Another day gone by. I'm sitting wrapped in my pashmina (yes, I am in Ghana!), looking out over what in daytime is a view of Cedi House, National Theatre and the Atlantic Ocean, but now is complete darkness, except for a few lights from offices in Cedi House.
Sniffling with a head that feels heavy, I started wondering if I was about to get a cold. Then I realised I've had that feeling almost every week in the last few months. At first I thought it was the change of weather, from Harmattan, to hot stickiness, to the beginnings of rainy season. Now however, i suspect it's caused by the office environment. Sitting in an office with glaring artificial light from the ceiling and the laptop seems to cause me to strain my eyes all day. Add to that a central AC system that is so messed up the admin staff four metres from me have the fans going while I sit in my office, in socks and wrap, shivering. With windows that don't open, no natural light showers me with Vitamin D and no oxygen reaches me by natural means. Is it any wonder I always feel off?
If I didn't have the view of the sea, I don't know what would have saved me.
Why is it that we, in tropical, beautiful Ghana have chosen to close ourselves of from all the natural beauty of fresh ocean air, rays of sunlight and the beauty of trees, bushes and plants around us? Instead, we've created an environment, best suited for a grey, rainy London, after all there it would be perfect to have windows that don't open for the risk of raindrops coming in. If only we would nurture what we've naturally been given I believe we'd feel so much better.
I can't wait til the day I'll be working from home, in a beachfront house at Prampram, or in the deepest forest of the hills of Aburi!
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2 comments:
If wishes were horses, your elegantly written wishes would be thoroughbreds! Your stream of consciousness makes for an effortless read. Having said, that, do you want to catch the draft of the ocean air, which reaches you after having swept over the Accra coastal favelas? For the irregular AC, I'm told the fakery of the modern Ghanaian makes some peeps in your building insist on the frigid temperature while they sit with cardigans from morn till eve :))
So true, on second thought, the air may not be so fresh, rather followed by gusts of gutter and pollution (but the option of opening windows would be nice). As for the cardigans, same can be said of our friday morning client, where most people are in jeans and cardigans or jumpers!
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