Blackout: the total eclipse seen this morning in Accra, Ghana.
Photograph: Sarah Left
I had originally planned to watch today's total solar eclipse from the comfort one of Ghana's beautiful beaches, writes Sarah Left. But in the end it seemed churlish to deny the country's less-than-captivating capital city the few minutes during which it actually had a tourist attraction. And despite some worries in traditional belief systems about bad omens, and in the popular evangelical churches about God's mysterious intentions, the sudden darkness was met with cheers and jubilation in Accra.
Newspapers, television and radio had for weeks been full of warnings about the consequences of watching the eclipse without special safety glasses. Commuters in Accra seemed to have taken note, and along one of the heaving main roads into the city centre people hung out the windows of clapped-out minibuses or gathered in suits and ties in front of offices to try out their glasses. Sharing was widespread, as each pair retailed for up to 15,000 cedis (£1), a huge amount of money in a country where the average person doesn't earn that much in a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment