A Humanitarian Project created and owned by Rev. Dennis Shipman in collaboration with Frank Kweku Hayford, Founder and President of Rural Water Aid International, Accra, Ghana. This humanitarian project is registered with the Writer’s Guild of America, East. Reg. No. 1302749 - Unauthorized use is expressly forbidden. Click image to the left of this paragraph to preview registration document. Questions or inquiries? Please contact Rev. Dennis Shipman

Angela turned sweet 16 today. Usually, twice a week, she got up at 6 a.m. and prepared herself to fetch clean drinking water for her family. She joined a small group of women from their rural village in the Northern Region of Ghana, Africa. The women walked two-hours, one-way, to a water source that is supposed to be clean and safe for drinking. On the return trip, they each carried a plastic container filled with water that weighs 30-40 lbs. (13.6-18.1 kg).

But, not today. And, not ever again. Angela has good reason to rejoice and to celebrate. Not just because it’s her birthday, but also because today she will bear witness to an astonishing miracle. A miracle she thought would never happen. The village will become transformed because it has received an amazing gift – a water purification system made in the USA.

The 3-man construction crew arrived early and began preparing the foundation for the water purification housing. The entire village of 1,000 people turned out to watch. Celebration was in the air. You could see the joyous precious smiles on their faces. They knew their prayers had been answered. Before the day is finished, their wildest dreams will come true. All of them will enjoy the simple luxury of tasting clean drinking water from the water purification system. The women are especially joyous.

The burden on women and girls to fetch water is disproportionately large, especially pregnant women. Women and girls are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water, and carrying heavy water containers on their heads under the constant threat of injury or rape. Angela is three-months pregnant. She was raped on a walk nearly four months ago.

The water purification system was imported by Rural Water Aid International (RWAI) in cooperation with its American partners. RWAI is a registered NGO (nonprofit) in Ghana with a mission to stamp out poverty by providing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Without WASH, socio-economic development is impossible.

Before the water purification system arrived, the rural village had no running water. It still has no electricity or natural gas ovens. Outside fire-pits are used to cook food, and kerosene lamps to light their homes – which are made of wood and some combined with sheet metal. Outside fire-pits come with their own set of problems as does kerosene lamps: permanent vision impairment, blindness and respiratory cancer.

Ghana is predominately a rural country. With over 27 million population, 68% or 18,389,303 live in rural communities that survive on $1.83 per day USD, and 10% live in extreme poverty on $1.10 per day. Ghana’s democratic-republic government and nonprofit organizations working in the water aid industry estimate that over 9.6 million people in Ghana’s rural communities do not have access to safe drinking water.

There won’t be a pretty birthday cake with sparkling candles to blow out for Angela today. Her family is too poor, but she knows her mother will do something special for her. For love is their greatest asset. And, today, worry and anxiety does not fill Angela’s mind and heart.

It would be fun to share a nice decorated birthday cake with her family and friends, but her mind is elsewhere. She knows she won’t have to make the 4-hour round-trip walk any longer, or carry a heavy water container – both that threatened her unborn child’s life. Not to mention the possibility that she might fall. Now, with fresh drinking water flowing every day in the village, her baby’s chances of surviving death from water-borne disease are better than ever.

Statistics are shocking. It’s estimated that every 20 seconds a child dies from drinking toxic, polluted water – the leading cause of death in children in rural communities before the age of three. 80% of all diseases in most parts of Africa are caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation, while 90% of deaths in children under 5 years of age are attributable to the same causes. Diarrhea is the third biggest killer of children under five years old in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The lack of safe water in Ghana results in an economic burden to the country. It is estimated that the overall economic loss in Africa due to the lack of access to safe water and sanitation is estimated at $28.4 billion a year.

Angela knows all too well the outcome of diarrheal and water borne disease. Her mother is a nurse, and Angela has visited many deprived communities with her mother and has seen children die, including several of her childhood friends. Angela had to drop out of school to help with the household chores because her father died last year from drinking polluted water. Now, only her mother and younger brother and herself live in their house with a dirt floor, and Angela home schools herself when she has time.

Angela survived her childhood challenges and is alive today to tell her story. She vows that her goal in life is to bring an end to the lack of safe water – a persistent and life-threatening problem in Ghana’s rural communities. It’s her birthday, and she feels she has many reasons to rejoice. She is very grateful for the blessings that surround her and that have been given to her in life. As a huge joyous smile beams across her face, she knows she is overwhelmingly grateful for the simple luxury of tasting fresh water from the water purification system. Her grueling journey of walking 4-hours to fetch water is ended. Tonight will be a night to remember. Celebration, and singing and dancing will reign.

"Operation Safe Water Ghana" is a humanitarian project designed to achieve a quantum leap in eliminating extreme poverty, advancing health care, community development and environmental sustainability in Ghana’s rural communities by providing safe drinking water for every person that makes up the 9.6 million population that live in Ghana’s rural communities. It is Ghana’s rural communities where the people are most deprived and marginalized in this developing country, and where the critical need for safe drinking water is greatest.

Project Goal: Provide 12,000 safe drinking water purification systems to 9.6 million rural citizens in 3-years.

The project is designed to impact and electrify the world with peace, love, joy as never before witnessed on a scale of this magnitude. We have the manpower, the equipment, the logistics, the resources and human resolve. Millions of people around the world will become empowered in ways never before thought possible by this project.

The word "Ghana" means "Warrior Kings." Present-day Ghana has been inhabited since about 1500-4000 B.C. It is officially known as the Republic of Ghana – a constitutional democracy with an elected president, its southern coast bordering the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean, in the sub-region of West Africa. On March 6, 1957, it became the first sub-Saharan African nation to become independent of European colonization. It is politically stable.

Population: 28,662,404 (2017). Capital: Accra. Ghana is 92,100 square miles (238,539 sq. km), roughly the size of the state of Oregon in the United States. It is a lower-middle income country that is striving to achieve middle income status. Per capita income is $1,480 USD. It has the advantage of a diversity of skilled to unskilled labor force. As of January 2017, the minimum wage was increased to 8.80 cedis per day – about $2.20 USD per day. The typical work week is 40 hours per week with 2 days off. However, in rural communities, the work week is longer because the work is mostly farming. The most popular crops grown everywhere in rural communities are: maize, cassava, millet, plaintain, tomatoes, pepper, and okro. Cocoa is the most popular cash crop.

English is the country's official language for government and business affairs and educational instruction. More than 250 languages and dialects are spoken in Ghana. Local languages are used in informal settings like home or among friends.

Ghana is just 4 degrees above the equator. Sunrise is at 6:00 a.m. and sunset at 6:00 p.m. every day of the year Greenwich Mean Tim (GMT) all year. It does not have daylight savings time. Electricity is 220 volts/50 cycles. Distances are in kilometers, temperature is in Celsius. The Cedi is the currency in Ghana (GHS). The symbol can be written ¢. Ghana’s climate is tropical. Temperature range: 70 to 82 degrees F (21-28 degrees C.). 71% are Christians, 17% are Muslims.

Ghana’s poorest regions are: Western. Central. Eastern. Volta. Brong Ahafo. Upper East. Upper West. Northern (Source: The Ghana Poverty and Inequality Report 2016 – UNICEF).

The Problem
(Sources: UN, World Health Org., Ghana Statistical Service, WaterAid America, Water.org)

Over 9.6 million people in Ghana’s rural communities do not have access to safe drinking water – this is the size of the target beneficiary population for this project.

Every 20 seconds a child dies from drinking toxic, polluted water – the leading cause of death in children in rural communities before the age of three.

80% of all diseases in most parts of Africa are caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation, while 90% of deaths in children under 5 years of age are attributable to the same causes.

Diarrhea is the third biggest killer of children under five years old in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Health and economic productivity are severely compromised. Life expectancy for all Africans being nearly 30 years less than in developed countries.

The overall economic loss in Africa due to lack of access to safe water and sanitation is estimated at $28.4 billion a year.

Demographics of Rural Communities in Ghana
(Source: Ghana Statistical Service, a government agency in the capital city of Accra)

Rural Population (est.): 18,389,303 – Ghana is predominately a rural country.

On average, the population in a single rural community is 800 people.

80% of Ghana’s population living below the poverty line ($1.83/day) lives in rural areas.

The monetary amount that each person lives on ranges from $1.10 USD per day (extreme poverty) to $1.83 USD per day (poverty line established by the government).

29% of women are literate compared to 52% of men. 71% of women and 59% of men have no primary education. 13% of women and 3% of men do have a secondary education.

65% of men spend 0 to 10 hrs/wk on domestic activities; whereas 89% of women spend 10 hrs/wk or more (mostly on cooking, caring for household members, and fetching water).

3.94 children are born to every woman in rural areas, whereas 2.78 children are born to every woman in urban areas. Ghana’s annual population growth is 2% (2017 estimate).

The burden on women and girls is disproportionately large, especially pregnant women.

Women and girls are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water, and carrying heavy water containers on their heads under the constant threat of injury.

Rural households are predominately farming households.

Each community is governed by an assembly of community leaders and local chiefs.

Reducing poverty in rural communities is the solution to reducing poverty in Ghana.

Ghana’s government does not have the capacity to provide safe water from large municipal treatment plants to serve its rural population. High costs, hard-to-reach locations and power requirements are barriers to solutions. Most rural households do not have access to clean water at home. Most families collect water from unsafe toxic sources (rainfalls, ponds, streams, rivers). Water pollution can be attributed to many factors, such as defecating in the open around a water source. Health and economic productivity are severely compromised due to a lack of safe water.

The solution to provide safe water to the rural communities of Ghana is utilizing the best water purification technology available. Polluted surface water (such as ponds, lakes, streams, rivers) can instantly be made potable by using existing state-of-the-art water purification technology, without waiting forever for municipal water sources. An off-grid, manually-operated, leading-edge, cost-effective, sustainable, patented technology water purification system exists that meets the specific challenges facing Ghana’s rural communities.

The project’s showcase technology is a state-of-the-art water purification system that is designed with many leading-edge features (including but not limited to):

• Requires no electricity, no chemicals, lightweight, portable, easy to use and maintain.
• No sophisticated monitoring required, and no special skills required to operate the unit.
• Off-grid. Manually operated. Gravity-fed. Produces clean water immediately after set up.
• Uses patented medical technology that filters out contaminates and produce clean pure water.
• Traps bacteria, viruses, protozoa, cysts, parasites, and eliminates turbidity to yield safe clean water.
• Free of pathogens, bacteria, viruses and parasites such as Cholera and Typhoid.
• System capacity treats 1,000 liters of water per hour and 10,000 liters per day.
• Expected lifetime service of the inbuilt filtration unit: 10 years.
• Meets World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Manufactured in the USA.

• The permanent provision of safe drinking water for rural communities.
• Elimination and prevention of enteric, diarrhea and other water-borne disease that leads to ill health and pre-mature death in children and the rural community population.
• Reduced child and maternal mortality as a result of access to safe water.
• Reduced physical injury of women (especially pregnant women) and children walking long distances and from constant lifting and carrying heavy loads of water.
• Reduced risk of rape, sexual assault, and increased safety of women and girls that do not have to go to remote and dangerous places to fetch water.
• Increased dignity and reduced psychological stress for girls and women. Symptoms associated with menstruation, pregnancy and childbirth can be managed discreetly.
• Improved vitality and health, enhanced economic productivity, alleviating poverty by improving quality of life, empowerment of the people, and increased life expectancy.

Massive Stimulation of Ghana’s Economy

This project will activate a massive stimulation of labor, equipment, supplies and resources for the Ghana economy. At its peak, 400 water purification installations per month are planned. This is not a commercial enterprise. The project is not selling anything. The project is only bringing in the water purification technology from the USA that is not available in Ghana.

All water purification installation materials will be manufactured and bought locally. Local people will be hired from the skilled labor force for office administration, warehouse cargo distribution, and sundry positions. Business with local suppliers will be contracted for necessary services, such as legal, real estate leasing, construction manufacturing, cargo transportation, employment agencies, tourism, information technology, communications, utilities, hotel and restaurant, movie-media-music production, advertising, public relations, etc.

New World Record – Saving the Lives of 9.6 Million People in 3-Years

Most likely, a new world record will be set – which by-the-way, is a natural by-product of the project, not a primary target. Documented evidence will be submitted to Guniness Records to substantiate proof of a world record.

Award-Winning Media Productions / Media Exposure

The project’s marketing and public relations will generate untold publicity for the people and government of Ghana, anyone or any business associated with the project, and aims to produce award-winning media productions (including not limited to):

Best Documentary Film of the year.

Best Album of the Year – the soundtrack to the documentary film.

Best Selling Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

A 3-day world class festival featuring top headliners to celebrate our victory! Attracting tens of thousands of visitors and tourists!

"Operation Safe Water Ghana" will be achieved with the collaboration of Rural Water Aid International (RWAI), a registered non-profit, non-partisan, non-denominational, non-governmental organization (NGO) in Ghana, with headquarters in the capital city of Accra. The NGO was registered under the laws of Ghana on 25 July 2014. Its mission is to accelerate the socio-economic development of deprived and marginalized rural communities in Ghana by providing WASH (safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene) services. RWAI has the expertise, dedication, knowledge, and in-country connections to accomplish this goal.

RWAI was founded by its president and chairman of the board Frank Kweku Hayford, a 28-year old business owner and investment consultant with 5 years’ experience in the gold and diamond markets and mining industry in Ghana.

The NGO is comprised of 10 members – all native Ghanaians: six-permanent members (four men and two women who all serve on the Board of Directors), and three part-time members, in their late-twenties-early-thirties, and currently all unpaid volunteers with full-time jobs. Each of them brings 5-7 years of experience in their respective fields to RWAI: business management, finance and accounting, project development and coordination, marketing and public relations.

All of them are acutely aware of the necessity to solve the water crisis. Some of them are survivors from rural villages that do not have access to safe water. Some of them watched their childhood friends suffer and die from various water-borne diseases. All of them have the passion and compassion and iron-clad determination to do their part in ending the water crisis in their country. Currently, each permanent member donates a portion of their income to support RWAI’s mission.

RWAI already has three-years of outstanding experience fulfilling its mission. Almost immediately from incorporation, it acquired a water purification unit from its U.S. manufacturer, an in-kind donation valued at $7,500 USD. They know the unit works 100% of the time because they have field tested it for one-year with excellent results.

RWAI regularly contacts rural communities to offer their water purification program. An example of this is the rural village of Kwalakpoyom in the Ada East District in metro Accra. On 27 December 2014, the RWAI team visited the village. They set up their mobile water purification system, and provided pure drinking water for the entire village of 1,000 residents.

The governing body for the district issued RWAI a Letter of Recommendation. A local Accra TV news crew escorted them to the site and filmed their humanitarian activities. The 5-minute broadcast was aired over the weekend January 8-9, 2015, and subsequently aired on Viasat and Omnibus.

The pictures of the priceless smiles that came to the villager’s faces as a result of drinking pure water can be seen in this news video:

"Operation Safe Water Ghana" contributes to the United Nations 2030 Millennium Development Goals, to ending the world water crisis, ending world poverty, saving the environment, and achieving the beginnings of restoring a part of our world to balance, health, and prosperity.

We are in the Planning and Organizing Phase of this project. We are inviting individuals that value human rights, women empowerment associations, governments and foundations, water aid organizations and socially-responsible for-profit companies, especially B-Corp companies, to join us. United, we can achieve victory!

• Private Stock Offering for socially responsible accredited investors with our B-Corp.
• Maximum public exposure and recognition for socially responsible companies, and humanitarian funding sources that contribute sponsorship, in-kind donations of goods and services, and/or financial contributions to our 501-C-3 U.S-based nonprofit organization.

Talented business people required to make this project successful are: Legal, Accounting, Information Technology, Corporate Sponsorship, Celebrity Spokespersons, Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Impact Counseling, Public Relations, Journalists, Advertising, Graphic Design, Website Design & Content Creators, Music Festival Production, Documentary Filmmaker, Music Album Composing & Production, Print Publishing, Insurance, Volunteer Opportunities, Socially Responsible Investors, and Advisory Team. *+*