Rain! Rain! Rain!

Well, yesterday was the first rain! I was so excited you wouldn’t even believe it! I ran out the door to soak it all up, and was in hopes I would run into other people out enjoying it as much as I. But nope, I was the only one out splashing in the puddles and running around like a child. Apparently they don’t play in the rain much here. I don’t quite understand that.

So, as I was outside enjoying this wonderful rain, out of nowhere the wind started blowing like mad. When the tops of the very tall but thin trees started to touch the ground, I made a safe assumption that it was probably a good idea to go inside. As I was headed for the door I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to get blown away or not. But as you can tell, I managed to make it okay.

Well, I have never seen such a storm! Winds blowing harder than I have ever seen in my life. And though I wish I could tell you the windspeed, I will not even attempt a guess at it. Captain Stan will tell you that it is just not something I do well at all.

But as we were inside wondering how bad it was actually going to be, large tree limbs starting coming down all around and tin (including some off our house), was flying off of roofs. It was a bit frightening to say the least.

So after it was all over with, I went out walking around the compound to see just how bad the damage was. I couldn’t take the road due to very large branches in the way; but as I made my way through, people were pointing out parts of the brick fence that had blown down, roofs that were missing and then they pointed to this tree:

I was just shocked! I wish I had pictures of the nearby primary school building, and other buildings around the village. But I can’t bring myself to walk around and take photos of the damage. These are peoples homes and businesses and I don’t want to offend them by taking pictures.

(The little baby on Rachels back is Haruna. He’s from the xrphanage at Xtutulu and has been living with Bill, Christy and I since we arrived. That antifoo to the right is Bill.)

The next morning we were out clearing the trees from around the compound. It was pretty cool just to see everyone working together to get the place cleaned up. But it was definitely the first time I had ever moved wood around in a skirt and flip-flops before.

I feel like after being with Friend Ships and going specifically to the areas that have been hit by a natural disaster, it just seems like there should be more that I can do here. I’m right in the middle of it all, with nothing really to offer. I was wishing for some vinyl today to use to patch some roofs, just so that when the next rains come everything in these homes wouldn’t be completely destroyed. … I don’t really know what I can do, I guess for now, helping to collect the firewood is the best thing.