It Snowed Today

I’m sitting on my “deck” like I usually do at night, watching the sun set. It’s different today though. A lot different, and for some, after today, it may never be the same.
I traveled to Sunyani today to get my internet fixed; Sunyani about an hour away. I got there and noticed that the weather was very different than most days. There was a strong wind blowing from the north; a hot dry wind. Imagine sticking your head in a dryer, hot air blowing on you sucking all the moisture from your body.
It was hazy too, like a fog covering the distant hills. Welcome to The Harmattan. The Harmattan is the season between the hot season, and the really, really hot season. The main difference is the wind. In Wenchi it is not as bad as being up in the Northern region. Up there, sometimes the wind kicks up the dirt making it impossible to see at times. Here though, it is just a haze, and as the sun sets, it just melts into the bank of dust. The reason why it is so dry is because it hasn’t rained here since October.

The Brong Ahafo Region is the bread basket for Ghana. The rolling hills are covered with farmland, from acres of maize, palm trees, yam, plantain and cashews. Not only is this their source of income, but it is their food they put on the table. This time of year, the corn is finished leaving the dried cornstalks brown and dead. The streams have long since dried up, the whole landscape is a dreary brown color.

On the way back from Sunyani I got a text from a friend of mine asking me if I could see the sun; where he was it was blotted out because of the dust/smoke. As I rode back, I understood what he was talking about. Since I’ve been here, I have heard people talk about bush fires, but really didn’t understand what they were talking about. Until today. It took me a while to figure out what “the bush” meant. Basically, it’s the farmland and the surrounding areas. So when they speak of bush fires, they are talking about their livelihood going up in flames. Entire hillsides were aflame, the columns of smoke billowing like clouds in the sky. They have no real way of stopping the fire once it starts. I think there might be one fire truck here in Wenchi. The blaze consumes everything in sight with it’s unquenching appetite. Electricity poles, lay in embers on the ground, thatched roof houses are laid to waste. Not only is their income lost in smoke, but so is their food supply.

There are several ways the fires are started. Some people start the fires to scare out the grass cutter (kind of like ground hogs) as a way of hunting. Others will try to do “controlled” burning which gets out of hand. And then there are the Filani’s. The Filani are people from the northern region that come down with their cattle. In the State’s they would be like Gypsies, and all the negative connotation that comes with Gypsies are also associated with the Filani’s. The Filani’s will burn the land so the green grass grows for food for their cattle. For whatever the reason, the bush fires consume thousands of acres per year, and there is not really any fire enforcement. Because of this there is a great threat to the agriculture here in Ghana. Something has to be done about this but, like most other things here, it is just a problem that is being ignored.

As I sit writing this, I can hear the crackle of the flames popping like 10,000 people jumping on packing bubbles. My eyes are stinging from the smoke. Across the street I see the silhouette of a church and behind it the horizon is orange. The grey and black ash from the fuel fall from the skies like snow landing on my computer. The rain is still months away.