“By means of water, we give life to everything.”
Today is cloudy and damp. Rain is predicted for later and also for tomorrow. Tonight and the next few nights will be in the 40’s. This morning it was 5:30 when I woke, and the day was not quite light. I went for the newspaper and stood in the quiet for a while. Gracie’s backyard light had come on so I knew she was out, but I couldn’t even hear her. It was as if I were the only one.
It is the rainy season in Ghana. I always thought of it as Ghana’s winter as the days are cooler than any other time of year, but the humidity means constant sweating and constant replenishing with water. Ghana now has bottled water, compliments of Coca-Cola. I used to buy water in beer bottles and pick the bottle with the least number of floaties, our pet name for whatever we could see floating in the water. We didn’t care. It was the water we wanted. Now, they also sell plastic water pouches usually carried on trays on the heads of small girls who stand near traffic lights hoping for business. It’s water on the go. I bought one, and the water had a strange taste. I’m not sure it was the pouch or the water. I didn’t do well with that pouch. You have to chew a corner and drink from there or, in my case, drink and dribble. I drank coke with ice. You never could get ice in my day and only two places used to sell cold coke.
It rained while I was in Accra. The rain was almost a gentle mist, and I just kept walking as I always did. Your hair and clothes get a bit damp but not so you mind at all. The rain is a minor inconvenience in Accra and never leaves an impression.
One afternoon in Bolga I was taking a nap when I was awakened by what sounded like a barroom brawl with chairs and tables being thrown about. I ran outside, and the wind was blowing everything. I knew the rain was coming.
I love the rainy season in Bolga. The rain comes with a fierceness, never a gentleness. That afternoon, I stood outside my room waiting for the rain as I knew it was close. It finally came down in sheets with thunder and lightning to add to the dramatic effect. My tin roof made the wonderful sound I remembered from each rain storm. I could never teach during the rain. It was always too loud on the roof. That rain blew sideways, but I was protected and didn’t want to miss any of it. The ground flooded, and the rain made rivulets in the dirt which resembled small, flooded rivers overflowing their banks. I was mesmerized and stood a long while. The rain finally stopped, and I decided to go to the market.
The walk from my hotel became a long one: across the street through the new market, through the new lorry park then through the old market, my market, to the main street. During my walk the rain started again, not as fierce but still with no gentleness. I started to get soaked and asked at a market stall if I could sit under an overhang. The woman said no. She insisted I must come inside out of the rain and she made room for me on her bench. We smiled a bit and I thanked her in Hausa. She smiled again and nodded. A few customers came inside and were taken aback by the wet white woman on the bench, but they waved and smiled and went about their business. When the rain stopped, I thanked the woman again and made my way to the main street. I came out of the market by my old Bolga. I stopped in one of the stores, had a coke and watched Ghana score against Swaziland. Radios used to be the only way to get news, sports and entertainment. Now, televisions bring programs from all over, including the US. My favorite of all the programs was a Nigerian soap opera. I think I watched it at least five or six times, so much I was starting to understand the story line. The Ghanaians love it.
It rained once more when I was in Bolga, on my last night there. It started with the wind then the thunder and lightning and finally the rain. I was having dinner with my students and we moved out of the wind and rain. Later, I thought of the storm as a good-bye gift from Bolga.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Accra, Bolga, Ghana, market lady, rain, rainy season, storms
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
September 15, 2011 at 11:53 am
Good. I ordered that rain burst and am sooo happy it got there on time. These are wonderful stories.
September 15, 2011 at 12:42 pm
Thanks, Z&Me
I was so beyond happy to be there for that rainstorm. It was as fierce and beautiful as I remembered the rainy season to be.
September 15, 2011 at 1:35 pm
It is funny how different we look upon rain when we are abroad comaperd to at home 🙂
Do You know the detective books about the Ladies detective agency? I saw one of the episodes yeaterday and started to think about You 🙂 I could see every scen You describes and in my imagination I could see You walk around there too (even if this is in Botswana) 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
September 15, 2011 at 7:13 pm
Christer,
I love rain here but it isn’t as uncoimmon. In Bolga it rains only from late April until late September then no more rainy season so the rain is a phenomenon.
I have read almost all those books and loved the series. I was sorry they didn’t renew it. You are right-many parts could have had me walking around as if I were in Ghana.
September 15, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Your rain in Ghana sounds like Monsoon Season here in Tucson, AZ.
I go out for walks all the time in threatening weather – mainly bc/ while it often looks threatening, it rarely follows through on the threat.
Until Tuesday evening that is. The weather waited till I was the farthest point away from home (on my traditional loops around the neighborhood) and then the sky opened up. Wind Sheer of 60mph (or so) and hail.
I loved it.
I love living here, I truly do, but I miss water. I walked back home in the pouring rain and stripped in the backyard leaving all the soaking stuff on the line. Pretty much laughing the whole time.
So, I understand what you mean Kat. 😀
s
September 15, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Scott,
It is almost like the monsoon season as a good part of therest of the year is totally dry.
I love weather with all the fury, especially the thunder and lightning, so I totally understand why you’d take that walk. It’s exhilarating.
I’d have laughed with you for the sheer joy of the ealk and the rain and being soaken wet!
September 15, 2011 at 5:55 pm
I love your Ghana stories.. glad you have rain so you are not trip- sick, if that makes any sense. A Nigerian Soap Opera! You had so many gifts on your trip, just like you have in your life. I have a migraine today, so the sunny day here makes me want to hide in the dark in my bedroom. It seems as summer has finally arrived during the day. The August tomatoes are getting ripe and the garden is blooming. Last night I went to see the musical Chicago. I know how you feel about musicals, but this was amazing. It was free to seniors ( last rehearsal before the show) and it was a story told entirely in music– sort of a musical opera. I am still humming ” All that Jazz”
One paw waving,
Lori
September 15, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Lori,
That trip was a joy. I had hoped I wouldn’t be disappointed by the Ghana of today but I wasn’t. I found a new Ghana but I also found the old Ghana mixed in with the new.
I missed the end of the tomato season here, but I took full advantage before my trip.
I’m so glad you got to see that musical. I know how much you love the theater!
Hope that migraine goes away!!
September 15, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Tropical rain storms are very different from the rains that you get in the northern part of the US. Here in Dallas we will take any rain we can get. It hasn’t rained at my house since Memorial Day. Yesterday we set the record of 70 days above 100 degrees in a year. Unfortunately, September isn’t over yet and we could even add to that total.
Drinking water in third world countries used to be hazardous to your health even in tourist areas. In Mexico tourists used to call the result of drinking the water “Montezuma’s Revenge” or “The Aztec Two Step”. When a friend of mine, who was a Mexican national, would visit from Mexico he would get what he called, “George Washington’s Revenge”.
In some countries the US State department would warn tourists not to drink the water or to put ice in their drinks. Tourists were even advised to brush their teeth with Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola company civilized the third world by allowing visitors to quench their thirst without having to spend several hours a day in the toilet. Drinking alcoholic beverages was OK, especially Gin and Tonic because the Gin would kill the germs and the Tonic would cure malaria. Local beer would take care of the germs.
With the advent of water dispensed in plastic bottles we can safely travel anywhere in the world and only pay a small environmental penalty. I think plastic water bottles degrade in a land fill after a thousand years.
September 15, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Bob,
I can imagine all that heat as I lived through it in Ghana, months of no rain and days which melted candles without their being lit, but I don’t think we broke your record of 70 days. We did have no rain from late September until late April, not a drop during the dry season.
I think we got used to having strange things in our water as most of us seldom got sick. It was a year and a half before I got struck with Ghana’s revenge, from a piece of meat which must have had a long shelf life. Peace Corps used to say that 100% of all volunteers had intenstinal parasites at close of service.
Few places had refrigerators when I was first there so ice cubes were rare. Coke was a treat for us. I was never a gin drinker, still don’t drink it, and it was one of the few alcoholic beverages besides beer available in Ghana back in the day.