VAN Community Outreach provides a newly built 8-seat canoe and 8 life jackets to Betu, Jloh District, Grand Kru County.
The Township of Betu is found along the south-west coast of Grand Kru County. Because Betu is surrounded by two rivers, the Gbatu River and the Dougbo (Droh) River, travel by canoe is vital to its inhabitants. However, when VAN Community Outreach travelled to Betu in 2020, we found the township’s state of travel very limiting – being an old canoe with the space to fit two passengers and a paddler. Even our small party of three required several trips to cross the Gbatu River with our barrel of outreach supplies. Imagine the amount of trouble large parties would have, such as during the annual pilgrimage to Betu? Not only was the canoe small but uncomfortable. In the absence of seating, passengers had to squat on the floor of the canoe and hold onto the sides to keep their balance through the coursing river. This made the journey difficult for the elderly and disabled.
In order to address these issues, VANCO commissioned the construction of a new canoe for the township of Betu. This canoe comes with eight seats and eight life jackets for safe, comfortable, and efficient travel across the Gbatu River. The canoe was constructed by local artisans and presented to Betu on June 18th, 2021.
A special thank you to our supporters whose donations paid for the life jackets: Natina Nimene and Wanetta Shannon.
