From farmer to Ghana

The road transport infrastructure in Ghana is generally inadequate, so the only option for providing healthcare and trading transport in this huge area is by boats on the White Volta River.

Founder and CEO of the And Albert Foundation, David Murden, said: “The importance of the donation of the two workboats by Scottish Sea Farms is twofold. Firstly, they will be pivotal to surveying the remote villages on the White Volta River to identify village needs and suitable access points. This will be invaluable as, otherwise, the survey would have taken place using dugout canoes which are hazardous in the calmest of waters, regularly claiming lives on the river. Secondly, once the new hospital boat is launched at the start of 2016, we will be able to run satellite services from the hospital boat to access further villages, increasing our area of coverage, and we will also be able to dispatch one of the boats as a fast response vessel such as taking a midwife to a childbirth emergency.”

The boats will be called Wilberforce 2 and Wilberforce 3 – as Hull was the birthplace of the great anti-salve trade campaigner.

Jim Gallagher, Managing Director of Scottish Sea Farms, said: “This charity does amazing work and we are delighted that our boats can be given a new lease of life in this way and really be put to good use. We look forward to receiving news on how the boats will play a part in assisting these remote communities to improve their lives. We regularly work with remote island communities in Scotland and we understand how vital vessels can be in keeping communication and vital services alive.”