The rains pounded the bare earth most of the day, the residents, drenched in water, danced in defiance, as water, in two separate calabash, splashed into the sky, signaling the official commissioning of a mechanized water system in Nabuli Witches camp in the Gushegu District of the Northern region, a small farming community with a population in the region of about two thousand people.

The project, under the auspices of the Miss Ghana Foundation and with support from the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), will ensure the community and neighboring villages, who have had to ramble for several kilometers in search of water, access it with ease.  

“Water has come to us and I’m happy,” one of the residents, an old lady, with a stick to assist her walk, battered by the rains despite sheltering under a canopy,   said through an interpreter.

Inna Patty, Executive Director of the foundation and a former Miss Ghana herself, said the project stalled for the past six years because of lack of funds to start it. But the intervention of the NPA, starting 2017, got the project back on track.  She was hopeful the water system, powered by solar, will address some of the basic but important needs of the community members, mostly the women, who have allegedly, have been branded witches.

Hassan Tampuli, Chief Executive, urged the beneficiaries to ensure the project is well catered for to ensure longevity. He said the NPA after having thoroughly examined the feasibility of the project and the intended beneficiaries, came in and assisted.

“I am confident this will help address the immediate needs of our women most of whom are unable to travel long distances to fetch water,” he said in a dialect understood by the people.

Other speakers were Issa Musah, MCE for Gushegu, Rubabatu Osman, gender expert at the assembly and a representative from the Nortern Regional Minister.