inside an orange sky

I woke up Thursday morning in a thick orange haze and thought the world was coming to an end. And then I remembered that I live in the giant dust pan that is the north of Burkina Faso.

But really. I'd never seen anything like this before, and judging by the reactions of my villagers, neither had they. In the middle of the night on Wednesday, I was jarred awake by incredibly strong winds, which normally indicate a rain storm coming, but I didn't move inside, as my house felt like a sauna of death, and I had a sneaking suspicion that the winds were dissembling and that there would be no rain. I was right, of course, cause I'm always right.

I stuck it out outside and must have fallen back asleep, because the next time I looked at the time, it was already 5:55. Something felt really strange, but I couldn't pin point it. I stayed on my cot for a while, staring at my courtyard wall, because normally I wait until it's at least semi-light outside to get up and start getting ready. And then it hit me that it was already 6:00 and all my neighbors were up and functioning. That's what felt so off...already 6:00 and still no sun? And then I felt my skin. COVERED in dust, I was, COVERED, I tell you. It was kind of nice in a way, because I've been sweating like a beast every night in this hot season, but the thick layer of dust covering me must have soaked it all up, because I felt refreshingly dry.

It wasn't until I went inside my house to get my toothbrush, though, that I realized the extent to which the dust had covered the world. A haze had descended on the village. Visibility was extremely low. From my courtyard, I can normally see way out into the fields surrounding us, but I could barely even see my own courtyard wall.

It was actually quite beautiful, but unfortunately, with great beauty, comes great pain.

Just kidding, the pain wasn't really great. But it was really hard to breathe, and I'm sure that the dust was teeming with microbes, just waiting to be propogated through the village and into the villagers' organisms. We'll see if we get an influx of sick people at the CSPS in the next couple days.

At first, we thought the dust would last a couple hours at the most and then dissipate. But to the astonishment of the whole village, the air was still highly polluted with particles by dinner time. That night, we had another bout of wind, for which I did end up going inside my house because I thought I might get blown off my cot otherwise, and then in the morning, the air was as clear as ever. The world looked normal again, confirming that it was not, in fact, coming to an end.

But what was this strange haze caused by? I've heard the news of the volcano eruption in Iceland, and the subsequent ash cloud that covered Europe; however, I somehow doubt that had much to do with this, especially because the sky was clear of dust in Ouaga, just 180 km away. But I guess you never know. According to the people in my courtyard, there was a communiquer on the radio saying that a mountain had fallen, causing this dust cloud to descend upon us, though the same communiquer also predicted that it would last for 7 days. Who knows.

P.S. The photo included in this post is credited to Erik Durant.