In 2015, HOCAP made an entry into the Nyitawuta community through the Member of Parliament for the area who made a request that Nyitawuta was one of the communities with lots of needs and needed assistance. The community at that point had no potable water, no health facility, no electricity, no toilet facilities to mention but a few. The people were basically peasant farmers who did farming only in the rainy season.
HOCAP decided to fully concentrate on this community and bring sustainable solutions to the many problems that the community was faced with.
There were interventions in the following areas;
Agriculture, education, health, water and sanitation, entrepreneurship and Christian Nurture. This report covers the work done from 2015 to date as HOCAP rounds it activities by the end of year 2023.
AGRICULTURE
BEE KEEPING TRAINING: The community was taken through a bee training program to produce honey as the first alternative farming measure. After the training the community members were equipped with logistics to help them set up. The bee farm was set up in Gerfia after it was realized that the bee hives in the community could not attract enough bees. Two community members were assigned to this project and till date honey is harvested annually to support the work of HOCAP in the community. 2015
FARMING ACTIVITIES: farming activities began seriously in the Nyitawuta community when the community gave a ten acre land to be used as a demonstration farm. The focus of this project was to move community members from farming traditional product like maize and beans and move to farming vegetables and other crops they had never planted. This project was sponsored by Westminster Presbyterian Church, Albany USA. This project was very successful and gave birth to the need to have a dam to support all year farming in the community.2018-2019
SEEDLINGS TO THE COMMUNITY: some community members were given various seedlings to plant including mango seedlings. In collaboration with the district agriculture department, the community received cassava sticks to increase the cultivation of cassava production in the community which will serve as the raw material for the gari processing. 2021-2022
DAM CONSTRUCTION: The community was happy to cultivate the vegetables but there was no water after the rainy season, the cost of a dam was also very expensive. HOCAP was fortunate to be accepted by GlobalGiving in 2019 which was introduced by Melissa, a volunteer who had visited the HOCAP project earlier in 2014. Fund raising began and to the Glory of God funds to construct the dam were raised and the dam was built in 2020.
EDUCATION
STATIONARY SUPPLY: HOCAP realized that the school in the community needed a lot of support and so started by equipping each child in the school with stationary. 201
EXTRA CLASSES AND TEXT BOOKS SUPPLY: It was almost time to for the grade 9 children to sit for their national exams but HOCAP realized that almost all the children did not have the required text books, these books were supplied to each child and two teachers were engaged and paid to teach the children in the evening to catch up on various subjects. HOCAP also provided solar lamps outside in a temporary park that was created for the children to help them study in the evening. 2021
VOLUNTEER BY STUDENTS: A student from Pennsylvania USA volunteered in the community to support education. She raised funds by herself and volunteered to stay in the community to teach and also provide learning materials to children of the community school in 2017.
Briana from the Ghana Christian High School also volunteered on the program and supported the teenage mothers with educational talks as most of them were her age mates.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING: HOCAP began its vocational training after realizing that there were girls who had dropped out of school and could not continue due to teenage pregnancy. The teenage mothers who enrolled on the program were all resourced with sewing machines to help them start up on their own. Some of the sewing machines were donated by the Young Peoples Fellowship of the Redemptions Presbyterian Church, Tema comm 9. We are happy to say that some of the girls trained are using their skills acquired to earn a living.2019 – 2020
SCHOLARSHIP: two students from the community were supported through their SHS education. One of them is currently in a vocational school and HOCAP pays the total fees, she is in her second year. 2023
COMPUTERS DONATED: Some teachers and student of the community received laptop computers. This was to be used by the teachers to assist the children in the school and also to serve as motivation for teachers in the community.
HEALTH, WATER AND SANITATION
BOREHOLE DONATED: In partnership with Seven Hills Global Outreach (SHGO), under the leadership of Dr. Jordon the team visited the community and both children and adult appealed passionately for the need of potable water in the community since they had to travel miles to fetch water and this made children very late to school. SHGO in that same year of appeal donated a borehole to the community which became a relief to the entire community. A committee was put in place to manage the borehole, members had to pay some amount of money which was kept by the member of the committee to be used for repair and maintenance of the borehole. 2016
TOILET FACILITY PROVIDED: The entire community did not have a toilet facility and open defecation was the order of the day. To end this problem HOCAP in partnership with SHGO provided a toilet facility to be used by the entire community in 2017.
MEDICAL OUTREACH: HOCAP undertook its first medical outreach in the community after realizing that children were generally malnourished with a lot of skin infections. There was a pediatrician who led the team with other para medics. Medications were given out and those who needed referrals were referred to bigger medical centers in the city and this program coincided with our yearly partnership visit from our partners in the USA who fully assisted in the outreach.2018
There was a second medical outreach which included an eye specialist team to help check the eye with every member of the community. This medical outreach was very important for the community since they had no medical facility. 2020
EYE SURGERY: There was an urgent need for an eye surgery and we are happy to say that one of the visiting volunteers on the SHGO team funded the bill for the surgery.
MENSTRUAL HYGIENE PROGRAM: research in the community indicated that most girls did not go to school during menstruation, either because they were afraid to soil themselves and be ridiculed or they just did not have the right materials to use. The program educated the entire school on medical hygiene and teenage girls were giving special training on what to do. This gave birth to training to sew menstrual hygiene pads to be used by the girls.2019 and 2021
TRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANT TRAINED: since the community did not have a clinic, they have one of their women who assists in delivering their babies. A midwife and a senior nurse were sent into the community to train the birth attendant and also to equip her with what she needs when women are in labor.
CLINIC CONSTRUCTION: the chief and elders of the community during on of our partnership visit with SHGO, made a passionate appeal for us to build a clinic in the community due to the struggles they go through when they are sick to access a medical facility especially due to the poor nature of their roads. The team led by Dr. Jordan once again accepted the challenge to build the clinic for the community in 2021. SHGO gave the seed money and from there HOCAP began to fund raise to complete the project. We are happy to announce that the clinic is fully built and some initial medical supply and furniture was sent to the clinic in the month of March 2023. We have currently handed the clinic facility to the Presbyterian Church of Ghana to run it as a mission clinic. The church has started the process of registration of the clinic facility with the appropriate license given bodies. Once this is completed the heath staff will be posted to the facility to get it operational. To our partners in Westminster Presbyterian Church Albany, we cannot say thank you enough for your continuous support in the building of the clinic.2023
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The women in Nyitawuta were taking through a number of entrepreneurship skills to help them set up a business. A trainer was engaged to take them through bead making, soap making, they were also provided with a commercial oven as the trainer took them through bread making and the making of other pastries including cakes. HOCAP also set up a gari processing facility for the women group, two machines were provided to help them process their cassava into gari (gari is a cereal made from cassava). They were also provided with a smokeless stove for the processing of gari since the smoke from cooking may affect the health of the women after a long time.
HOCAP is very happy that the women are producing the gari, selling and earning some income.
CHRISTIAN NURTURE
YEARLY CHRISTMAS LOVE BOX: HOCAP runs a yearly Christmas Party for the entire community, food, drinks, water, clothes among other things are shared for the community members and neighboring communities also join in the celebrations. The most important aspect is that the word of God is preached to the community. This program went on from 2016 to 2019, until in 2020 during the COVID era the party was renamed the Christmas love box, in addition to the routine of the activities mentioned above, each child received a love box that contained different types of gifts which were essential needs of the children. The love on the faces of these children as some of them opened a gift for the first time was amazing. 2020 to 2022.
APPRECIATION TO DONORS
The HOCAP family is grateful to God for finding us worthy to provide service to the community. We want to thank all our donors who contributed to make this project a success. A special thanks to SHGO, Westminster Presbyterian Church Albany, OTM, the MP of the area and his friend Kwabena, Melissa, the GlobalGiving donors, Lois, Gladys, Brobbey, Daniel, Gina, Obeng, Pat, Belinda, PCG Redemption Youth, Henrietta to mention but a few of all the people who contributed and volunteered their time and money to these projects.
To our very dedicated volunteers Samuel, Louisa, Jane, Seyram, Stephany, the medical team led by Harriet we want to say the good Lord richly bless you.
To the entire community of Nyitawuta we thank you for giving us the opportunity to share in your life. To our humble staff at various times of the project we are grateful.
WAYFORWARD
We are looking forward to get the clinic operational once the license is received.
We are looking forward to evaluate all the programs done in the past eight years and to move on to another needy place that the Lord places on our heart.
Our major prayer for Nyitawuta is that their road will be constructed and also for the community to have electricity. Long live the Nyitawuta community
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