Thursday, February 19, 2015

Waiting for rain

     One of the things that we worry about in Tappita is the weather.  The temperature doesn't vary much, it is hot and muggy year round.  The main variable is the rain.  Rainy season usually arrives in late March or early April.  It has all the usual hassles of getting wet wherever you walk, the mud and the increase in mosquitos.   Those problems may seem obvious but the rainy season has one important additional consideration, the roads.  The road from Monrovia has a 3+ hour stretch from Ganta to Tappita that is not paved and is often impassible during significant parts of the rainy season.  Since the large majority of our supplies come in from Monrovia or Ganta, that can be a problem.  
     This year, the signs point to an early rainy season, possibly starting by the end of February.  That changes a lot of our plans.  It means that we need to push our district health survey forward so that it can be completed before the rains come.  It also means that we need to modify our cooking area to provide more drainage and cover.  Using some long ago learned civil engineering, we have submitted to our logistic support organization a plan to run a diverting drainage ditch to run the water coming down the hill away from the flat ETU area.  In the one big rainstorm that we had since I have been here, the ground water flooded back into the ETU latrines and caused to overflow.  We also need to increase our stockage levels of food, fuel and potable water to be able to withstand stretches of time when the roads are impassible.  Just a few more things to do that should pay dividends when the rains do come.
     Sometimes, though, the rain seems farther away.   Usually the sky is either hazy or overcast.  It looks just grey or dark and almost muddy.  Last night though, the sky was unusually clear.  The stars were just popping out from a deep navy blue sky.  They seemed both infinitely far away and close enough to touch.  They looked a little unfamiliar from my vantage point near the equator, usually recognizable but with a twist.  I just stood there a while and watched them.  The stars were gone this morning when I went out to jog but the sky was still clear.  It will probably mean that we will have a scorcher today, but maybe worth it with the beautiful sky last night.  I will continue to enjoy those nights until the rains do come.

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