US church marks 200th year with borehole gift

The First Baptist Church, the Wilmington Baptist Assembly of the United States of America, has presented a Gh¢ 24,000.00 water system to the Mpakadan Community, as a gift to commemorate its 200th anniversary.

Mpakadan is in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region, in the vicinity of the Volta Lake, about 15 minutes' drive off the Ho-Accra highway, branching from Apeguso.

The project was implemented through the Baptist Relief and Development Agency (BREDA), the project's implementing agency of the Ghana Baptist Convention, (GBC)

The Rev Isaac Asante-Agyei, the International Relations Officer of the GBC, told the inaugural ceremony that the request came from the US based-church, 'spiritedly wanting to give life to a community in Africa because water is life'.

He said the lot fell on Mpakadan in Ghana, based on a report of a Baptist Pastor, who once chanced upon a crowd there toiling for water.

Mr Isaac Frimpong Donkor, the Director of BREDA, said it took the Water Health Care Ghana Company six months to survey, sink and mechanise the borehole.

He asked the five-member Water Management Committee to be diligent in its work, strictly following the maintenance schedules.

Rev Emmanuel Obani, the Head Pastor of the Unity Baptist Church, Mpakadan, who is the Chairman of the Water Management Committee, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that four other boreholes drilled by other organisations for the community were defective.

He said the community's other source of water, the Volta Lake, had been contaminated by activities of fish farmers.

Rev Obani expressed hope that the project would bring an end to suspected cases of bilharzia and other water-borne infections.

He said besides spearheading the water project for the community, the Unity Baptist Church was currently involved in a project to increase awareness on HIV and AIDS and issues of adolescent sexuality.

Rev Obani said the project was based on the high numbers of girls dropping out of school due to pregnancies and the low knowledge in the community about HIV and AIDS, especially to counter the erroneous impression that it could be cured.

Rev Enoch Thompson, Vice-President of the Ghana Baptist Convention, who did the ceremonial unveiling of the Borehole, observed that 'water as a crucial physiological need is life, just as Jesus is life for the humankind'.