Inside Bongnaayili: When Distance Puts Mothers and Children at Risk

Photo: A mother and her children in Bongnaayili

This month, we walked the grassy paths of Bongnaayili, a remote community in Northern Ghana, with Samuel, a local Children Believe program officer, as he showed us what it means to live where healthcare is out of reach

Where poverty hides

Bongnaayili is calm and close‑knit. Families share traditional compound homes, open outdoor kitchens, and space with their animals. As Samuel takes us on his walk, we see women drying harvested peanuts in the sun while children move between the courtyards. But beneath this normalcy lies a hard truth:

There is no health post in the community.

The closest one is up to 10 kilometres away — a journey residents often walk. For mothers, babies, and young children, that distance can turn a treatable illness into an emergency.

Photo: Children Believe program officer Samuel, and the kindergarten teacher in Bongnaayili.

“If a woman goes into labour at night, she has to deliver at home,” Samuel explains. “And if she needs a caesarean section, the traditional birth attendant cannot help. It puts both the baby and mother in danger.”

The obstacle: Distance to care

In Bongnaayili, everyday health needs — fever, cough, malaria, infection, pregnancy complications — are a risk because healthcare isn’t close. Medicines are often limited, and without transportation, families have few options. Distance doesn’t just delay care; it decides outcomes of life or death.

A child’s voice:

Amina, aged 16, shares what her daily life looks like, and she recalls when her sister was ill. “We had to take her to another community. If we had a clinic, life would be easier for us.”

Photo: Amina 16, as she shows us her community

Community response:

To bridge the gap, the community created a small gathering space under a tree where health workers from a neighbouring village visit once a week. Pregnant women, new mothers, and sick children rely on this outreach.

But when it rains, or the sun is too strong, services can’t continue, because there is no shelter.

Project in progress: Bringing healthcare closer

Through CommRISE, community leaders and our local partner, Tahima Baptist Child Development Program, and the Ghana Health Service are working towards establishing a permanent health post within walking distance.

While plans move forward, support is already reaching families:

• Teachers and volunteers are trained in first aid.
• Essential medicines are supplied to reduce shortages.
• Pregnant women receive nutrition guidance and learn early warning signs to prevent emergencies.
• New mothers receive home visits to help newborns start life healthier.

These steps don’t replace a clinic — but they save time, and sometimes, lives.

What's next:

We’ll continue walking with the Bongnaayili, along with our local partners and the government, until families no longer have to struggle with distance to get the care they deserve.

Made possible by our CommRISE community

CommRISE is a community of Canadians who show up every month where help rarely reaches — and poverty keeps children from school.

Each month, we bring you inside a new community. You see, hear, and feel what life is really like through:

• A short monthly dispatch with a child‑led selfie video
• A live session from the field — including a community walk-through and Q&A
• Honest updates — the wins, the setbacks, the reality

You step into places few people ever get to see. As close as you can get to being there yourself.

If you want to follow the work as it happens — and be part of what comes next — you’re invited to join us.

Learn more about CommRISE here.