We are a 501 (c) (3) public charity (not-for-profit) organization partnering with the Church in Ghana, community to community, church to church. We are a faith-based ministry, not an aid or a relief organization. We strive to grow our faith by responding to the gospel imperatives to serve our sisters and brothers, especially those most in need. We recognize the Church’s “preferential option for the poor.”
Every living person is equally valuable to God, on the other side of the world fully as much as in our neighborhood. LK 16:19 tells us that once we know, we must act. Our hope rests with MT 10:42, that even a cup of water will have its reward. We want to live in the kingdom of God now. We invite all believers and all people of good will to join with us.
Our Team
Susy Acosta-Ayub – is a founding Board member of Grove for Ghana and currently serves as its President. An Interior Designer graduated from Florida International University, licensed in the state of Florida. Susy is an entrepreneur who founded her interior design firm in 1997.
Juan Alayo – is a founding member of Grove for Ghana and currently serves as its Vice-President. Juan is a graduate of Cornell University BAarch, Architecture. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects, LBA, and sits on the board of the Cornell Alumni Club of Miami and the Florida Keys. He is licensed in New York, Florida, and Texas, and holds a general contractor’s license in Florida.
Bob Dudley – is a founding Board member of Grove for Ghana and currently serves as its treasurer. Bob received a law degree from De Paul University and worked for 30 years for the Internal Revenue Service. He served as Group Manager for 23 of those years before his retirement in 2014.
Alejandro Silva – is a founding member of Grove for Ghana and currently serves as its Secretary. Alejandro received his BArch from the University of Miami and his MArch from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He works at Silva Architects, an award-winning family-owned architectural practice, and lives in Coral Gables with his wife and son. Alejandro also served as AIA Miami Past President, AIA Florida State Director, and currently serves on the City of Coral Gables Historic Preservation Board
Claudio Ayub – is a founding member of Grove for Ghana and currently serves as chair of its Marketing and Communication committee. An international business graduate from Universidad Catolica de Chile, Claudio is currently chief strategy officer at 360insights a top software as a service company.
“We envision the day when every man, woman, and child enjoys access to clean potable water, sanitation, and hygiene in rural villages in Ghana. Creating accessible, safe water supplies will liberate people to live healthier, fuller, more productive lives”
“Our mission is to use our God given talents to draw attention to Ghana’s number one health problem, unsafe and inadequate water supplies; and raise funds to help fight this immense problem – one community at a time”
“Evangelizing ourselves and building the St. Hugh community, evangelizing others by inviting them to join us, evangelizing those we serve by modeling God’s care for them by drilling wells and providing other basic services such as education and health”
The drinking water supply and sanitation sector in Ghana faces a number of challenges, including very limited access to sanitation, intermittent supply, high water losses and low water pressure. More than 80 percent of people in Ghana have access to safe water, but only 13 percent of people have access to improved sanitation.
Dependency on unsafe water sources is higher in rural areas. Due to drinking contaminated water, diarrheal disease is the third most commonly reported illness at health centers across the country and 25 percent of all deaths in children under the age of five are attributed to diarrhea. In addition to lack of sanitation infrastructure, some cultural beliefs and views encourage people in rural areas not to use latrines.
Women and girls are largely responsible for fetching water to carry out various unpaid activities that many cultures still view as the domain of women, including food preparation, care of animals, crop irrigation, the entire household’s personal hygiene, care of the sick, cleaning, washing and waste disposal.
The gendered division of labor in water collection tasks deprives women and girls of opportunities to escape the vicious circle of poverty and disempowerment, and perpetuates the intergenerational transfer of poverty, hunger and disempowerment among women and girls.