I can’t stop thinking about the rain. I’ve heard of rainy seasons, but this beats all for predictability (though a friend from New Orleans once told me that a 30% chance of rain there meant it would be raining 30% of the day. I leave it to the meteorologists among you to compare).
Every day since early last week it has p-o-u-r-e-d down rain. The clouds silently boil up in the late afternoon and, sometime between rush hour and supper, they demonstrate their power over us with more water than some places get in a year. Sometimes it goes on all night, sometimes just a fast thundershower.
It’s going to be like this for the next 2 months.
We’ve traded dust for mud. The cleaning up is a daily endeavor. At the Angel Cottage house where about 35 deaf kids from Humble Hearts live, daily rain means a daily flood. The bedroom structures were only meant to be temporary, and the city council didn’t allow them to include drainage around the buildings.
The kids come home every day and expect to help bail out the house. Shoes must still be washed, so it’s done in the muddy water on the ground.
coming home
There is no yard for these kids to go play in puddles and then leave behind for a dry, warm house. The water is outside their bedroom doors, filling up. The blessing is that so much rain water can be collected in barrels to help with other washing, like socks.
The good news is that a new Angel Cottage is being built, albeit slowly, as funds allow. If you can help, please visit angelcovers.org/africa.html and make a donation.
Thank you and take care,-L
(More pictures of Humble Hearts and Angel Cottage on flickr.)
