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Kusawgu, Ghana is typical of villages in northern
Ghana, with round mud buildings and grass roofs.
Three km. off the main road, it is a village of about
1500 people. Photo by Lizandra Vidal. |
March 2005 Northern Workshops
Here's the latest published news from the project
(The following appeared in the Moscow (Idaho) Food Co-op News for March
2005.)
The Co-op donates
2% of sales every Tuesday to selected non-profits. In April of 2004
they donated 2% of Tuesday sales to Village Bicycle Project. The
$579.81 raised for VBP was dedicated to sponsoring two bike repair
workshops in northern Ghana where 40 people would get discounted
bikes.
This was the first time we had done a program in the north of the
country. We had previously felt the 13-hour journey from the capital
city of Accra was too far, too hard and too expensive. But this year we
took the plunge. So with the excitement of a new endeavor and 40 bikes
in a hired truck, George Aidoo, one of our Project Managers and Abokyi
Samadu, his assistant, made the trek to Kusawgu, a village in the
Northern Region.
The workshops were organized by two American Peace Corps volunteers
working in a campaign to eradicate Guinea worm. Bicycles would help
their Ghanaian team members gain better access to the villages and the
water holes where Guinea worm is spread. A particularly nasty parasite,
the Guinea worm (a.k.a fiery serpent), is transmitted by drinking water
contaminated with the larvae. The larvae develop into worms, and
migrate around the body, sometimes even crossing an eye. The worms grow
as much as three feet long, finally surfacing painfully through knees,
ankles, elbows and the like. Itching madly, (hence the moniker fiery
serpent) the victim often uses water to try to cool the pain. Eggs are
passed when the open sore contacts water, and the cycle continues with
the next drink. photo and story continues
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