Thinking Aloud

Thinking Aloud I am grounded for the next few days.  My pickup truck is not well and Peter took it to Tamale for repairs. That truck deserves a special recognition for what it has been through: the roads it has travelled, the loads it has carried and the things it has seen. It has been complaining of neglect over the last few weeks so loudly it could no longer be ignored.  As a 4-wheel-drive pickup (and an ever-ready-driver, its contribution to the choice of where we are and what we have accomplished in our program has been substantial. It is quite nice working at home for once.  However, the interruptions from people, mostly children who are sent by their older relatives to bring cell phones to charge or collect earlier ones, can be irritating.  My niece and helper at home has made a small phone-charging business with our solar system. Unfortunately, she is away until Sunday. The spread of the mobile phone here is just phenomenal! The weather is acting strange.  It is hot and sweaty most of the day and during the night, but turns cool and very windy in the early hours of the morning.  The increasing intensity of the heat and humidity is normal. But the persistence of strong harmatan winds at this time is unusual.  Global warming? The 2011 raining season was short and scanty. The rains were late coming and stopped short, causing complete failure of peanuts and other crops that needed to be cultivated early.  Yields of other food crops such as millet, corn and rice were also drastically reduced for lack of water. Thus, the “lean season” (May –July/August) is going to be particularly hash for subsistent farm families in northern Ghana, including families in our program area. The lean season is the period when food stocks from the previous harvest are depleted but the new harvest is not yet ready.  Farmers, especially subsistent farmers, are at the mercy of mother nature.  Lets pray that the rains arrive early during this coming farming season and continue regularly to November. To be continued....

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