Search
Menu

 

IHM and the many villages we were able to deliver clean water to iin sipte of all the obstacles. We were able to bring clean water to many villages including Nigeria, Uganda, Sudan and Ghana Africa.  Over 100,000 villagers were able to finally have clean water to drink right in their communities. Saving lives and eliminating countless hours of fetching water is our goal! We also provided food distribution during the pandemic to over 15000 families.

We are very grateful to our donors for the ability to do this life saving work!

Much more needs to be done and hundreds of millions of people worldwide still suffer and die everyday from drinking contaminated water! (see picture of village of Odumase before and after pictures of the difficulty getting water). 

 

  • We've instituted tutoring programs for junior high school students to help them advance to higher grades of education. 
  • We support and help sustain the Father Dogli Memorial Trade School (FDMTS) in New Ayoma, offering educational programs in farming, construction, office skills and computer sciences.
  • We've aided the Adekyee grammar school in the Jasikan district of Ghana with much needed supplies and a school bus. We also raised funds for a water pump for the school which is now operational.
  • We're making plans for mentoring and education sponsorship programs for children whose families cannot afford to give them an education, and help children who work to continue their education.
  • We support communities in attaining access to clean water and sustainable food supplies.
  • We have added food distribution to those in need.
  • We are helping individuals with both medical issues and entrepreneurship dreams.
     

Living conditions in Nkoranza     Berekum water supply

Above are some photos of Ghana, taken while one of our Board members was there. The image on the left shows some of the living conditions in Nkoranza; on the right, how villagers from just outside of Berekum got water for cooking, bathing, cleaning and drinking. 

Here is a link to a village called Ndasamin where we finished a bore hole. This video was taken before the drilling.     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGHqylJpp0

 

 

Below are photos of an emergency relief effort IHM did in Blekusu. The people of the village, about 600 adults and children, were displaced by a massive flood, and for a few weeks they had to live on the side of the road, or at the school, with no food. With Fr. Patrick Asamoah's help, we were able to distribute enough food and supplies to carry them through until they were able to return home or find another place to live.

 

Maize and gari being distributed Adults and children lining up for food Villagers waiting for the food distribution to begin, with Fr. Patrick standing nearby.

We received a donation of two Ford vans from a donor in the US. We shipped the vans to Ghana to be converted into school buses to pick up children that usually have to walk many miles to and from school. Below are the results. I can only say that the parents and children were beyond happy, once they finally saw the buses pull up to pick up the children for school! The best part was that it was very inexpensive for the conversion, only $1500.00 per van for repairs, seats and new paint. Each newly converted van can seat 22 children and on an average day they make 2 trips each way, delivering up to 44 students to school.

 

One of the before shots of the vans The new red school buses!

Here are some pictures of students building staff living quarters at the Father Dogli Memorial Trade School (FDMTS). All of the materials were supplied by Lewis Ranieri, a donor in Long Island, NY, together with IHM. Lewis has done some wonderful work by supplying much needed tools and other equipment for the students at the school, which enabled them to do the project from start to finish. This project cost about $18,000 U.S to complete, and will house 2 families that work at the school full time.

 

Building staff quarters for 2 families. Building staff quarters for 2 families. The completed staff quarters

 

International Help of Missionaries

 

64-07 77th Place
Middle Village, New York 11379

call us at 1-917-273-1723
 

IHM is a registered 501c/3 charity. All donations are 100% tax deductible.
100% of donations are used for charitable purposes.

Please Donate thru PayPal

IHM International Help of Missionaries Giving from hearts to hands

Adzonkor Well completed with the help of the Sacred Heart Kids! A community thanks you!
Richard Tracy
/ Categories: Water

Adzonkor Well completed with the help of the Sacred Heart Kids! A community thanks you!

Donations from

The Adzonkor well is up and running. Thank you for all your help.

 Kaya Bednarczuk, a seventh grader at Sacred Heart Catholic Academy, has never been to the Republic of Ghana, but she has a special connection to that African nation.

Kaya is one of several members of the St. Gabriel Society, a youth group at Sacred Heart Church in Glendale, who raised money for a project to dig a well in the Ghanaian village of Adzonkor to provide fresh water to residents there.

Currently, villagers have to walk 5 miles to the nearest well, fill jugs with water, and then carry the heavy containers back home. They make the trek several times a day.

The youngsters spent six weeks soliciting donations from friends, family, and Sacred Heart parishioners and, in that short span of time, raised $3,890 toward the $6,600 needed. They presented a check to Don Magnotta, who is spearheading the project, at the society’s meeting on May 7.

“It feels good because first, you’re helping a bunch of people who don’t have access to clean water on a daily basis. And second, they really appreciate it,” Kaya said.

Magnotta, founder of International Help of Missionaries (IHM), a nonprofit organization that works to build schools, health centers, and freshwater wells in impoverished countries like Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana, has pledged to chip in the other half of the necessary funds. 

Construction of the well is expected to be completed next month. It takes approximately six weeks to dig and construct a well. Magnotta promised to send photos and videos of the completed well.

Magnotta has never been to Ghana but works with priests and missionaries in that country to oversee his various projects. “These are mission people that are on the ground and have no help. And they’re in these poor communities. I bring help to them. That’s why I started IHM,” he said. 

Magnotta, a parishioner of St. Margaret’s Church in Middle Village, got the idea for the organization back in 2011 when he was listening to a homily by Father Cletus Forson about hardships faced by people in developing nations — including the lack of access to clean water.

Pete Stamm, youth minister at Sacred Heart, heard about the work Magnotta was doing and said he asked him to speak at a St. Gabriel Society meeting in March “because I’ve been looking to get our kids active in the world.”

The youngsters expressed a strong interest in helping out, especially after Magnotta put them through an exercise. He filled a gasoline can with water and had the kids carry it around. At first, the kids found it easy. 

“They said, ‘This isn’t so hard.’ But they were walking around the basement of a church. I asked them, ‘Would you like to do it for 4 or 5 miles every day?’ They weren’t so sure about that! It kind of hit home for them,” Stamm said.

Magnotta’s goal with IHM is to bring people closer to faith. “This is life-changing for people. It makes them appreciate the Catholic Church and everything it does for people around the world,” he explained.

The well project has brought Kaya closer to her faith. “I feel like it helps me get closer to God because God always recognizes that you’re doing nice things. I feel like he especially realizes that you’re playing a big part in changing people’s lives,” she said.

Print
1663 Rate this article:
No rating
Please login or register to post comments.
Go to top

Copyright 2025 by My Website

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement