Harmattan Season

The Harmattan Season is a phenomenon that occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. Not the prime tourist attraction, it actually is caused by the African Trade Wind that blows south across the Sahara towards the Gulf of Guinea. It absolutely fills the air with dust, and is much like our May-gray season at home. The down side is -- the air is filled with dust; but the up side is --that it blocks the sun and cools the temperature. What would normally be gorgeous drive in the African country, is now a drive though the beautiful African country with the views of the valleys obscured. Undaunted, we headed out to see an area that we haven't had the chance to see yet.



Tuesday, David and I needed to drive 3 hours inland to Koforidua to meet with 6 of our PEF students and deliver their tuition checks to them. We met them at the Registrar's Office, and the school looked like an older version of Phoenix University or National, maybe. The school was surrounded by traffic and things were a little hectic as we found our kids, but the drive to the university was quite beautiful. Although the dust prevented any appreciation of the view, we could see lush and tropical vegetation, villages, and schools alongside the road.



School was just letting out in the late afternoon, so we saw dozens of children walking home. Each school has a particular color and uniform, and the children's clothes are particularly clean; the white shirts are really WHITE, and they are all carefully pressed. After looking at the houses from which the children come, I can't figure out how they manage to keep the clothes so nice. I love how so many of the children hold hands and walk with their arms around each other. These uniforms had variations of blue and yellow.



We traveled a really nice road, that had none of the potholes that are typical. There were several "villages," groupings of family houses along the road, all with dirt passageways between building, with adobe-type walls. There are road-side "markets" in these areas that sell household needs and some packaged food.









Faustina promised Susan Warner and me an adventure...and it was a cultural event. She took us into the middle of town to the Open Market, where a shopper could find anything. She had a main purpose: fish. There were fresh fish, smoked fish, parts of fish, and the biggest curiosity to me was --- major snails. It was too crowded to get a good picture of them, but they were the size of huge grapefruit and still moving. Besides the animal venture, there were vegetables, plastic dishes, material, jewelry -- much like a central farmer's market. The smells were a mixture of all of the above, not to be found ever in a spray bottle, but really an event to experience.