Dream Big Ghana Foundation Newsletter: Edition Four, November 2020

We are delighted to bring you this newsletter from Dream Big Ghana Foundation (DBGF) – we are the UK charity which supports Dream Big Ghana NGO, Denyigba Lorlor NGO and Dzita Turtle Protection.

It continues to be a difficult time for everyone and we hope you, our supporters, are all keeping safe and well. We hope this newsletter will display that positivity is the only way forward!  

World Toilet Day, 19th November 2020

The United Nations World Toilet Day is the 19th November and aims to raise awareness of the 4.2 billion people worldwide that still cannot access a safely managed sanitation service. To bring attention to this day we are launching a World Toilet Day fundraiser, with the aim of increasing awareness about our sanitation programme and raising some funds to build EcoSan toilets. Despite our best efforts, over half of the people in Dzita and Dzita-Agbledomi still have no access to a toilet and must take a walk to find some kind of privacy in the bushes.

Throughout the week 16th - 22nd November we are asking our supporters to symbolically 'take a walk for the toilets'. Your walk should take at least 10 minutes,  representing the time it might take our friends in rural Ghana to find a place to go.  Please post a photo of yourself to our various social media platforms with #DBGWorldToiletDay, share on your own pages and donate any amount via JustGiving. The walk could be before work, at lunchtime or in the evening – it's up to you!

Access to a toilet is a human right, so please help us to continue building EcoSan toilets in the Volta Region, Ghana.

Dream Big Ghana NGO

In September Dream Big Ghana NGO played host to the second edition of Dream Renewables, a practical course where young adults can learn to engineer renewable energy systems and gain entrepreneurial skills to implement to their everyday lives. In this year of the pandemic, the course was delivered by an all Ghanaian team of volunteers with remote support from Founder, Barnaby King. Lead volunteer Yeboah Samuel, pictured below left, coordinated Ferka, Francesca, Bright and Awo Yaa to deliver an outstanding two-week course centred around solar energy. 

You can find out more about the course by watching the video of the 2020 course below.

The course has been such a success that one attendee Eugene was accepted as an intern at a local solar installation project. Barnaby has also announced the recruitment of Yeboah Samuel as Dream Renewables Head of Operations. Samuel will be responsible for coordinating 10 volunteers, scouting out new locations and course materials, as well as managing and running the course. We have begun fundraising for this and are looking for new partners going forward. If you are interested in collaborating do get in touch! 

In other news, Meet Me There Lodge was mentioned by CNN Travel as one of their 12 best places to visit in Ghana! An unbelievable achievement that has come from nearly 20 years of hard work. A special congratulations to Hugh Newton, Founder, and to Dougal Croudace and Christian Ganah, current Directors, for their vision, commitment and drive for success. You can read the full article below. 

We would also like to extend our thanks to A Kind of Guise, a German clothing and apparel company, for their donation. Felix and his team wanted their donation to go towards our third school EcoSan toilet block which we are planning now. An additional sum will go towards the coaches coaching programme which we are preparing for now. Thank you Felix and team!

Denyigba Lorlor NGO 

With the number of saplings being nurtured reaching over 5000 and a further 5000 seeds purchased, Safo and the team at Denyigba are now focusing their energy into promoting the work of their NGO. Safo has been travelling around the Volta Region meeting with local governing bodies and chiefs, and even appeared on a radio show!  

We have begun to invest in Denyigba Lorlor to increase their operational capacity, as well as through trees. Safo now has a new smart phone which will enable high quality photographic content to be constantly produced, as well improving his ability to keep records. We are still fundraising through JustGiving to enable Safo and the team to keep planting trees!

Dzita Turtle Protection 

The first turtles of the 2020/21 season are beginning to show up on the beaches of Dzita. The team are out patrolling at night so they can carry out their vital work of protecting the mother turtles and keeping the eggs safe.  Dream Big Ghana NGO has donated a camera to Dzita Turtle Protection so the team can capture high quality images of the work they are doing.

In conclusion…

We'd like to thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm, and we hope this newsletter has shown that reflecting on positive aspects of life is especially important right now. If you would like to get involved in our World Toilet Day fundraiser then please get out and walk for the toilets! Stay tuned on our social media channels for the up to date information from our beneficiary NGOs. 

*** THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT ***