Day in Dogobom

On Saturday September 4, the group of us with CIEE traveled to a little village about two hours from Accra called Dogobom. Our mission was to build three water purifiers for the town so they could have clean drinking water. We set out early and arrived at this small community at around 10. They first showed us where they got all their water - it was a very brown, murkey lake where they bathed, did laundry, and drank. It was eye opening to remind myself how lucky I am to have clean drinking water every day.

To build the water purifiers, we used large blue barrells and filled them with a layer of large rocks, then smaller stones, then sand. The water filters through, is pumped out and when this type of water purifier was tested they found it was 98% free from all bacteria! Pretty amazing for such an easy item to make.

We were there for most of the day and besides building the purifiers, we spent much of our time playing with the children. The community put on a small drum performance and everyone danced and sang. I also played some soccer with the Ghanaians and ate coconuts with the children. This experience was benefecial for the community, but I also took away so much from being immersed in the lives of these people for just one day.