It's Raining!

Right now it is pouring outside, lightening, thundering, absolutely pouring. And if you didn’t know any better you would think it is raining gold…

So our house is quite a bit larger than most of the houses in our surrounding community, and we also have a safi tin roof, rather than the typical thatch roof. As it started raining about five minutes ago, I began to hear screams and endless giggles. Of course I ran to the window to see what was happening and well, you certainly wouldn’t see this in America. People were flocking to our house, flocking!

Currently, there are eight people right outside the window, mainly young kids, but also two older dadas (sisters) who are around my age. They are all carrying big, empty buckets on their heads and they are strategically placing them along the concrete that lines our small flower beds out front. They are trying to catch the maji (water) that is falling off our tin roof in perfect streams; it almost looks like the stream of a pressure washer as the water is falling so hard.

As they wait for their buckets to fill, three of the little girls, who are around seven or eight year’s old, strip down to their underwear and attempt to take showers in the water that is falling from the roof. They are letting the streams of water fall and hit their faces, they are drinking it, and holding up their hands to it. Wow, they are just giggling their little hearts out, you might honestly think they were at Disney World or something. They are so happy to be playing in the rain and taking a shower (they normal only take bucket baths so I guess a shower is pretty exciting). Man, I wish my camera was charged so that I could take a picture of this…

After some of the buckets are full, the little kids simply place different buckets under the streaming water, and put the full buckets on their heads to walk back towards their homes. But they are not gone for long, they return with new, empty buckets just moments later.

Here comes one of my favorite little girls again, she is back now for her third bucket and has a huge smile on her face. This little girl is super cute; she is about eight, has corn rows in her hair, and is wearing only her underwear while carrying a mini white bucket on her head. She is one of my favorites because whenever I see her she always jokes with me and tries to make me laugh.

It has been about twenty minutes now, and the water is still continuing to pour, but the crowd and the giggles are slowly fading. There is just one last dada (sister) filling up her ndoo (bucket).

In a way, it is raining gold… Water is such a precious commodity that is often hard to come by when it is not raining. Sometimes we will see little kids collecting dirty, muddy water that is in a ditch on the side of the road, because at times people are THAT desperate for water. This rain water will be used by the whole family for drinking, cooking, taking bucket baths, washing clothes, doing dishes, etc.

Water really is an essential commodity that we (or at least I used to) take for granted in the States. It’s just so nice and easy to turn on a faucet and always have continuous, reliable water- BE THANKFUL! Can you image having to run in the pouring rain (in your underwear?), with buckets on your head, in attempt to collect as much water as possible?

XOXOX