I’ve had writer’s block for so long it’s worrisome. I attribute it to the heat we’ve been suffering. These last months have been really harsh. But the rains have started now, and with them my inspiration for this new blog post, which I hope you will enjoy (read more).
Yes, the rains have come. This very dawn I awoke frightened by the noise of the force with which the rain fell on the roof! The storm lasted no more than half an hour, but it was a half an hour of fierce intensity that left in its wake deep puddles along every road to Rimkieta this morning.
As the rains arrive, so too do we begin a new planting of trees. Every year, 1,000 trees for this tree-bare land…. Paul and Lambert started digging the holes in May, and they are now planting the trees, with their corresponding fertilizer and protective netting. I love tree planting! In addition to the countless benefits to nature and the invaluable contribution they mean for the environment, FAR’s tree planting project has made for a bit of social change in the neighborhood. The first trees we planted were used for cooking fuel… Now the very people who live in the zones where we plant the trees take it upon themselves to water and care for them!
The rains will give us all a break from the suffocating heat of the past months. And we hope they will also reduce the electricity and water cuts that have been too much this year. Just this week we’ve had 11 interruptions of service at different times of day that have added up to over 10 hours without electricity. Not easy!!
But, as is the case every year, the rains will bring flooded, impassable streets; adobe houses that can’t be repaired and wind up falling down; still pools of water – breeding grounds for mosquitoes that mark the high season for malaria; and children who skip school to swim in the reservoirs – more than one of whom will die, just like every year, by drowning or from some illness contracted in those waters…
It is said that there are more robberies on the cool nights after a rain, as people sleep more soundly…. There are two sides to every coin!