Two communities in the Awutu-Senya East District in the Central Region who had challenges accessing potable water have been rescued by Awake Purified Drinking Water.

Awake, charity-driven purified bottle water which highlights Kasapreko Company Limited’s Corporate Social Responsibility across communities in Ghana, has commissioned mechanized borehole systems and donated huge water storage tanks in both Okwampa and Ayensuako to ease the struggles of the residents.

The projects were commissioned on Friday, March 22, 2019 which was set aside as World Water Day.

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the commissioning ceremony, Sales and Marketing Manager of Awake Purified Water, Chris Sarkodie indicated that the gesture was inspired by a GTV documentary on the plight of the two communities and his outfit’s efforts to promote healthy living among Ghanaians through life-saving campaigns and projects.

The documentary highlighted the dangers residents of Okwampa and Ayensuako face in attempts to access water from rivers within their communities.

They survived on the unclean river water which is used for all their chores.

According to Mr. Sarkodie, the Management of Awake and Kasapreko, were touched by the report and, therefore, decided to spend over GHC75,000 in providing potable water to the communities.

“Today being World Water Day, we’ve decided to extend our CSR activities to the people of Ayensuako and Okwampa. The people of Ayensuako depend on the river Ayensu for drinking, cooking and all manner of chores which is not very hygienic and they also have to walk for close to a mile before they get access to the river,” he stated.

He adds, “We’ve come here to commission mechanized borehole systems and we’re also donating 20000 worth of water storage facilities which should be able to cater for the people of Ayensuako and hopefully they’ll not have to depend on river Ayensu because when we talk about World Water Day, it’s about accessibility of water and making sure that wherever you are, be it in Accra or Kumasi or this village, you should be able to have access to clean and better drinking water.”

At Okwampa, which is quite smaller than Ayensuako, Awake Water in addition to the mechanized borehole donated a 10000 storage tank to the community.

Mr. Sarkodie expressed his gratitude to consumers of Awake Water and other products of the company and urged them to continue patronizing their services so his outfit can expand its activities to other communities who need help.

“Our projects will come on need basis. Awake specifically stands for cardiovascular activities however as consumers keep supporting us, keep buying and keep drinking awake water we’ll certainly extend our projects,” he stressed.

Awake has lifted my burden of providing water to Okwampa and Ayensuako – Awutu-Senya East

District Chief Executive of the Awutu-Senya East, Stephen Kwame Quaye could not hide his joy as he commissioned the two projects.

He said, the provision of water to the two communities in his jurisdiction is a burden lifted as they did not have the means of solving the problem that was a headache to residents.

“I had sleepless nights due to the water crisis in these communities so when I heard that Kasapreko is coming to lift this burden in Okwampa and Ayensuako, I was relieved. Malaria I had from the pressure on me by the people has now been cured,” he said.

Mr. Quaye thanked the Management of Awake Mineral Water and its mother company, Kasapreko for the gesture.

“We thank Kasapreko and the Manager, Dr. Kwabena Agyei for coming to our rescue. The borehole keeps breaking down and now that we have the mechanized one all the challenges we have with water have been solved,” he said.

He further entreated the residents to handle the facilities properly to ensure their sustainability.

“We have a health centre here at Okwampa where officers from Korle Bu come for training. Now that we have access to purified water, they can happily stay with us. Thanks to Awake Purified water and we pray that God bless and make your business successful,” the DCE added.

Okwampa chief grateful to Awake Purified Drinking Water

Chief of Okwampa revealed that they engaged the services of an engineer to mechanize the only borehole in the community which breaks down often but they could not afford the cost of GHC30,000 that was needed for the project.

He, therefore, thanked Awake for their kindness and promised to ensure the facilities are well maintained to serve the intended purpose.

My people can now sleep in peace – Ayensuako Chief

On his part, Chief of Ayensuako, Nai Kofi Antwi V, said he is excited that residents of Ayensuako can now heave sighs of relief and sleep in peace as their most pressing need has been met.

“See these tanks here. There was no way we could have acquired these with our limited funds but today Kasapreko and Awake have shown as kindness. They’ve bought two big tanks and mechanized our boreholes,” he noted.

According to him, getting water for his community has been his priority and as a result, he keeps putting pressure on the DCE to solve the issue.

“Since I became Chief of Ayensuako, I’ve taken steps to get a reliable source of potable water for my people. I even contacted the GWCL in Agona Swedru but to no avail. We’ve depended on the unclean water from the rivers for far too long.”

“We’re grateful to Kasapreko for identifying our need and coming to save us. We will take good care of these facilities,” he excitedly said.

He also made a passionate appeal to government and charity organizations to emulate the gesture of Kasapreko and help construct their roads and footbridges on the rivers in the community.

He disclosed that residents risk their lives as they cross to the Ayensu and Densu Rivers to their farms.

In wet seasons, for instance, rivers overflow their banks making it extremely difficult for school children to go to school and farmers, to their farms.

“Our water problem has been eliminated but our road must be constructed and a bridge built on the rivers. We plead that government will resource our MP to act on this, particularly our bridge. We voted because we needed peace and comfort so they shouldn’t neglect us like the past governments did,” he appealed.

Residents happy

Happy residents also affirmed how they endangered their lives in the process of accessing water and thanked Awake for the gesture.

“We’re very happy now. As you can see how we’re suffering just to fetch water from this river. It’s this very water that we drink, bath, wash and cook. People even swim and bath inside and we also fetch and drink which is not healthy for us,” says a resident.