The Clearing Harmattan

Even though the Harmattan is clearing, there is still dust everywhere on the ground which will continue to bake until the rains come, supposedly in late March. But water hasn't been behaving as it is supposed to in this part of the world; the Volta River -- and the amount of hydro-electricity produced by its dam -- is lower than it should be, which means our taps and lights work only occasionally. These are the signs and effects of global warming; anyone who doesn't believe the scientists should come to Africa and feel it in the flesh.

A few weeks ago Ghanaians were complaining of the "cold." But the dry, sandy winds from the Sahara are diminishing, and the tropical sun is shining ever more intensely down on Ghana. At less than 5 degrees from the equator, I managed to get a slight sunburn on my shoulders just from walking to and from class in a week. My favorite part of each day is the 5 minutes I spend in the shower, just letting cool water splash over me (sometimes from a shower head, but more often from a bucket). In another 5 minutes I will be sweaty again.

With the growing heat, the highly air-conditioned library at Ashesi University is even more of a haven than Butler ever was. It is small, with a serious shortage of books, but at night there are usually computers open and ALWAYS lots of AC. Sometimes I will make up excuses to be in the library -- I will search for a novel that I know I will not check out -- just to get out of the heat. Some nights when there isn't much going on I'll get on a computer and try to connect to my friends back in Eastern Standard Time (3-5 pm there). But the effort to connect across 5 hours and a completely different daily life sometimes makes me more lonely on this side of the planet than I was before. Which isn't to say that I don't love talking to people from home, or that I don't adore hearing from you in any form. But the effort of describing my life to so many different people frequently makes me feel maddeningly inarticulate. So here I will describe things to the nameless internet, and hope that everyone I love will understand.