Building a well in Ghana
December 20, 2005 4:40 PM   Subscribe

What is the best way for individuals in the US to have a well built in a particular village in Ghana that lacks potable water?

A family acquaintance in Ghana has informed us of a village near him that lacks good water. He has invited a family member to come to Ghana to help establish a well in this village. This family member is unable to travel to Ghana any time soon for various reasons. The family member is a normal guy without any special well-building skills, so even if he were to travel there the only help he could provide would be financial help. So this family member was thinking, why not just send the money? The acquaintance informs us that another nearby village completed a similar project for about $1500 US (to provide a comfortable buffer in case the $1500 doesn't quite cover it). What we want to do sounds simple. We want to informally collect donations from friends and family until we've accumulated a little more than $1500, which we'd then wire to this acquaintance who would manage the work on the ground.

It sounds simple, but thinking about how to actually do it has become complicated.

- Are there any legal problems we'd face in collecting donations informally from friends and family?
- Are there any legal complications to wiring this amount internationally?
- Are there any tax issues we'd have to consider?
- How can we be sure that this money, which is a very large amount to someone from Ghana, is used properly without being there in person? We have no reason not to trust this acquaintance who seems to be a very good person, but how can we trust but verify?
- How does the world bank's move to privatize Ghana's water affect what we want to do legally? We don't want to get arrested over this, and we don't want to do it if it's a grey legal matter, but we really don't want to turn our backs on people who lack water in this day and age.
- Would we have to form a nonprofit organization to do this, a process which takes months, and leave these people without good water in the meantime?
- Is there a way we could do this through an existing nonprofit to spare ourselves some legal complications? Bearing in mind that we want the well to be built in this exact village.

Thank you for your help.
posted by anonymous to Law & Government (6 answers total)
 
IANAL and such, so just thoughts.

I don't think there is any problem collecting money from friends and relatives for anything - as you say, it is informal, it falls under the same class of collecting money to throw someone a retirement party or a wedding gift.

Regardless of how much it represents in Ghana, the amount of money you're talking about is quite small for any international standards. If you friend over there has access to a large multinational bank you may able to simply deposit this money in his account. Now, the US government will probably take notice if your friend is somehow connected to an aunt of someone who once saw the mother of a terrorist from far away in a cloudy night, so you probably should be careful about it.

As for being sure the money is used as promised, short of being there or having someone there to check, it is entirely a matter of trusting your friend.

And the privatization of water would be a local affair entirely, I don't see how you can be blamed for helping people build a well - even if the water becomes private property, it will only mean people will have to pay the company to use the well.

Editorial: the move to privatize water in Third World countries is about to enter the long list of capitalism crimes against humanity. If this goes on, expect to hear a lot about water riots all over the world. And expect the same people to say "oh, but the company invested so much, how come those savage natives think they can take away the water without paying".
posted by nkyad at 6:42 PM on December 20, 2005


African Well Fund?
posted by Soliloquy at 7:44 PM on December 20, 2005


Email me - I'm Ghanaian and i might be able to help. Address in the profile.
posted by ramix at 8:21 PM on December 20, 2005


I'm not a lawyer, but I tend to agree with nkyad that the amount is small and therefore unlikely to create a legal problem for you. As for the issue of trust; I have an Uncle that is a member of the White Fathers organization based out of Washington, DC. He's been in Ghana for over 35 years teaching students math & science. Over the years he's built an extensive network of contacts and would probably know who to contact to verify the project. If you're interested I would be happy to contact him on your behalf. You can be assured that any communication would be held in strictest confidence. Having been to Ghana myself I have firsthand knowledge of the water problem. Therefore, anything I can do to help....
My email is in my profile.
posted by Sagres at 8:43 PM on December 20, 2005


The Nomad Foundation seems to have figured out some water logistics. The woman I saw speak, Leslie Clark, was Niger specific, but maybe she'd know someone who'd know. Her email is on the bottom of the page I linked to.
posted by small_ruminant at 9:04 PM on December 20, 2005


My work brings me into contact with many groups that do international development, both technology and the policies/logistics you are asking about, so I am sure I could suggest some contacts for you in Ghana.

You don't mention where in Ghana this is, but we actually have teams of engineers that go over there a couple times a year from the US, some of whom specialize in working with water, and specific organizations we work with that might be good starting points or "contractors" for well building. I'll revisit your questions tomorrow morning, or email me to follow-up on contacts. (As you can tell it's getting late and the sentences are getting run-on.)
posted by whatzit at 9:54 PM on December 20, 2005


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