Salt harvesters of Ghana

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Description

This starkly beautiful film exemplifies the burden borne by African women to survive and support their families. The Ghanaian women who live on a lagoon in Ada, mine for salt with their bare hands during the three month-long dry season. Ankle deep in brackish water, they bend, scoop, bag and tote the raw salt, often developing sores and swellings. But they are happy to have this seasonal work and their indomitable spirit shines through. They boast that the men would not be as skillful in collecting and cleaning the salt. Their families depend on the meager income from the sale of salt to provide food and clean water. Women have done this back-breaking work for the last three hundred years. Although they dream of improving their lives with their income, in the end they have to spend all of the earnings on sustenance. While the government has promised them clean water, it has yet to materialize. The soundtrack includes traditional work songs as well as an original song by Ghanaian musicians.