Borehole at Atonobi

Project status (March 2023): fundraising

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Atonobi is a small settlement near Kontonho, which is itself a satellite community of Aframano. Kontonho has about 170 people, and is about two hours walk from Aframano.

Turbo Ghana first visited Kontonho in 2022, when we met Amos and his family. Like everyone in this area, they are farmers. Kontonho has no electricity and no water. The nearest water source is 30 minutes walk away.

Kontonho is small, but there are many satellite communities around it. Atonobu is one of them. The distance of these settlements from water makes it an ideal place to site a borehole.

Planning where to put the borehole

Kontonho is served for water by two rivers, both of them 30 minutes walk away, so intially we thought to put the borehole in Kontonho. But the community has requested the borehole be sited at Atonobi, because it will be able to serve a greater number of people due to the distribution of other settlements, some of which are an hour away from water at present.

If we build a borehole in Atonobi, about 700 people (300 adults and 400 children) will be able to access fresh water. This will have even bigger impact than our borehole at Aframano, which serves 600 people.

Women and children

The 30-60 minute walk to the river is primarily undertaken by children, and sometimes their mothers. Mark talked to children about their work fetching water. Nana Afia, age 10, walks to the river four times each day. At the moment we talked to her, she had been twice so far that day, and would go twice more later in the day. Sakina is a bit older. She goes seven times each day, and at the time she told us that she had been three times so far. A borehole in Antonobi will have a huge impact on these girls’ lives, and that of the other inhabitants of Kontonho and surrounds.

Implementation challenges

Kontonho and Atonobi can be accessed only via a “hand-made” road with a very uneven surface and lots of obstacles. Normal cars can’t drive there. High-axle vehicle with big wheels, like delivery trucks, can get there with some difficulty. The community spend some days cutting branches and removing bushes to widen the road, so that the large drilling equipment can get access.

Other photos

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