Burning Season

It’s burning season again. It began a few weeks ago, but suddenly every afternoon the air is filled completely with smoke. The sun sets in the middle of the sky, a magenta ball disappearing into the smoky haze, which burns our eyes when we walk outside.

The government has public service announcements on the radio telling people not to burn their fields but they still do. It’s hard to monitor people’s actions and there seems so little fire safety knowledge of when and how to set fires. They burn their fields to clear them and to catch field mice and large rats for consumption. When last year’s harvest is running out several months after the harvest, people are desperate. The burning seems worse than last year.

Today was especially bad. We had a strong wind all day and by 10 AM the sky was so smoky that it looked like it should be snowing. We shut our windows and even so, ash blew inside. Our veranda collected ash like it would if we had a light snow and wind. When I drove from Chimoio, whole valleys were filled with smoke and other fires were burning. I had to use my lights to see through the smoke at some places.

Novencio brought us news that uncontrolled fires from some neighbor far away burned part of his family’s fields three other neighbors lost their homes from the fire. His father, who has spent years building an extensive orchard lost quite a few fruit trees to the fires. The fires devastate the land but when they are out of control others loose their land, precious fruit trees, houses, and livestock.