From as far away as the village of Sunga, in the Namatabba County of the Buikwe District of Uganda, Ghanaian Businessman and Philanthropist, Alhaji Amin Iddrisu, still found a way of making his impact felt.
In what was not one of the things he planned to do, the Ghanaian entrepreneur, while on a visit to the country, decided to make an intervention that will permanently bring a solution to the water problems of the over 250,000 residents of that village in the Eastern African country.
Today, the struggles of these residents to trek many kilometers just in search of water – water that is not even potable, for their homes and for drinking, has been solved after Amin Iddrisu’s unilateral intervention.
Working through leaders in the community and his partners in Kampala, Uganda, the residents of Sunga tasted fresh water in their community for the first time on Saturday, September 20.
This new water source, which is situated on a school compound in the community, is to ensure that both children and the elderly enjoy its full benefits, allowing for the school-going young ones, especially, to stay in school.
Speaking from Sunga, via a phone interview, Muhairwe Tawfiq, who supervised the borehole, described the excitement of the people in these words;
“The headteacher of the nearby school was very happy and even though there were no students in the school at the time we got there – they are on holidays for now, she was very happy because this issue of water has been around for a long time.
“She was very thankful for whatever has happened and for the community, they were also very happy to the extent that by the time we had gotten there, they had lined up in queues with their Jerry cans, just standing and waiting for us. So, this is something that is really going to help the community,” he stated.
Describing what the water situation was before this intervention, Tawfiq said the people had to trek for long distances just to get water that was not even good.
“The water was not good water. They got their water from these small rivers that move around the villages, which is not very healthy water, but this intervention is one that has made them very happy,” he added.
On the reason he decided to help complete strangers in a faraway country, Alhaji Amin Iddrisu, of the Abuya Group, said none of it was planned, but it was divine.
“Honestly, I wasn’t having any such plans, but after my business trip to the country and from my visit to the community, and from seeing the situation they were in, it reminded me of my own formative years. I have lived in that kind of situation before when I was in my village of Nakpayili, of the Nanomba North. I lived in a village like that.
“When I saw the water they were drinking, it wasn’t good, and it reminded me so emotionally about my own story. I was just touched and I felt God wanted me to be a blessing to them. So, it wasn’t as if I went there to assess their situation; I was there purely on business but God found a way for me to help these people,” he explained.