It has been a dry 3 months here in Uganda. May-July is the dry season here on the equator and let me tell you…. Its drier than dry. Because all of the roads are made of dirt, the dust is intolerable. It gets in my ears and my nose when I run and I find myself covered in the red clay minutes after I have showered. Just like everyone talks about the weather in the States, everyone here is perpetually talking about the dust (enfufu) and the lack of rain (enkuba). Usually as I am walking atleast one person will strike up a conversation about “enfufu nningi” which just means “a lot of dust”.
So as I sat down to type my blog, I heard a strange thundering in the distance. I went out my back door to check it out and sure enough there was a thunderstorm on its way to Ndegeya. Now in the States if I saw rain coming I would probably think, “Well shit, I hope this doesn’t ruin my hair and make-up”. Ha. But here rain=life and therefore a million thoughts blew through my head as the rain came. I laughed at everything I was thinking because it made me feel like I was really becoming a Ugandan, so let me share my thoughts with you.
1. The rain is coming. I had better take my laundry off of the line in my backyard or it will be soaking wet and I will be clothesless.
2. The rain is coming. If I want to travel anywhere today I will not be able to because the roads will become so water-logged and muddy that I won’t be able to make it up the hills. Therefore I am stuck in my house all day. (I have tried to go out in the rain one time last rainy season and ended up stranded 2 kilometers from my house, lost both of my shoes in the mud, and had to wait out the storm under a tree. Never again.)
3. The rain is coming. Now I can begin planting in my garden. I have waited for weeks to begin planting, but everyone says you must wait until the first rain or your seedlings won’t sprout. (I have a nursery in front of my house that is simply seedlings I can water placed inside halves of water bottles and old basins.)
4. The rain is coming. This means that the entire community will begin digging tomorrow. I am supposed to go to church with the LC. Will I be able to make it to her house through the mud? I am also supposed to have a Village Savings and Loans meeting in the morning. Will anyone attend (probably not) or will they all be digging and preparing for the new crop?
Its just such a different mindset than I have in the States... but I really am beginning to prefer it.
No comments:
Post a Comment