Now, let me introduce you to Nia…
I am Nia Muhammad from Washington DC. I graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 2012 and studied architecture and Spanish.
What inspired you to undertake this project?
Before coming to Ghana, I had never experienced not having running water before. When I visited the orphanage last summer, I was very moved by some of the conditions which were a great eye opener. I saw how much effort it took for the children to get the water from the stream and then for the staff to purify it. I wanted to find a way to ease that burden. Water is essential to life and is very powerful. I feel that in 2014 with all the technology and advancement of the human race, clean water should be accessible to everyone in the world. Initially, I just wanted to buy a poly tank that I saw on other buildings for the orphanage, but after I did a volunteer program the following spring, I learned how to build a rain water harvestor. I thought that would be a better option because it’s more sustainable and efficient than constantly paying for the poly tank to be refilled. I now want to continue to do similar projects in other places throughout Africa and Haiti.
The actual connection to the tank was pretty simple and only took 4 days.
How did you fund this project?
I raised money through a fundraising website for 2 months. Facebook was my primary source with spreading the word about the project and from there, people made donations. My mother’s non-profit CASP helped with contacting the workers. Some of the CASP staff who live in Hohoe found the workers and did negotiations and all that stuff.
Anyone you would like to thank?
I want to thank all the CASP staff and my friend Samson who assisted me all through my trip in Ghana. I appreciate my mom, Rashida Muhammad, Fred, Bless and Francis for their help and most importantly those who made donations.
Eugemot Foundation appreciates all support received to make this project a success and Nia for this initiative. We are expecting lots of rain in the coming months so hopefully there would be enough rain water for domestic use at the home.