Hundreds of people from all walks of life are trooping to Adomfe,
a small town in the Asante Akyem South District in the Ashanti Region,
to fetch water from a borehole which is believed to heal all manner of
illnesses.
They are not perturbed by any cost – be it money, distance or long
queues for hours and days – to fetch the water for their personal use
and for their relatives and friends, far and near.
One gallon (popularly called Kufuor gallon) of the borehole water is
being sold for GH¢10 to visitors and GH¢1 to community members.
And when the
Daily Graphic visited Adomfe last Friday, a day reserved for visitors to fetch the water, there were long queues of people carrying gallons.
The atmosphere was one of mixed feeling, with people who were
fortunate to fetch the water wearing smiles on their faces, while
anxiety was written on the faces of those yet to have their turn.
News about the healing potency of the Adomfe borehole water has even
gone beyond the shores of Ghana, as some Ghanaians living abroad call
their relations back home to go fetch the water for their ailing
relatives.
Some residents of Adomfe are said to be doing brisk business, fetching and selling the borehole water to visitors.
The
Daily Graphic learnt that some pastors had
visited the borehole site, while other prominent people had also sent
emissaries to fetch the water for them.
Testimony
The only proof of the healing power of the borehole water lies in the testimonies of people who have used it.
“This water is very good. I have used some already and it’s good;
that is why I’ve come for more,” an elderly woman told the Daily
Graphic, as she carried a gallon of the borehole water on her head with
broad smiles on her face.
Madam Yaa Fosu Hemaa was waiting patiently for her turn to fetch the
water after joining the queue for more than five hours before the visit
of the Daily Graphic.
“I have an ear problem and after putting some of the water into my
ear, I felt an improvement in my condition. So I’ve come to fetch more
of the water,” she said.
In another instance, a man was said to have testified that his wife
could not take seed again nine years after giving birth to their only
child, but after drinking the borehole water, she had become pregnant.
The power of these testimonies had lured Madam Akua Comfort from
Ohene Nkwanta at Konongo-Odumase to Adomfe with a ‘Kufuor gallon’ to
fetch the water for her ailing mother who is stricken with waist pain
and swollen legs.
“I have a heart problem and so I’ll also drink some of the water,” she added.
However, one woman the Daily Graphic spoke to in town was not
enthused about the borehole water because after drinking it, she said “I
did not see anything.”
Background
The borehole was sunk in September 2008, but, according to Mr
Wilberforce Obeng Anane, popularly called WO Anane, the people abandoned
it for five years.
That was because they did not find the water suitable for cooking
and, when they used it for washing and bathing, the soap did not lather.
He said he later learnt that the borehole water was hard water, hence
the inability of soap to lather when the water was used for bathing and
washing.
Mr Anane, who is the Financial Secretary of the Water and Sanitation
Committee at Adomfe, said having read about hard water from the science
notes of his nephew in junior high school and also done further research
into it, he discovered the health benefits of the water and started
proclaiming same to the people.
He said following the promotion of the water, some people tried it
and immediately many of them started giving testimonies of its healing
potency against diabetes, heart diseases, abnormal menstrual cycle and
other sicknesses.
What is hard water?
According to scientists, water is considered to be hard when it has
relatively high levels of calcium and magnesium and other metals.
Water is referred to as hard because it requires more soap for a good
lather, making it harder to clean with than soft water, which, unlike
hard water, contains few of calcium and magnesium and other metal
cations.
Scientists say hard water is not harmful to human health. Rather, it
has many health benefits when compared to soft water because calcium and
magnesium are considered essential nutrients required in diet to
maintain healthy body functions.
“Calcium is a critical component of bone, and has many positive
effects on the body, as well as the prevention of serious
life-threatening and painful ailments like osteoporosis, kidney stones,
hypertension, stroke, obesity and coronary artery disease,” according
to information from a website on chemistry: http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu.
“Magnesium also has positive health effects because inadequate
amounts of magnesium in the body increase the risks for health problems,
such as hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, coronary heart disease, and
diabetes mellitus.
“Studies done on the health effects of hard and soft water have shown
that people who drink greater amounts of soft water have much higher
incidences of heart disease, as well as higher blood pressure and
cholesterol levels and faster heart rates, than those who drink mostly
hard water,” it added.
Scramble for Adomfe hard water
The source of hard water at Adomfe is believed to be rocks beneath the ground on which the borehole was sunk.
In view of the high patronage, the managers of the boreholes have
scheduled days on which visitors and community members are allowed to
fetch the water.
The borehole is opened to visitors on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays,
while the community members are given access on the remaining days –
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Upon arrival, one has to register and wait for his or her turn to be
served according to the numbering on the registration list in an orderly
arrangement supervised by Mr Anane.
However, Mr Anane gives room for what he termed as “consideration” to
people with special needs, such as the aged and the sick, who are
served earlier than their position on the registration list.
Some of the community members complained that whereas they were
restricted to the number of gallons with which they could fetch the
water, visitors were allowed to fetch as many as they could.
Business
Meanwhile, some community members are cashing in on the situation by
fetching the water at a low cost of GH¢1 and selling it to visitors at
GH¢10.
But there are concerns about dubious business practices, as some
people allegedly mix the borehole water with tap water for sale to
unsuspecting visitors.
The Gyaasehene of Adomfe, Nana Boakye Yiadom, advised visitors to
endeavour to fetch the water from the borehole in order not to fall prey
to such fraudsters.
He appealed to the government to support the community with a big
water tank in order to ensure that people, especially those who
travelled long distances to the place, could fetch the water in good
time.
Commercial drivers plying routes from Adomfe to Konongo and other
surrounding towns are also making brisk business, given the increased
human traffic to and from Adomfe.
However, the Task Force has come under severe harassment,
intimidation, fear and physical attacks from armed land guards who
subject them to severe beatings and deadly attacks, wielding AK 47s and
machetes among other things.
When Raquel came back to Ghana in 2006 after living in the UK for
many years, her immediate reason was to move away from her past love
life and from an environment that brought back only memories of pain.
A leading member of the National Democratic Congress, Mr Henry
Ekow Manly-Spain, has encouraged members and supporters of the party to
work towards clinching decisive electoral victory in 2016.