This is Cocoa
12 of Jul 2023The whistling sound of the wind gliding through the leaves pokes him in his resting place. His eyes slowly open, with the awning of foliage above him. “It’s time to go home,” he says. He picks up his cutlass, wears his boots, alerts his little canine and the hike down begins.
He calls out to her, in a sound only his kind knows. Following the notes he made, she made her way back to him. She comes holding a calabash which was initially used to carry their water. Her minute clothes were covered in dirt from the same land she helped him cultivate. Only this time, she was playing Make-Believe. He scolded her for being careless and handed her two sacs full of harvested cocoa. They made their journey down, with the dog in front and him at the back.
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The day in the life of a cocoa farmer involves waking up early, going to the farm, returning home for lunch with a short resting time, maybe going back to continue if work still has to be done and finally coming back home again. It is a labor-intensive job that involves activities such as pruning, weeding and harvesting. They visit the farms every day to check on their crops. They value their crops and farms that have been passed down from the previous generations, as this is their source of income and daily bread. When they sell their cocoa, they receive the money to buy their food and when they are out of money, they eat what they planted. In other words, a lazy farmer is a hungry farmer.
The farmer goes to the farm with his dog and sometimes his wife and kids. Since he spends six days a week on the farm, spending an extra day with his family on their farm is what they would consider family time. Each member is given a role and they all do it as a family. The kids usually help out during the weekends when they have no schoolwork to do. A father takes pride in seeing his child being responsible even at a young age but he also has his role to play as the protector. Knowing where everyone is and if everyone is safe is his top priority. There are lots of creeping creatures lurking on the farms that he would not want anyone in his family to encounter. So even when he closes his eyes, he entrusts everyone to stay close.
To make sure the child feels involved, you have to involve them. When he’s planting, she is planting. When he is weeding, she is weeding. When he is carrying cocoa, she is carrying cocoa. He could easily do the work without her because of how insignificant her section is but he still lets her. He does it just so they can spend some time together and probably get her to love and appreciate what he does.
By: Nada Hage
Year 2 Architecture Student at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
