MERCURY SOIL

Mercury Soil by Amed Culpeper (Protector the Traveler) is a heartbreaking tale set in Ghana that shows the horrific human and environmental toll of illicit gold mining (galamsey). Kwame, a twenty-year-old farmer’s son from the poor community of Obuasi-Krake, leaves home to work in an illegal mine after his father gets seriously ill. Kwame’s mother had warned him that the land was cursed but the prospect of quick cash from recruiter Kojo was too tempting to resist.Kwame works hard at the mine, gets money to send home but slowly succumbs to mercury poisoning, tremors, yellow eyes, loss of memory, psychosis. He is drawn into a cycle of debt, thievery and addiction to luxury, unable to escape. His father dies despite the treatment and Kwame comes home shattered and dies soon after with David, a lad he has recruited.The story then moves to Kwame’s sister, Esi, who turns her sadness into action. She goes to college and studies environmental science, comes back to her town and leads a fight against the mining cartel. Through the use of scientific data, legal pressure and community organization she exposes the contamination, halts the mining and begins to restore the poisoned soil through phytoremediation.Themes include greed, sacrifice, environmental justice, and the restorative power of knowledge. It ends on a hopeful note: the land heals, the villain is brought to justice, and Esi becomes a professor, so the struggle continues for future generations.