Arriving by plane in Tamale already suggested the dryness – much more than during the last trip to the North two months prior, in December. Harmattan was still in full swing in the beginning of February, the air was so dry that we could feel it when breathing, and on the skin. I accompanied New Zealand-born, Ghana-based photographer Ruth McDowall on a trip for her next chapter of her ongoing research project entitled “Fulani in Transition”.
The day in Tamale was an off-day, a sort of transition and acclimatisation day, before we headed further north to Walewale, about one hour and a half north of Tamale.
We went around Tamale by moto, with Ruth’s friend Adi who studies Tourisms, and works as a tour guide. The three of us fitted comfortably on his moto. Traffic in Tamale is dominated by yellow-yellows, and motos. Seeing women with their babies in the back on a moto is as common as the okada boys in the south. It is busy, but the busyness feels different, quieter than Accra.
We visited the Nuku Studio exhibition “Northern Ghana Life” at what is to be become Tamale’s Centre for Photographic Research. Seeing the exhibition with Ruth was interesting, as she knew the project very well, and has followed it, knows about its issues and challenges.
Christine, a Maltese gallery owner and art enthusiast who has been volunteering with Nuku since the Nuku Photo Festival in 2018, opened for us. She told us that artist Ibrahim Mahama will open a cultural centre, art gallery and private studio in Tamale next month, in March 2019 –today known as the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA). It sounded like an interesting time for Tamale’s cultural and art development.
We closed the day with a sunset rooftop bar drink, and the moto ride felt very magical, with the haziness of harmattan, the streetlights, the mosques we passed…
The hotel Moonlite in Walewale was quiet, the room dark, cool, and dry. At 10am it is already hot. We know that the rhythm of the next days will be different. We will get up very early, before sunrise, to get the bike to the Fulani settlements, ca 30 minutes outside of Walewale, so Ruth can get her shoots done by 10am. It will be too hot to move afterwards.
I was thinking about my best use for the next days, and what I wanted to get out for myself. Recent encounters and developments make me think about different options to work with photography, but not as a photographer. I find the way people tell and discover stories through photography very interesting, and feel I want to be part and support such processes. Maybe this is a test ride – how can I support Ruth in telling and developing her Fulani story? Watching her work in the next days would be interesting and inspiring. I decided to observe, collect information, take behind-the-scenes shots, record sounds (maybe) and small videos (maybe), help take notes of camera settings, document… I also wanted to take photos for myself, and benefit from Ruth’s access to this world.
I also decided to take time to write. I never do, and have struggled to write for personal purposes – or maybe it was more about finding inspiration, muse, and time – and possibly the combination of those. Being here, being slow, being away from the daily hustle and everyday life, might be a good setting.
We also had the chance to talk intensively about Ruth’s Fulani project. I learnt a lot about the life and lifestyle and struggles of the Fulani in Ghana, and the two families Ruth is working with.
Ruth focuses her project on climate change driven migration and lifestyle changes amongst nomadic, pastoralist Fulani communities. Because of a steady decrease in rainfall, Fulani communities from Burkina Faso or Northern Ghana need to move further south to find water and grazing. In the worst cases, they’re forced to settle or move to cities to work as traders. Ghana’s population growth has led to an increase in farms and small villages, some of which are in areas where Fulani communities used to relocate to, to water their cattle during dry season. In the dry season, water shortages can also create conflict with local communities.
Miftau, Ruth’s friend and our guide, is one of the many children of one of the families Ruth is working with. He was chosen to be educated. He speaks English, and now lives in Accra, where he has a small shop.
Our daily schedule was to visit two settlements of two different families.
One settlement is of a family from Burkina Faso who had come to Ghana some three years earlier, but still seeing Ghana as a temporary settlement. The challenges they face are multiple: in Burkina Faso, there is not enough water for the cattle, and in Ghana, they face challenges with the local farmers. The family consists of about 10 men and 10 women and 10 children of various ages. They set up huts made of straw, their settlement looks quite permanent.
The women are usually separated from the men. They curiously watched us from the distance as Ruth took her portraits of the elders. A small girl was always around and showed a particular interest in what was going on. From Ruth’s experience from the past, the women were said to be too shy to be photographed. But this time, we could clearly see their curiosity. Eventually they were happy to have their portrait taken, as long as we went by ourselves, without the men, without the translator.
This encounter was definitely one of my highlights, as it was very unexpected. The little girl took my camera, and I showed her how to use it. She helped us break the ice with the rest of the group. They had fun peeking through Ruth’s large format camera. The more time we spent, the more they opened up, and all wanted their photo taken. And if I ever need a young talent in the north, I know where to find her.
The second family is Ghanaian and has settled fully just outside of Walewale. Despite the permanent settlement for the elder, women and children in the village, the boys live the nomadic life and take care of the family’s cattle for up to five months during the dry season. The boys are between the ages 10 and 25, and rotate between the bush and the family settlement. When they are in the bush, about 20 of them at a time, life is rough, they don’t have much shelter, it seems, but they live in tune with nature and their cattle, and in peace. The know each animal’s name and their different characters; the sleep, cook, and pass time under the trees, in between taking the cattle to the water sources. There is a daily routine under the hot sun and on the dry soil.
Ruth uses her large format camera for this project. I find it particularly fitting as it seems to mirror the patience required from her subjects in navigating their lives and uncertainty of their future. Where will they be next year? Will she meet them again? How will they cope with the challenges posed by climate and change?
Ruth has been nominated one of the World Press Photo Foundation 6x6 Southeast Asia and Oceania Talents, amongst other for this project. A first selection of photos from the ongoing project has been published on the WPP website as well as on Ruth’s personal website.