Rose Addai has lived with her children and tenants next to a dumpsite in the Adum electoral area in Kenyasi, for almost her entire life. She is filled with joy as she heaps praises on the Asutifi North District Assembly and its partners for clearing the dumpsite next to her home. She recalls how she and other residents living around the dumpsite always had to fight people not to dump their waste close to their houses.
For a long time, the dumpsites of Kenyasi were an unsightly mess and the cause of frequent disease outbreaks for residents who lived nearby. The Adum dumpsite was one of the eight (8) sites that were cleared in 2021. The problem of indiscriminate waste disposal in Kenyasi could be attributed to the unavailability of designated public places for dumping refuse in the past. In addition, due to the inadequate number of household latrines, children (and some adults) who could not pay to use public latrines resorted to these dumpsites as places of convenience.
“The stench from the dumpsite was unbearable and I was constantly worried about the health of my family. I made burglar proofs to stop solid waste from flying into our verandas but that too didn’t help. So I constructed this wall,” Auntie Rose recalls.
The Asutifi North District Assembly as part of the ANAM WASH initiative has worked with partners to prepare and implement a 13-year Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Master Plan. By 2030, this initiative hopes to provide 84,420 people with universal access to clean water, basic sanitation, and hygiene services. The Assembly saw it needful to clear the dumpsites within the community in order to improve sanitation and prevent diseases among residents. Chief Executive of the district, Honorable Anthony Mensah recalled that, after evacuating the refuse, the dumpsites were filled with laterite. Upon his return to the dumpsites the next day, the Chief Executive was pleased to see that some young me had started playing football there.
Akua Achiaa and the other resident living close to the dump site expressed gratitude to the district authorities for evacuating the pile of refuse. Akua and her two neighbors currently supervise the new garbage container placed at the newly designated site for waste collection. A private waste collector, Zoomlion, evacuates these containers twice every week to prevent overflow and stench.
"When the dump was cleared, I rerouted the pipes for my water business and moved the location of the tank to this side of my land. Most of the houses in the neighborhood are either connected to our system or buy water from here. We finally feel safe, and my business is thriving”. “In addition, our children now use the field as a playground in the community” Auntie Rose concludes.
In total, the ANAM WASH project has benefited thousands of people in Kenyasi, including the families of Auntie Rose and Akua Achiaa by ensuring access to improved sanitation services.