Eclipse viewers share goggles

Accra, March 29, GNA - Some people in Accra who viewed the eclipse of the sun on Wednesday with the prescribed eclipse shades tore it into two and shared it with their friends.

They watched the event with one eye while the other eye was protected with their palm.

At about 0910 hours when the sky became dark and lights were switched on at some residences and shops, one could hear the usual sound of fowls struggling to find a place to roost while birds were nowhere to be found in the skies.

The total eclipse of the sun was greeted with shouts of joy, clapping and singing of praises to God with the song "aba mu awie" meaning "it has actually happened."

A plumber, Kwame Nti, popularly called "Taller", who lives at a suburb known as "Auntie Korkor", said he called his family at Oda to inform them about the eclipse and the mood it had generated in the city. "My family is enthusiastic about the sun of the eclipse or whatever you call it. It is a very beautiful thing to see and no one should miss this opportunity to witness the wonders of nature."

Ms Juliana Amoo, a seamstress, noted that she did not want to come out of her room for fear that she might go blind.

She said a friend gave an eclipse shades to her to watch the event adding; "we serve a wonderful God and nothing is comparable to His might".

Mr Daniel Lamptey, a driver, said he decided not to work in the morning because the last eclipse occurred 47 years ago when he was a baby.

"It is likely that I would not be alive to watch it if it ever occurs again. After all, the streets are empty and there is no passenger to pick," he told the GNA.