Harmattan Affairs

After spending almost a month at home in Accra, I impatiently packed bag and baggage and rushed off to Have Ando in the Volta region of Ghana to continue my service to God and man under the national service scheme. Both weather and human welcomed me harshly and warmly respectively. The harmattan has fully arrived.

I have heard the inhabitants of the village talk about the "disappearance" of the nearby streams that serve the community with water for everyday use. The only "Akosombo" lying between two Ewe villages- Have Ando No. 1 and Have Ando No. 2 has completely dried up! Ask me what the numbers mean and I'll quickly tell you I'll find that out soonest. Now reality is showing its ugly face.

The harmattan has brutally dealt with the people. My day of return was welcomed by children clad in white- not clothes but white dust and the dryness with which the harmattan visits usually in Dec and January every year. My room was not spared from the dust. Every corner and surface was "painted" white, thanks to the harmattan.

These concerns came to mind. Access to safe drinking water and sustainability. The only source of water that stands the test of time and becomes the last resort for the people is over 6 kilometers away- the Akosombo river itself. A walk on the road to the river reveals children and young people carrying basins and buckets and jerrycans, and gallons- some clutching onto their bicycles expertly and other pulling carts on which water tanks stood to bring home life. Meanwhile, boreholes stand beautifully in the village yet they no longer do what they are expected to do.

I begun to question myself on a few issues. Should this be an annual affair? Who is responsible? What home grown solutions can be adopted? Perhaps, the answers are with the people themselves. I will interview them and publish it here on Omanye Blog. Keep reading!!!   

Omanye! Promoting possibilities