Brown Colour In Black Heart (Part1)

Boanna, a sleepy village in the heart of Brong-Ahafo close to Sunyani and Techiman, laid quietly in the afternoon sun with work done for the day. Women and Girls were standing under the Village Tree in the middle of the place five hundred people called home. Before them wooden boxes with yellow, local Mangoes waited for the daily truck to arrive to bring them some income for the day. The Mangoes grew freely on the trees around in the bush behind the village, so did Cashew Nuts from trees planted by unknown Villagers in years past for anyone to pick and enjoy the harvest thereof.

Three small rivers with fresh and cold water coming from naturally covered wells were the source of the fertile land around used by some few small scale Farmers to grow Cocoa Trees and enjoy an extra income to pay for their children’s school fees and occasional Hospital Bills. Water and Electricity in this rural Community was not available in every House, shared by many forming a close bond among the Villagers as everyone knew only when being united they can survive under the harsh conditions of the area and country at large.

Florence Owusu passed at a Chop Bar ‘In GOD we trust’ run by Aunty Rebecca, the oldest sister to the second wife from Hassan Yeboah, one of her Uncles. She was seeing the live coverage of the Independence Day from Black Star Square in Accra. She did not understand much about Politics, but heard as President John Dramani Mahama, in his second year in office, was saying: “I have just come back from Davos in Switzerland from the World Economic Forum. On my way to the Airport a Friend from Ghana called me.

He said while I am there I should bring him Chocolate as the Chocolate produced there is the best in the world. But than at the Airport I told myself, what is wrong with that. In Ghana we produce the best cocoa beans in the world and yet, we do not produce chocolate, at least not the international expected standards. So, certainly we must do something about it and change the situation.

She joyfully jumped from one leg to the other her way along the narrow path leading away from her village into the bush, a path she was able to walk for miles with no end still being on village grounds. Yellow Mangoes where seen everywhere around her. In a silver bowl standing in her way a Lady had placed some nuts from a Palm tree, small red and black colour fruits of the wild growing palms alongside her path. The Lady that lived in one of the Mud Huts in the bush under hugh trees was scary for her, so she passed her fast seeing the woman a few meters away cutting into the Palm tree.

This long stretch of Village land had not been farmed for the past ten years for Cocoa Beans. It was once a Mecca for the best Cocoa Beans in the region, but as she was told by her Grandmother, fire had destroyed the Cocoa Trees due to lack of knowledge to plan for a stretch of land around the Cocoa Trees to ensure Wild Fire has no chance to burn all Trees and end the life of a Farm forever. Florence Owusu was told nobody in the Village had the energy and wisdom any longer to start a new big Farm on the over three hundred acres, only the small place his Father and three others from the Village were working on was all that had been left from the good olden days to have seen plenty of Cocoa Pots and money to come into the Community.

Peter Owusu, her one year older Brother, had already gone ahead of her to the two acres Farm their Father worked on while looking also after his Pepper, Maize and Cassava to feed his family of six. Cocoa was his passion, was his heart beat, his inheritance from Generations past unto him, something he would never be able to abandon. How would it ever be possible for him to let his identity as a Ghanaian go, he defended himself each time he was asked to give up and concentrate on other crops to bring money faster.

His saying always was that, when Ghana loses out on its Cocoa, it loses out on its right to be Ghana in its rightful place. In his black body the brown colour of the Cocoa Beans had painted his heart brown forever. It made him sad to see that the only Chocolate producing Company in Ghana was in disarray. Workers had left the company to work in other jobs; the once left in the Tema Factory produced Chocolate Bars wrapped in old, smelling paper no longer tied firmly around the Chocolate Bars but folded sloppily like done by hands. It was obvious to him the mood in the Factory among the workers was down in its knees while the Government did not have the wisdom to let it come into the hands of someone Better to assist the Nation to grow and have a turn around.

“Don’t do that…no do not do that,” she shouted towards Peter while she came closer to the box in which the Father had started the Fermenting process. “Do not uncover the Beans, seven days are not yet over…so wait!” She insisted and hit her brother hard on his upper arm to make him understand her point very well. “We are here not to spoil the good name of Ghana’s Premium Cocoa Beans but to add value to it, as Daddy is always saying.”

“You and your stupid behavior,” Peter Owusu shouted feeling the pain from his sister in his arm. “This is no reason to punish me. Look what you have done to me!” He presented his arm under her nose to her. “Look, it is paining me! And you are my sister, what a shame.”

“But you know it exactly, that the time to dry the Cocoa Beans has not come. So why are you so stupid not to listen?” posted Florence before him, both hands in her Hips, her lips ready for further arguments with the stubborn boy.

“Oh, what are you saying to me? You are supposed to respect me as I am older than you!” did he defend himself and walked around her to get away from the insult she had put unto his head and name.

“If you cannot listen to what Father said and what is obviously right to say and to do, I have all the right in this world to insult you…to insult you very well,” she added with strong voice staring at him knowing he was weak in his heart, only pretending with his big mouth to know things much better than she did. “And when you do not learn those simple things, you deserve to be punished very well.” She walked a few steps, turned around, put her face into the blowing wind that came from her right side and added:” In such a case you need to be punished very well until your stubborn mind is changed for you to be rescued.”

“What nonsense are you telling me; I am old enough to decide for myself! Or do you think I am still a child?’ Peter Owusu put his hands over his head crossed and laughed from his heart. He knew he had challenged her seeing Florence started to run towards him to beat him very well. In a second her turned around started running seeing last minute the stone in his way, jumped over it and run back home not noticing his sister had stopped her idea to follow him. She had changed her mind and came to the conclusion to use her energy and intelligence to improve on the quality of her Father’s Cocoa Beans not to waste her time with stubborn Boys no matter how old they might be.

Tenderly she touched the cover underneath the three days old Cocoa Beans matured to their Greatness to give Buyers and Consumers around the World the best flavor and taste a Cocoa Bean can ever give someone.