Building interrupted
Dry season starts around November or December and continues to
April or May. We had heavy rain on Oct. 4 and Nov. 30 along a few
small showers between those two dates. There was no rain in December
and January, although I'm told that a heavy rain or two is not
uncommon around the end of December and the beginning of January.
January and February are suppose to be the harmattan season – a period of very low humidity, cool nights, and dust blown in from the Sahara. It was dusty for a few weeks back in January. You could see a haze in the distance and taste the dust in your mouth. This caused some minor sinus issues that were easily reduced by using dust masks, particularly while sleeping. The locals tell me the dust never really got bad this time.
The cool nights – down to high 50's low 60's overnight only lasted a couple of weeks. The short season was a great relief to the locals as 50's is basically freezing for them. Winter coats and boots are common for students and adults. I admit that I did use a light blanket to sleep a few times and warmed my bath water in the morning. I wore a sweatshirt twice. I really enjoyed the brisk mornings knowing that the hot season would come. I would have liked to have had the two full months rather than two short weeks of such weather – even considering the dust.
I was hoping to write a blog post about the harmattan with some pictures and details, but it was basically over before it really started. Still – I did capture a couple of pictures.
The harmattan and dry season is the period of building. Almost every family compound in the community has some sort of building project that started in earnest by mid-January. The first step is to make bricks.
Most building in the community use sun dried mud bricks rather than concrete. The idea of building with the mud bricks is to dry them for a couple of weeks and then build the structure, add a roof, and plaster the outside walls with a thin layer of concrete or a local plaster made of mud, fiber, and cow dung – BEFORE the heavy rains come. Even simple structures, such as pig pens, made this way last at least 5 years.
I was planning a blog post after the buildings were complete to show pictures of the entire process. I hope to return to the topic in the future.
This building process is not harmed by the occasional light rain that can happen during the dry season. On February 10th and 11th we had light rain. Some of this rain essentially evaporated off the concrete as it fell. There was very minor accumulation of the rest of the rain with no harm to the bricks. (Note to a very analytical self: I should have a rain gauge.)
However, the gully washer (or gully creator) that we had on February 20th was a major setback. The rain started around 3 am and continued to fall very heavily until after 6 am. It was coming down heavy enough that I was able to take a “shower” for the first time in a long time. This was nice and I also collected basins full of rain water for my laundry in a very short time.
However, it was not good for my zai experiment or for the building projects. The soil in this area gets hard and then water runs off rather than soaks in, particularly after the previous light rain that created a dry crust. The runoff from the heavy rain washed through my zai trenches and created new gullies around the place.
The heavy pounding rain also beat up the mud bricks on the ground and the walls that were halfway built. My friend Roger will have to redo a fair amount of work, but as there is nothing he can do about it he takes that attitude of “no problem”. He presumes that the rain helped avoid some sickness or such and therefore we are better off with God's blessing of rain even with the building setback.
So I'm learning a lot about life and taking what comes as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana Upper West Region. The locals have a lot of unfortunate events from high infant mortality to unusual rains in dry season and lack of rain during planting or growing season.
I have seen a few locals who may have given up on life. They don't work hard, drink or otherwise try to not see the misery of the place.
However, the many many people I talk with maintain a positive and “no problem” attitude and see the joy of the place. They take things as they come and continue to work and make a living.
I was learning the “one day at a time” and “taking things as they come” by way of some unfortunate events in my past life. In this life I'm building on those lessons and using the new situations and examples to hopefully learn the lessons, gain the wisdom, in a deeper sort of way.
I remain generally happy and healthy. I continue to miss my family and friends back home and I've begun to look at flight schedules to return home for about a month in Aug/Sept for a very special event.
Love always,
John
January and February are suppose to be the harmattan season – a period of very low humidity, cool nights, and dust blown in from the Sahara. It was dusty for a few weeks back in January. You could see a haze in the distance and taste the dust in your mouth. This caused some minor sinus issues that were easily reduced by using dust masks, particularly while sleeping. The locals tell me the dust never really got bad this time.
The cool nights – down to high 50's low 60's overnight only lasted a couple of weeks. The short season was a great relief to the locals as 50's is basically freezing for them. Winter coats and boots are common for students and adults. I admit that I did use a light blanket to sleep a few times and warmed my bath water in the morning. I wore a sweatshirt twice. I really enjoyed the brisk mornings knowing that the hot season would come. I would have liked to have had the two full months rather than two short weeks of such weather – even considering the dust.
I was hoping to write a blog post about the harmattan with some pictures and details, but it was basically over before it really started. Still – I did capture a couple of pictures.
 |
| January 9th, 2015 from the edge of Roger's farm |
 |
| January 10th, 2015 - haze in the background is dust not fog (both pictures above taken at about same time in the morning) |
 |
| During the dry season animals graze whereever - here cattle and cattle egrets roam unattended |
Building season
The harmattan and dry season is the period of building. Almost every family compound in the community has some sort of building project that started in earnest by mid-January. The first step is to make bricks.
Most building in the community use sun dried mud bricks rather than concrete. The idea of building with the mud bricks is to dry them for a couple of weeks and then build the structure, add a roof, and plaster the outside walls with a thin layer of concrete or a local plaster made of mud, fiber, and cow dung – BEFORE the heavy rains come. Even simple structures, such as pig pens, made this way last at least 5 years.
I was planning a blog post after the buildings were complete to show pictures of the entire process. I hope to return to the topic in the future.
 |
| Mud bricks drying in the sun - note the sharp corners |
 |
| As the bricks dry they are stacked to dry and to make room for a foundations as in the foreground or to make more bricks |
Heavy rain
This building process is not harmed by the occasional light rain that can happen during the dry season. On February 10th and 11th we had light rain. Some of this rain essentially evaporated off the concrete as it fell. There was very minor accumulation of the rest of the rain with no harm to the bricks. (Note to a very analytical self: I should have a rain gauge.)
However, the gully washer (or gully creator) that we had on February 20th was a major setback. The rain started around 3 am and continued to fall very heavily until after 6 am. It was coming down heavy enough that I was able to take a “shower” for the first time in a long time. This was nice and I also collected basins full of rain water for my laundry in a very short time.
However, it was not good for my zai experiment or for the building projects. The soil in this area gets hard and then water runs off rather than soaks in, particularly after the previous light rain that created a dry crust. The runoff from the heavy rain washed through my zai trenches and created new gullies around the place.
 |
| First six zai trenches - more in a later post |
 |
| View in the morning February 20th, 2015 after the rains stopped |
 |
| Soil from the hills above washed over and collected in the trenches. |
The heavy pounding rain also beat up the mud bricks on the ground and the walls that were halfway built. My friend Roger will have to redo a fair amount of work, but as there is nothing he can do about it he takes that attitude of “no problem”. He presumes that the rain helped avoid some sickness or such and therefore we are better off with God's blessing of rain even with the building setback.
 |
| Bricks after the pounding rain smoothed the edges. Some may be salvaged, the rest remade later |
 |
| Stacks of bricks toppled down under the soaking rain. |
Taking one day at a time
So I'm learning a lot about life and taking what comes as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana Upper West Region. The locals have a lot of unfortunate events from high infant mortality to unusual rains in dry season and lack of rain during planting or growing season.
I have seen a few locals who may have given up on life. They don't work hard, drink or otherwise try to not see the misery of the place.
However, the many many people I talk with maintain a positive and “no problem” attitude and see the joy of the place. They take things as they come and continue to work and make a living.
I was learning the “one day at a time” and “taking things as they come” by way of some unfortunate events in my past life. In this life I'm building on those lessons and using the new situations and examples to hopefully learn the lessons, gain the wisdom, in a deeper sort of way.
I remain generally happy and healthy. I continue to miss my family and friends back home and I've begun to look at flight schedules to return home for about a month in Aug/Sept for a very special event.
Love always,
John
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