Following six months of drought, intense rainfall over a frive day period in late august 2007 caused major flooding in the Northern Regions of Ghana (Brief by Upper East Regional Minister, Hon. Alhassan Samari 31 August 2007). Ghana's President John Kufour visited the sites on 11 September 2007, declaring the regions disaster zones and launching an appeal for international assistance (Ghanaian Times, 2007).
According to a bbc.com published on 15 September 2007, the flooding killed at least twenty people, and impacted over two hundred thousand. Former head of National Disaster Mobilization George Azi Amoo declared that entire villages had been washed away,
The impact on Ghana's Upper East Region has been tragic. In a statement by the Upper East Regional Minister Alhassan Samari, 12, 200.17 hectares of farmland were destroyed, as were fifty – eight bridges, twenty-nine highway roads, fifty-four feeder roads and 13, 800.55 metric tons of food stuff. The destruction of farmland, crops and the death of livestock presents a major problem for a region already plagued my malnutrition and a population dependent on their land. (Daily Graphic, 2007).
It was explained to me by a community member of Zorko in the Bongo district that until about March, the villagers would normally subsist on locally-produced foods, but because the flooding destroyed so many crops before they could be harvested, people are selling what little assets they have, and buying food from the local market at expensive prices. Citizens have taken up weaving baskets, a tedious craft that normally produces very little income, or have made the decision to send their children South to look for work. As the next harvest won't be until September 2009, the people of the Upper East will be facing food shortages for a long time. This has caused many relief workers including the Regional Secretary of the Ghana Red Cross Joseph Abarike to suggest that famine is imminent.
Reporting by Amanda Sperber
Photographs by Children of the Bongo and Zorko Villages
