Mud issues

My friend Elizabeth sure was right when she told me that September is the month for thunder rainstorms. We have had some pretty spectacular rains which are incredible to watch, especially at night, with the lightning flashing, one after the other. But the next day, we are saddened when we see the results of the heavy rains.

Here on campus,  many students were out digging trenches in the rain in the night, to keep their homes from flooding. Unfortunately this family wasn't so successful since they seem to have an underground water spring that flooded not only their yard but both of their huts. The next day, all of the women on campus gathered together to help bail buckets of water out of their yard and pull all the mud out of their homes.
    After almost 2 hours of solid work, it was hard to see much of a difference. I felt disheartened, unable to imagine what it would be life if that was MY home. Thankfully we have an extra house on campus that was empty so the student and his family at least have a safe and dry place to live until their wet home dries up.
     I have heard many other stories of flooded homes around Melut area. The day after the rain I went to market and most of the little village center was submersed in water. I had to check my bags of sugar carefully when I bought them because rain had leaked through the shop roof and most of the shopkeeper's goods got wet.
     Thankfully the ground absorbs the water quickly here and things are already drying up but please pray that we won't have any more destructive storms and pray that sickness won't spread during this time (due to more mosquitoes and flooding toilets!)