Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

The rains have started and the Sahel drinks deeply, there is new growth on virtually every plant that I see and there are now plants where there were not plants before. Grass has started to grow, it is one of the more beautiful things that I have seen in quite a while.

When it rains, it pours, we rarely just have a light sprinkling of rain. The rains generally start with a sand storm, the wind is violent carrying away anything not well fastened and it carries particles of sand that coat everything, these are best avoided. After the sand passes the rain commences, and it is glorious. The rain is carried by the same violent gusts of wind and thus is comes not from above but from the side. The rains last only a couple hours at their longest so far.

The other side of the coin, is that the insects have started to rally, and from what I remember this is but the beginning. Kaedi, like all of the cities I have seen here was not built for draining away rain, there are quite a few deep puddles that will become the brackish breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Kristy will be making a cream from leaves of a local tree called, Neem. Neem Cream is an ongoing project that PCRIM tries to urge the locals here to use because it works as a natural mosquito repellent and therefore reduces the chances of catching malaria.

P.S.

We have been in country for over a year now, it's been an interesting experience so far. It is still sad that we have yet to hear yea or nay on new Peace Corps Trainees. Kristy and I will be going to St. Louis and then a camel trek - keep an eye out for fun pictures :)