Enabling good health for women

Today I visited two of our grantees, Women Unite Against Aids in Ghana (WUAGG) and the Nana Yaa Memorial Reproductive Health Centre.

WUAAG describes its vision as enabling women infected or affected by HIV/AIDS to live a life of dignity in a supportive and enabling environment. It was a real privilege to be able to visit the centre to see the projects that WUAGG have been able to engage in with a grant from AWDF.

Did you know that snails eat fruit? WUAGG's members have been able to engage in trade and income generation activities with a financial grant from AWDF and snail production, batik and bead making are a few of the activities that the industrious women at WUAGG engage in.

After a snail's pace journey through the market and traffic of Medina I arrived at the Nana Yaa Memorial Reproductive Health Centre. At this centre women are provided with free health checks, advice and referrals where appropriate. The Chief Executive told me an interesting anecdote: Her vehicle has broken down by the wayside and she was feeling sorry for herself when a young girl selling tomatoes approached her and asked her to help herself to some of her tomatoes. Why she asked her? The girl's response? ' Aren't you the ones who have brought Korle-Bu to this area? Korle-Bu is the main teaching hospital in Ghana. The Nana Yaa centre is not Korle Bu by any stretch of the imagination but to her and probably others in the area it might as well be a teaching hospital.

- Nana
Program Officer Fundraising & Communications

Female Liberian refugees in Ghana

‘It is because of poor marginalised women that AWDF exists’. Those were the words of Bisi Adeleye- Fayemi in speaking to her staff about the plight of the female Liberian refugees who had been arrested after several high profile demonstrations in Ghana.

In AWDF’s headquarters in Ghana we recently had a visit from a delegation of Liberian women who have had to ironically flee the Budumbura Refugee camp and shared their tale of woe with us. These women have had to flee the camp after disagreeing with the demonstrators about their demands from the Ghanaian government and have until very recently been camping out at the offices of the UNHCR. Staff at AWDF supported our Liberian Sisters with gifts of clothing, shoes and money. The heartfelt response from Irene the leader of the delegation underpinned why we do what we do. I have paraphrased her words below:

If I tell you that we are surprised by your gift then we would be lying. You have always supported us and we are truly grateful. May God richly bless you and multiply the sources where you obtain your funds from.

The ‘New Liberian Women’s Organisations Skills Training Centre’ and ‘The Liberian Refugee Women’s Organisation’ have been beneficiaries of AWDF’s grant-making and technical assistance.

- Nana
Program Officer - Fundraising & Communications