualifications, they still struggle with some basic aspects of English, which does not help those trying to learn.

Public Benefit

SAND intends to further develop the existing village school, planning to have 3 nursery classrooms and a fenced nursery play area. Sanitation is non-existent in this area as well, and so a priority is to build toilets. There will also be a separate kitchen built to provide the school meals. Furthermore, we intend to build 6 block classrooms in the village in order to provide primary education. This will offer vast improvements in the general standard of education within the village, and increased English will help decrease isolation. It is intended that SAND will also offer adult classes for improvement of English.

In order to help improve the standard of English taught at the school, the implementation of a volunteering scheme has been initiated. English speaking volunteers will act as classroom assistants to help both students and local teachers with the English language. Volunteers would be accommodated at the Hotel Maranatha and offered inexpensive board. There has already been extensive interest to a provisional advertising campaign. This is not intended to usurp local positions, but to supplement them.

Sustainable Development

Education

Sanitation

Volunteering

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Email:

Phone:

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Current Deficit

Public Benefit

Current Deficit

Public Benefit