Margaret Awuni sits close to a heap of burning wood, her face masked by despair. Thick smoke curls around her as she coughs again and again as the wood burns down to charcoal that she then sells to workers here. Awuni, 48, has been doing this work since she lost her job as a trader three years ago. She says the danger this job poses to her health became real in a recent visit to a local clinic. She was diagnosed with chronic bronchitis. The first question the doctor asked was whether she smoked marijuana. ‘How can an old woman like me smoke weed?’ she laughs now at the memory. ‘I can only link it to the work I do, so I told him I burn charcoal for survival… But what can I do? My grandchildren and family depend on the little I get from this place.

This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of its Clean Air Ghana Reporting project. Funding came from the Clean Air Fund. The donor had no say in the story’s content.