Canaan is a name that evokes images of a promised land in the Bible. But for the people of Canaan, a small island community in the Afram Plains, Eastern Region of Ghana, the reality is quite the opposite.

Canaan’s estimated population of 1,000 predominantly immigrant residents from Ningo Prampram is struggling with a lack of essential services.

The community lacks access to safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, and electricity.

Also, its residents have been without educational infrastructure until recently.

“We don’t have a school. So the children here don’t go to school. Few parents who are so interested in education send their children to stay with other people in nearby towns to go to school. This is because children can’t risk their lives to cross to travel almost an hour on the lake, which mostly records storms. Even with that, it is expensive. You have to pay GHC20 to cross,” a resident told Starr News.

Despite several appeals, the government is not forthcoming with the establishment of a basic school.

As a result, a group of people in 2023 established a private basic school to provide early childhood education to children in the Island community.

“We have nursery, classes one, two, and three. Now we have 76 children enrolled. We aim to provide access to education for these children here because the community has no school and children here were being denied their right to education, so we stepped in to help. We are only hoping to get help to expand the school to the JHS level,” Philemon Koranteng, assistant principal of World Link Diplomatic Christian School, told Starr FM correspondent Kojo Ansah.

The absence of health facilities is affecting healthcare access, particularly for pregnant women and children.

Women in labor are either transported across Volta Lake to Dzemani to deliver or deliver with the help of a traditional birth attendant.

“This woman, a traditional birth attendant, has delivered many babies in this community. We don’t have a health center here. When the pregnant women are in labor at night or there is a storm on the lake, they can’t cross by boat, so she steps in to deliver them," said a spokesperson for the traditional birthday attendant.

Malnutrition among children and poverty remain significant concerns.

The situation at Canaan reflects Ghana’s struggle to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 on the eradication of poverty and improved access to quality education, electricity, and health, among others.

Ghana is in a race against time to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030, a global target that aims to ensure all individuals have access to quality health services without financial hardship.

However, with just six years remaining, the country’s UHC Service Coverage Index stands at around 50%, forecasting significant hurdles.