Adey Choke!

Saturday, 30 September 2023

By: TB Obwoge

In Ghana I experienced things that opened my eyes to the evils of this world, escaping the United States to live with people who looked like me, yet rejected me because of my lighter skin color was just like good ole America.

However I had often wondered why so many Africans had discloring of the whites of their eyes. I had a long conversation with a few Africans living in the US, even one with my primary doctor of over 17-years. She termed that phenomonem "mud eye", a term I hadn't ever heard before.

However from more investigation this is what I later found;

Why are the whites of my eyes brown?

In African Americans, the sclera can have brownish spots or splotches due to high levels of the dark brown pigment called melanin. This is harmless. Other times, a brown spot is a nevus or freckle on the eye.

Sometimes, brown spots are more serious. A precancerous condition called primary acquired melanosis (PAM) starts with a painless flat brown spot on the eye. This spot resembles a freckle and changes slowly over time. It typically develops in middle-aged people, and appears in one eye. Left untreated, PAM can become cancerous and life-threatening. Ask your ophthalmologist to take a look at any new brown spots on your eye.

Source: American Department of Ophthalmology

This above claim is what they say, however I've lived almost 50-years around Blacks in America and 2 African countries. I have rarely seen this is a Black American. Even with my family members who are much darker than I am. I digress, this seems to be their story and they're sticking with it.

Living in African countries there are more distressing signs of eye issues, due directly to the amount of dust in the air and being kicked up from unpaved roads.

With up-coming elections in many countries around the world, citizens are crying out over the ignored campaigne promisses from years prior. Ghanians are really feeling the issue, with economic hardship, infrastructure and taxes on everything to repay loans.

Red eyes, mud eye, whatever you want to call it, from pigment or not. Also you can’t seem to get the rocks from out of your nose, whites of your eyes always discolored.

Your throats always got 'somethin' caught in it, it’s rude to pick your nose in public but not being able to breathe makes you forget manners.

Osu, Ghana {5.5570° N, 0.1763° W} foreigners flock here, they think this is the ish place to be in Ghana. Pastey, pale faces, gray haired wrinkled face money, walking down roads like they own them. Silly little African Americans taking selfies to show off that they “In Africa”.

My driver takes a quick turn to avoid traffic, just like that it looks like we in Tumu, Ghana {10.8783° N, 1.9833° W} Just like that we’ve transported 828 km, 513 miles just from turning a corner. Our Yango driver says “Hold on ooo road be rough now!”

Africa has many Uber like, driving services, Yango dey chop less than Bolt or Uber. (cheaper)

Sometimes it’s unbearable, many foreigners & native Africans alike complain about breathing issues. In the past I've blamed the AC (air conditioner) or maybe just the night cool air. It’s the dust, everyone ignores the got damn dust!

Until it becomes too much to ignore, too much to turn a blind eye to, in West Africa comes harmattan season making it worse. Every year it comes with new challenges, some years it hits only certain parts of some countries, skipping others.

Dust is becoming the biggest ignored issue all over the African continent, especially where leaders lean harder into corruption. The underdeveloped areas are hit worse than others, yet the underdeveloped areas are every where.

Down hidden roads, small alleys where hundreds of people quietly live, or behind that huge high rise building. You can’t escape the ignored parts unless you try to.

Dust — Ghana {5.5992° N, 0.1758° W}

Dust — Kenya {1.5167° S, 36.8500° E}

This above screenshot is from Kenya, the video below will direct you to the full video which was posted to Facebook. You can watch it to see how bad the dust storm was in the area.

What If We Could Pave All of Africa’s Roads?

The lack of basic infrastructure is a major constraint to growth on the continent, one that hurts rural areas, hampers access to social services, and slows regional integration and trade between African countries. Yet Africa is the only region in the world where the density of roads has actually declined over the past two decades.

This isn’t an ignored area — African infrastructure is one of the World Bank’s largest lending areas and China has become the largest bilateral lender in the world largely through its infrastructure lending to African and Asian countries.

But even with all that lending, the infrastructure financing gap is projected to be somewhere between $69 and $108 billion over the next decade — far more than African countries can afford on their own right now.

Source: CGDEV.ORG

Dust — South Sudan {6.8770° N, 31.3070° E}

When it's not rain season in it's dry, dusty roads, the dust makes it extremely difficult to breathe. It also makes transportation around the countries difficult.

You can't use the roads when it's rainy season, they impassable.

Africa could prevent 880,000 deaths per year by taking action on air pollution and climate change — Report

“Air pollution is a climate and health emergency, in Africa and around the world. By cutting short-lived climate pollutants, we can slow down the worst effects of climate change in the very near term while protecting human lives. We must come together to work with African nations to reduce emissions from short-lived climate pollutants and eliminate air pollution as much as possible this decade,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

Air pollution is the one of the greatest environmental threats to human health and is responsible for about 7 million deaths each year globally. Air pollutants and greenhouse gases often share the same sources and drivers, including fossil-fuel driven economic growth. Some pollutants, including methane and black carbon, directly contribute to both impacts simultaneously. And because Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change, preventing emissions from short-lived climate pollutants, like methane and black carbon, will help both save lives and protect the environment.

“Air pollution and climate change are a deadly duo, and must be tackled together,” said Soipan Tuya, Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Forestry, Government of Kenya. “We welcome the release of this Assessment and its findings, which demonstrate how Kenya and African nations can achieve the air pollution and climate goals without compromising on the livelihoods and development objectives of the continent” she added.

Source: UNEP.ORG

Accra, Ghana East Legon 5.6358° N, 0.1614° W

In the capital and urban cities of many African countries there are still unpaved roads, air that is filled with burning deris and trash. It's common to smell or see burning of trash right out in the open, on major roads even. There's very little to no enforcement on the burning of trash in many countries.

On my home road in one day, at the same exact hour of the day 3 houses decided to burn trash. The visibiity on the road was zero, it went to one lane for fear of the large fires but also because no one wanted to hit another car head on that they couldn't see coming.

Thank you for reading 🙏🏽 Please consider buying a coffee for Lacey's House efforts in Gender Equality & Children's Rights as it tries to move international.

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