Accra Region in West Africa consists of five countries namely: Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali. This Region is the most active in Nairobi Sector where we have projects in all countries except Mali.
Ghana
Our work began in Accra in 1974 and has shown steady and constant progress ever since. Our Sectorial Office was in Accra from 1974-1979. Below are some of the main projects in Ghana.
Mafi Zongo Water Supply Project
This project has been growing incrementally for the past 20 years until now it supplies fresh drinking water to 9000 people in 26 villages in the Volta Region of eastern Ghana. The project is community-managed under the facilitation of Dada Daneshananda. The project consists of a dam built in 1994, a water treatment plant completed in 2001 and a water reservoir on the top of Kpokope village completed in 2003. Although it is difficult to accurately ascertain the size of the dam a 2006 estimate put it at 173,000 sq. m. A 50-km network of pipes laid by the villagers from the mountain reservoir supplies water to community-managed pipe stands.
Mafi Seva Clinic and Kekeli (Village Health Promotion)
The Mafi Seva Clinic also in the North Tongu District of Volta Region was opened in 2003 although the building was constructed by another NGO in 1988. The clinic delivers 5-8 babies per month. Ananda Marga facilitated the construction of a staff quarters. Patient fees cover the costs of the health care workers in the clinic. The clinic increasingly employs homeopathy as an alternative mode of treatment.
Recently 2 more rooms were added to the clinic for HIV counseling and maternal health. A new vehicle has been donated to service the nearby community. Another building for staff and volunteers is being built.
Attached to the Clinic is the “Kekeli” women health education program. A ‘Kekeli Woman’ is a village health promoter. She is selected from among women in her village to take the necessary training. Kekeli women work in teams to do health education in their communities. The central part of each of the village health education programs are dramas and role plays, written, directed and acted by the Kekeli women. Following the village presentation a discussion ensues in which values and moral lessons are imparted to affect social change amongst the community members. There are now 28 Kekeli women in the North Tongu District serving 14,000 people.
Neohumanist School, Ejura
The Neohumanist Primary School or its nickname Namaskar School, is situated in Ejura, Ashanti Region of central Ghana. The school has over 450 children from kindergarten to Junior High School level. Recently, construction has been completed at the school, and now there are 13 classrooms, toilets for the children and a kitchen for cooking lunch. The project is currently under the supervision of Dada Shiveshvarananda, who is also the trainer for Ananda Marga’s Training Centre for African monks in Ejura.
This project also includes a Children’s Home called Namaskar House. It is home to 7 boys, ages 11 to 22 years old, a cook, Dada and the volunteers.
Centre for NeoHumanist Studies / Madhu Shyam (Ba’ba’s Quarter), Accra
Our owned jagrti with a large garden which includes a holistic health and lifestyle centre. The Centre conducts programs such as yoga classes, therapeutic massage, seminars and conferences.
Women’s Welfare Department
Lotus Girls’ Home, Accra
The Lotus Children’s Centre was started in 1993 by Didi Ananda Shanta, the DS (L) Accra. Currently we have 10 girls in our full-time care ranging from 5-25 years old. Besides this, we run 2 nursery school programmes and a children’s library at the centre. The library began in 2001 after we received a donation shipment of books from a long-time volunteer from the USA.
AMURTEL Clinics
Domiabra Primary Health Clinic
Domiabra clinic opened its doors in 1997 after begin built with the help of Dr. Bharat of San Antonio, USA. Didi Ananda Vinambra a trained nurse and mid-wife for the past 34 years runs both the Domiabra and Akwakwaa Clinics. Domiabra serves 20-30 patients per week, of which the major number of cases is malaria. Domiabra also coordinates the outreach services of four other clinics. Our clinic is about 10 kms from the main road and 6 kms from the nearest government clinic. The clinic is in great need of an ambulance since pregnant women sometimes arrive in a wheelbarrow! Other requirements include lab equipment, dispensary and two more rooms for patients with contagious diseases.
Akwakwaa Clinic
With money saved from the operation of Domiabra, Didi started the Akwakwaa primary health clinic in 2001 on a 3-acre plot of land, with assistance from AMURT Italy and the Lanesra Foundation. The staff includes an Administrator, TBA, Nurse, Clinic Attendant and four students. The Clinic treats about 150 patients/month. Its basic infrastructure includes: a Staff Quarters; a Consulting Room; a Lab Room; a Male Ward with 8 beds; a Female Ward with 7 beds; a Pharmacy; a Delivery Room; a Maternity Ward with 3 beds and 2 cribs; two living quarters for male and female students; a Volunteer Room and store room; and a Security Guard room. Although the government clinic is only 2 kms away the people prefer to frequent our clinic since our treatment is more sincere and person-based. The clinic is also in need of an ambulance, kitchen and a nurse’s quarters.
Village Theatre
Dada Purusottama, DS Ouagadougou has accelerated the programs in Burkina Faso since arriving 18 months ago. Dada oversaw three theatre presentations to 650 people in the three main villages of Deou District, northern Burkina Faso: Déou, Boulikessi and Gandafabou, where theatre is hardly ever witnessed. The theme centered around appropriate behavior and how to access reliable information and assistance regarding HIV and AIDS illnesses. Audience feedback was easily elicited with the help of a local facilitator. Moral issues were clarified and human values upheld by the villagers themselves after a lot of lively debate!
DEOU – SAFE MOTHERHOOD PROGRAM
For seven years now, the program has improved the life of women in Déou District. Thirty-two AVs (village midwives) are active organizing the pregnant women and taking them for pre-natal consultations in the government clinics. They also do deliveries when the women can’t get to the clinics and teach the women how to take care of themselves during pregnancy. Other activities in Deou include a donkey ambulance service, afforestation and gardening.
Seven ASVs – (village health agents, all men) that we trained in basic healing of the most common diseases – are working and helping the population to a great extent.
Not so long ago we were driving with a French visitor to some of the villages, so difficult to reach, where we have AVs working. He kept on saying: “How can people be in such places, how can they live here?!” Yes, it is an amazing place and people live in the extreme conditions: women have to walk as far as 45 Km to go to the closest health dispensary or to the market, there are no electricity, no roads and people eat mostly millet, milk and dry baobab leaves.
THE BOULI PROJECT: A NEW DREAM
In Déou area there is water-shortage: it rains very little–10 inches per year on the average and it is
slowly but steadily decreasing. A characteristic of the Sahel is that rains come all at once, very violently.
That water doesn’t remain to permeate the soil – it flows straight towards the Niger River. In order to solve the problem we must collect the rain water before it flows away. A “bouli”, a word currently used in the Burkina language to describe an artificial pond, is very appropriate for improving the situation.
For all these reasons we came up with a project to rehabilitate an old bouli in Ayagorou, 4 km away from Déou village (dug by our late Dada Rudreshvarananda in 1993!), which is at the moment obstructed by sands. The local villagers will be mainly involved in making it happen and maintaining it independently in the long run.
A New Jagrti In Ouagadougou
Construction is completed on the new jagrti and AMURT center in Ouagadougou under the supervision of brother Jaladeva. It is an ecological building since only traditional local materials are used. Many visitors stay in the traditional round, thatched roof hut.
Ananda Virat (Bissiri Master Unit)
Bissiri is a village located approximately 50 kilometers by road from the capital city Ouagadougou. Its 1,000 people are mainly subsistence farmers. A primary health care clinic has opened on the master unit with a full time nurse. The closest medical facility is about 12 kilometers away. Our projects include literacy classes (Mori, the local language and French), a cereal bank for food security and small-scale farming. We also sponsor the village football team.
Togo
Our activities are centred around a 7-acre plot of land donated to Ananda Marga in 1989. The land is about 12 kms from the centre of Lome, the capital city. Currently we are running a pre-school and primary school catering to the needs of 220 children. Our local worker, Dada Tanmaya cultivates 3.5 acres of the land with mango trees, papaya, banana, grenadilla, drumstick, tulsi, teak, aloe vera, lemon grass, lemon and about 50 neem trees using piped water from our own tank. A small organic vegetable garden has also begun. Meanwhile a new earthen bakery has been constructed to cater to the needs of the local population.
