As you probably know, I love my birthday so I thought I’d mark the occasion by raising funds for Community Action Ghana.

I’ve heard stories about Ghana for as long as I can remember as that’s where my Mum & Dad met in 1967! I was lucky enough to return with them a few years ago to see where they taught and lived, and hear more about their time there.

Since then, we have set up Community Action Ghana to work with communities in the Volta Region. 

Many people in Ghana don't have access to a toilet and are forced to go outside so we have been helping to build community toilets. The block we built in Alavanyo Dzogbedze is used by at least 326 people. As well as the obvious health benefits it also provides dignity and privacy.

We have recently set up a partnership with another village, Dorfor Adidome, to work together to build toilets that will be used by up to 400 people a day. Currently there are no toilets in the village so they relive themselves in a pit, which attracts flies and diseases. Records from the local health centre show that an average of 40 children die a year of diarrhoea and fly-born diseases. That's 30 families loosing a child each year. We urgently need to raise funds to provide these life-saving toilets. 

We are also in the process of refurbishing a Community Hub in Lolobi which contains a library, computer lab & training room. The computers, books and sewing machines have all been donated (thank you!) and a lot of the building, electrical and carpentry work has been done. We now need to secure funds for the final stages; mainly fixing the doors and windows so that the Hub can be opened, as everyone is really looking forward to using all of the resources.

For more info about these projects, and the impact they have on the communities we work with, check out the blog on our website, there's lots of updates from Ghana on there: www.communityactionghana.org/blog