Abora Obohen, a small town in the Abora, Asebu and Kwamankese District of the Central Region of Ghana, is a rural community of peasant farmers. It has a resident population of about 2,000 inhabitants but with many more having deserted the community in search of work and better life elsewhere due to lack of opportunities locally.

There are two or three small petty shops. Smallholder peasant farming forms an almost dire economic backbone of the community. Despite its poor state of infrastructure and economic well-being, the community is vibrant, thrives on tradition and religion having about six chiefs and eight or nine different churches which lead spiritual advancement to salvation even in economic and social malaise.

So the drift of the youth to cities after completing their basic education at the community schools is unavoidable in the circumstances.

The community suffers from lack of good basic infrastructure, there is poor housing, the roads are dangerous to drive on and the community schools are ill-equipped. There is a community clinic which also serves neighbouring towns and villages but facilities are poor and substandard. The structure of the clinic building itself is crumbling down due to bad construction and lack of maintenance.

Bore-hole water pumping stations which provide clean drinking water have broken down due to lack of maintenance forcing the community to use local ponds as source of water risking a return to water-borne diseases which blighted, maimed and even killed many people in the community in years gone past.
Erosion is eating up the beautiful natural landscape of the community due to poor drainage so rainfall which the community’s farming population relies on in absence of proper irrigation system, has now become a death trap as torrential rain pulls down mud-built houses and makes families homeless.

These dire conditions make life difficult and with the current harsh economic realities of Ghana, any hope of a government intervention to make things better is far-fetched. Despite all the gloom, there are great attributes of community spirit, willingness to engage and working together to improve things for themselves if money for materials is made available.