Hallelujah – rain!!

It rained last night!  I never thought I’d ever be so happy about rain, but it’s the dry season.  Emphasis on dry.  We’re rather spoiled in Mukono, because usually it rains in decent intervals during the dry season, usually when it gets to be unbearably hot, but this year, we’ve been as dry as everyone else.  That means that it’s hot and dusty.  And then it’s dusty.  In case you were wondering, dirt roads that have a lot of dirt churned up on them are just as difficult to walk and drive on as snowy roads; the dirt is just as slippery.

So around midnight, we had a deluge for about three minutes, and then I think it rained a tiny bit more.  It was a joyous gift, I have to tell you.  This morning in chapel, the students were giving thanks for the rain, which “put down the dust.”  I don’t know that the grass is any less brown, but I am grateful for the brief respite nonetheless.

Yesterday, I was walking to chapel, and caught up with one of the students I’d not really spoken with since they returned.  We said hello and happy new year, then I asked how his family is.  He replied that they are fine, but it’s dry, so it’s hard to get water.  This is the reality in the village; one has to go get water, and when it’s not there, it’s not there.

The dry season is horrendously difficult, there’s no two ways about it.  About two weeks ago, a newspaper reported that there would be no rain until March, so farmers shouldn’t plant now.  And yet people need to garden to eat.  So we pray for rain.