7. Ali would start august 7th augie w. On west Africas Atlantic coast the former british colony of ghana became infamous for its involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade and also for its abundant reserves of gold which is why the english called it the gold coast. The country is rich in role materials such as oil which was recently discovered in the region and above all coca. Ghana is the worlds 2nd biggest producer of cocoa despite the plentiful resources they rarely benefit god nations themselves. Resourcefulness has become a necessity for some people white gold has replaced yellow theyre not aiming to get rich the many trying to survive. Gonna means warrior king a fitting name that reflects the strength and resilience of its people. But i want to buy a whole basket. They face a new battle every day. At dawn on lake volta the launches started fishel reservoir in the wild water taxes put out to the banks. 3 times a week a transport isolated villages to the big markets in the town of tom parker. This particular account seems to sense the getting on the boat isnt going to be an easy tox. Like and im going to sell my car at the market i want to go that way to. Pay for the car but ive got no choice. Lets. Look our would have undoubtedly appreciated a rhyme but a ride in the fresh air is bound to come into. The next phase of the boats maybe primitive but they are vital for the regions economy with album famous would be trapped on that island so. This is. Not. To let you know he doesnt. Want some kind of. Doubt about it and then back to the man my basket so he can bring it to me to lighten. It up. And that. Everyone gets on to such boats any way they can and they have no choice the fare is a too big to dock at these small patches of land although few of the passengers know how to swim i mainly use the life jackets as power saws. Everythings fine the lake is like a mill pond. Where only watching the boats dropped josephs the captain gets as much onto it as he can. I was brought up i dont know actually how many people and animals there are my counted for cows and 4 sheeps. What are the maximum is about 1015 comes and the maximum number of people i would say is 5250. But its very dangerous. If we are unlucky and a storm hits when were in the middle of the lake. Its really dangerous because i i. Have. After a 2 hour journey the water taxi arrives at top a market for the animals getting also a boat is a much more pleasant experience in getting all. The passengers are badly off the boat when it heads back i want to cross the lake. Its. At the top the market the center of spicers mingles with the aroma of freshly fried fridges. Still its hard to ignore the smell of petrol and fish. And i. Am at this point perri of sense one in particular is missing the center rived from a fruit found at every market stall the cocoa fruit at santa doesnt dom fold until it has been processed. Ghana is the worlds 2nd biggest producer of coca hundreds of trucks transported across the country before its exported all over the while. In part most locals like biko have never tasted it. And. All the people in this village they all because its. All good probably have to come out like the typical going to mommy is going to be. Nobody going to see some of the dublin involved. To. Be able go by i. Dont know if theyre juggling of all they do this if youre middle default. You can. Be kosher holes between dozens of warehouses along the road he wants for the state which buys for most all of the cocoa produced by the regions farmers. The or. I mean a kilo is there is by about. 65 percent of that is the biggest. One. Cocoa sales represent 10 percent of ghanas Gross Domestic Product but the locals rarely see any of the prop. Fits and that day to day lives. Well i think. That is i. The roads leading to the warehouse is a rundown. Ready to go because theres a lot in the garden is very odd space if you want to get to a dime and there would have been because of. The would like to see if you dont do got the. Last big look like its because why. Its officious cycle if hes late delivering the load he will lose part of his salary. If. He. In the heart of the forest attempted harvesters have to get a move on. I did. Well the thought of the season is coming to an end i need to gather the remaining parts the fruit that contains the cocoa beans before they rot on the trees. When i wish ain could do the work as well as these men can but harvesting is an arduous task. They extract from parts with machetes which i nicknamed go to hell. Is the pride of this country. This is the i mean. Im not that if the receipts the best quality. Other countries produce cocoa. But its just not as good as in ghana where you got. It from here in the cocacola border are. Now the right government and once theyre all had to europe. I dont know what its final destination will be like this and i thought they. Were right. Around 15 families from the cocoa trees in this small forest but in the past few years production levels have dropped. The simple crop farming of coca has sucked all the nutrients out of the soil the trees are growing old and theres no money to replace them nowadays every penny. Counts. The family situated close to the border with togo jeff sells his character beans to which have a country based science. And to remember that the border with toll roads around a kilometer from there its the. December togo was during one euro 0. 37 a kilo gun owners paying one euro 16 friend but at the end of the month togo that price had dropped to 1. 00 euro 22. 00 and gone as private roads so it was better to guns. Im going to load it onto a motorbike ill take a shot i mean if oh my god why are you putting it on a motorbike yep undergirds theres no path theres no road or just tracks. Theres no road suitable for cars. Well it looks. Very dangerous there are lots of accidents. Normally the government should have built bridges but there are no bridges the temple so if youre not careful youll have an accident and you dont think youre going to fall but when you do some of the number up after its about them its about the effects. Youre going to get the trip to the town on these old motorbikes can be very risky broken arms or legs are common although jeffs team hasnt suffered any fatalities yet. And. Sadly maxwell was not so lucky he died in a car accident as he was delivering bags of cocoa beans to the town. His aunt precious is bringing his body back to the village in a coffin shaped like a coke i pod as a gesture of ana. Funerals in ghana the fall from mulberry to fast death is seen last as an end as the gateway to eternal life this course of a celebration. Believe in the often life its important for found is to express love and respect for the deceased to ease their journey to the other side. Sometimes burials a larger fast just like the one today. That the whole village is taking part. 6 in the women prepare a traditional dish of corned topped with a spicy sauce. It may seem shocking to some the body is dressed in finery and put on display before it is placed back in the coffin. But that was dead. Long maxwells family firmly believes that he has simply moved on to another life in one form or another he will be more powerful than those still living so each of them comes to talk to him to win his favor. Safe journey youll be reunited with your brother. And then youll be reunited with everyone then youll be welcomed with open arms. No child will you do in your next life. You know after all i did for you you left me. To this ruling. Then everybody back. To the. One up there was. A young. Boy. Because its you thats that and. Thats wrong is preserved in a mall for 4 months his family paid the equivalent of 300. 00 euros for the coffee and an enormous sum for people here. Discount some schoolchildren give him a round final sendoff. That often its. Because they find out that the whole family and i mean that. Thats how my day that i did that found. Her by the whole. 7 time i dont. Doubt that many of them would have that hollywood. After a 2 hour long ceremony the coffin is taken to the cemetary. Im. Fucked up but. The point is are accompanied to maxwells final resting place where his coffin is again welcomed with scenes of joy so he can begin his new life in happiness. Through the combination nothing much chanting and incense and beating of drums the burial of precious his nephew is a friends if. I. Believe. Its the wrong way turn him this way. 8 2 i. On the plantation away from the chaos of the burial jeff and his men head off to town to sell some of that last remaining banks of coke. The 10 men transporting 650 kilos of cocoa beans. None of them have a drivers license in any case navigating through the bush isnt something taught in driving school. Its a 50 kilometer long journey and all the drivers are a lot they want to survive this journey. 2 hours across rough terrain take a toll on the old motorbikes. Over and. Over and if theres a got to have some broken because the road is so bumpy. Haneke and jaska. In such bad shape it broke or is it because they got to step on the sideline for this if there is thats just the kind of thing we have wired up with yours on the average. Motorbike is back on the road they will have to put some of their. The profits from selling the cocoa towards the repairs the group is hoping to honor around 100. 00 euros which would make 10 euros per pass and. Theyve reached the final hurdle but its not an easy one Quality Control carried out by the uncompromising joseph who buys cocoa for the government hes the one who sets the prices. Messy. I want to check. If the guy is good it least i can buy it if you would then all is not very i have to date. Today joseph appears to be very satisfied with the quality he pays jaff chayne 200 euro 100 more than they were hoping for. With its massive deposits of minerals and oil ghana could be very rich but its a commie still relies mainly on farming and fishing. Making a living in these sectors is far from easy many call on higher powers to help them get by. To get out of you with the lord we have come to our place of work this morning make your blood fall upon us and protect the lord may destroy part of it will spirit im a. There earths over there. Cast iron its over there where the birds are all right now got. Thought of here in direct competition with other boats and now so we have to cast our nets before they do. That there are not a i dont want out. Of him one of them has already started fishing oh theyre talking their nets too hard. Theyre too desperate. To send off. The crew had better hurry and 200000 banks are all competing off the con name coast as a consequence fish stocks have steadily 25 the years. If you. Look to. The one who. Who. Who. Who will be having them. All. Now the low level robot to. Move on. I dont want to return home empty handed ringback. Why dont he going to go out if you dont work you wont get paid about about. It that emanuel is the quartermaster otherwise known as the head of the crew his job is to keep his men motivated. Origin was as i really. Never really dont know about the fact that yeah. I do love it i love. Food. Well i dont you. Know. Oh no no let me go. Out are not. Very up so we have time to recast the net once more. Fishing one make these man millionaires have court around 100. 00 kilos at the most mainly just small fish. The methods of some captains who use dynamite and pesticides to turn quick profits of forced bigger fish to retreat to deeper waters. Dozens of women keeping an eye on the horizon. But theyre not waiting for the hospitals to return from see. Their fishmongers. Left home in the morning and gather here to wait for the fishermen to come but its the only work we can do to feed ourselves it also means i can send my children to school and i knew that he didnt but i knew id use. All. The bound to be disappointed none of the 15 votes separate times with an impressive whole. Bottle of the fishmongers begins to. There isnt enough fish to go around. Other than i want to buy the whole basket. I want to basket for the 2 eyes that were fishing and i want some smiles. Then you know what surprised me was having them for. Oh. I love you. We always had a go when we buy one the fisherman give us a price and we negotiate if they say 100. 00 we suggest 15 out they say 200. 00 we said 100 there that is the. Absolute what is that my basket youre filling up. Go ahead fill it up to the brim and. Im going to smoke some of them and the others will be sell to drive in the sun. Then sell them at the market. You know all the time for. Smoking and salting the fish prevents it from having to be refrigerated to fishmongers can preserve it in this way for a week maybe more. Thats why sometimes vitally important in africa ghana has enjoyed a good reputation for its salt since the 8 century. Drivers who transport cocoa and those who transport salt share the same treacherous roads. Gone is so cold white gold is in the mom time sold across the african continent. But. I want to load up 2000 bags of socks. 50 times i keep a close eye and you go yeah because of hers a problem something about i missing it i have to replace it with the south side of the levee not. What i thought it might. Go its a dangerous trip sometimes robbers jump onto the truck and steal a good half the roads pump and you have to slow down there and climb out of the truck because then. The choice has no choice he has to drive slowly on these poorly maintained roads. George is taking his delivery eastwards to beneath 200 kilometers he and his truck have been dancing to the rhythm of the poet holmes as he puts it. Down comes to my career dancing at a party because of the power of what. I was dancing at the wheel ive become i just got it down to browse thats because god roads are so badly damaged down to ground 00 now that nothing. Most coastal residents make a living from Salt Production ive got about that that everywhere you look at our salt even when the women who dig down into the ground they find salt by that but that. Salt is one of the. And of all Minerals Found in abundance its an im limited resource that helps People Living on the coast to survive. Just because theres a lot of it doesnt mean its easy to harvest. Not its the men who delegate and share out the work and its us women who have to dig for the salt. Were told on your on the men of learning doing it themselves because its hard work in the morning but now i know that youre no work like there are you. Know i mean also its us women who have to do it. You know. If you can do this all with your bare hands to get covered and so were. All done with you. And i took off our thats why mine are in such a bad state by use this tool to hope that that gets me out of there wouldnt nails to break down the salt crystals. Well my letter like that must have worked collecting salt for 20 years its a really tough job. You know one of. Them oh yeah i have awful aches and pains i have a bad back when im i like that but. My feet are crack down hard. On the train. That theyre fed i want nice looking. To be able to resell it i have to spread it out and examine it so if it doesnt look good i wont be able to sell it for the best trust. And i cant be mixed up with any cent. So it works when the the sand mixes with the salt. You know i will do. So is this one euros. I said id sell it for 200. 00 no thats too much that i know how much would you pay for it ill give me a 100. 00 say to you all the money no no do you owe no deal oh yeah oh come on please. Im not compromising. This is. My sauce is nice and white its white but times are hard people just on by anymore ill take it for one joy but not this. 1120 isnt enough. Ill turn him out. Oh you know what yesterday someone bought it for 150 no line no one question here dont agree ill go buy somewhere else ok all right im happy today my children and i will be able to eat well have 1st comics flying. Over she bought everything off me and i have money to count up hard back heres the money you thank you for buying my salt may god bless you and protect you on your journey back. To. The equivalent of 21 euro the money will last and her 2 children a week any animal she can catch and some plumbing to buy meals. Help or much about this is my house its where i live all my riches are here. Who are demo will make everything mice. With my own hands these buckets are mine i got them out on whether i can get my secrets to one side for funerals. Or actually we look at that i. Shall. Now show that there are. Only hands or damage from the hard work i do dos. Is starting to look like the hands of a leopard. Now its a sad feeling. But john always tries to keep a smile on her face so she says is you cant wear down on x. By slicing bananas. In other words anything is possible with a bit of will power and not something that can names appear to have an ample supply no matter how obvious the task. Is. George and his are certain to have now been dancing in that trunk. Through it but i like my job. I was just and. My dad taught me to drive. My point and driving since i was young. When i was 12 i could already drive been the gonna look in a fossil i recall just molly nigeria easy area. All these years of driving have taught george patience lots of it especially when it comes to crossing borders. About this that we have to go and check in. Here george and his assistant arrived in a flower a town on the border with togo. To. Evolve it did that by customs officers will check the goods dish that area they want to check their stuff hasnt gone off and make people say you believe it was a government if it. Was up. To. George takes his place among the hundreds of other trucks waiting to be inspected some of been stuck here for weeks the customs officers work at their own pace as drivers wait patiently. Along it may take everything will get to where it needs to go. Back in the cocoa plantation jeff is also preparing to go to tokyo hes located much closer to the border and so is making the journey on foot. With the full if you will let you know. Such as. These are the last few bags im going across the border i need some c. F. A. Francs thats currency managed in the village i want to go to i needed that is that im taking the last few bags decide. This year the quality of the cocoa isnt good that will be spoiled or the rain that ruined all the cocoa that did pool so that. These cocoa beans on and good enough to be sown to kanye and binders not intel go jeff knows a trader who doesnt scrutinise goods to foreign aid. And he. Said he loved it under a lot of the villagers an hours walk away carrying the cocoa on our heads that. This is when we arrive at the border well cross or not fed to the front. Of the carriers its a far from gentle stroll its going around 30 kilos on the heads. So as i once ive thought of this another Little Bridge that marks the border that im in i have crossed the border but im not gonna do a go now were in togo so once you cross it youre in tokyo at the well so no ive made it and i just see. Oil gold and other mineral result says could make ghana one of the worlds Fastest Growing economies. Instead its gone mans described that country as a sick child. Who has only recovered because of the tenacity all its workforce. Ok your distance. The coronavirus has changed a