Ghana Sanitation Project

Eighty per cent of the residents in  the village of Medic, Ghana, Africa have no toilet facilities. One hundred per cent of the residents wish that a huge mountain of waste be removed from the center of their village.
 
Sarah Ehlinger faced these daunting challenges as Rotary District 6220’s Ambassadorial Scholar representative to that village over the past two years. The summa cum laude graduate of Lawrence University was fulfilling her sanitation, toxic waste removal and environmental health awareness project there.

Her global grants project was funded first by a $100 from Acca West Rotary of Medic, then by $10,000 from funds raised by the sponsor  Houghton Michigan Rotary (of which $2,000 came from our club); $10,000 from District 2220 and the other 50% from Rotary International. Other donor clubs were Calumet/Laurium, and Santa Ynez.

Sarah’s slide show showed a Medic man urinating atop the 20-year-old waste pile and a woman picking through refuse for whatever she could find.  Goals for the village were; remove the waste and truck it to a land fill; plant 30 tree seedlings in the area, and finish a 8-seat public toilet.  Kathleen Gibbs of NGO Joy 2the World was Sarah’s mentor during her stay and offered help and encouragement.

The toilet structure begun seven years ago has stood idle since a change of political leadership. Winning leader wanted to give no credit to the former, but now the facility is complete with work by village residents.

Waste has not yet been removed but is in process for it sits in a low spot and pollutes ground water. Cost to remove the waste by the truck load will cost more than $20,000.  When gone trash cans will be strategically located and emptied weekly, Sarah said.  She developed a community education program with the area environmental protection agency to educate the population as to how disgusting waste can be.  Individuals who took the course now are trained and will train others to make similar presentations throughout the area.

A Communal Labor Day was established with residents collecting and cleaning.  Sarah’s video showed the contrast between what existed and what resulted. Political, village and Rotary officials attended a large celebration following the event.  Sarah’s parents and Lucinda of the Houghton Rotary also were there.

While not all of the goals have been achieved as yet, Rotarians and others are seeing to it that the waste is removed and the trees planted.

Sarah returned home to the Milwaukee area at Thanksgiving and now is completing her research paper for her Master’s Degree and looking for permanent employment in the Chicago area.