I am going to write about the weather. I realize that, when it comes to topics of conversation, weather has the reputation of being uninteresting, the sort of topic to which one resorts when one has nothing else to talk about, phatic (that's my new favorite word! Definition included at the end for your convenience). There is a quote from the Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility that runs something like, "If you cannot think of anything appropriate to say, you will please restrict your comments to the weather." However, I must ask you to give the topic of weather the benefit of the doubt in this case. Lately, the weather has been quite interesting.
For the first week or so after I and my compatriots arrived in Karamoja, the weather behaved in a normal, fairly predictable way for September. During the mornings, it was sunny and warm with highs in the 90s; in the afternoons, it often rained for a breif period; and then the evenings were clear and a little cooler. And then the rain stopped.
Karamoja has two season: wet and dry. Normally, from what I gather, January and February are the peak of the dry season. Between the temperatures, which frequently reaching into the 100s, and the hot, dry winds, it sounds a little like living inside a convection oven to me. Come April and May, temperatures fall to the 80s, humidity rises, and the rains start. Some years, it rains consistently in the afternoon; sometimes it pours all-day-'ery-day for days at a time. The wet season typically lasts into September with October starting to dry out. Or so I have been told.
When, in September, we had multiple days in a row with no rain. One of the missionaries explained that we were experiencing weather more typical of December than September. By the beginning of October, the river/culvert we cross on our way to the Preschool was completely dry. It seemed that dry season had arrived unseasonably early. Fortunately, as most of the harvesting was already complete, the weather did not seem to be an immediate problem. There was some concern about the possibility of this turning into an eight-month dry season. On the positive side, the drought made for good road conditions, which, what with all the coming and going from the mission compound, we were grateful for.
Then, about a week and a half ago, it started to rain again. Not just the pleasant afternoon thunder showers that cool things down and make one scamper to retrieve one's formerly forgotten laundry from the line. Oh no, we actually had rain over night! [Insert gasp of surprise here.] Even more surprising, we had rain before noon last Sunday. Unheard of! Well, maybe not completely unheard of, but certainly uncommon. It is muddier now than it was when we first arrived two months ago, during what was supposed to be the wet season. For the past week, I have tried to gage before leaaving the compound for school if I can get away with wearing sandals or if I would be better off with rainboots.
Having lived in Western PA for 11 years, I am not a stranger to rain. It is interesting to see, though, how rain effects daily life here. Rain turns the road from Mbale (the closest city, about a two-hour drive in good conditions) into mud. Rain makes "footing" from place to place a bit more of an adventure. Rain sometimes prevents people from coming to work entirely. Fore example, Lokeris wisely chose not to try swimming the swollen river just to come to work. Cloudy days affects our solar power, which in turn affects the water pumps. Ironically, the water supply at the clinic is more consistent during the dry season than during the wet because of the solar system that it runs on.
Any yet, I don't hear anyone complain about the weather. I hear speculation and bewilderment because the weather patterns are all discombobulated and discombobulating. (Personally, I still feel like it's August.) I hear concern about traveling plans and prayers that the roads will be ok. But the weather isn't something to complain about. In all fairness, maybe no one complains because we still get our daily dose of vitamin D and sunshine despite the rain. At least for me though, there is a different attitude towards the weather.
In the states, I would almost always check the weather for the next day. During this past summer at camp, I checked the radar usually multiple if not dozens of times in a day. During the winter, I checked the temperature to try to gauge how many layers I should wear. Here, I can't even find a weather forcast for Nakaale. My "weather forcast" consists of deducing from the rain on my roof at 2:00 am that the walk to school will probably be muddy. I think my own attitude toward the weather has become much more laid back and much less concerned with what is not immediately happening. The weather will be what the weather will be, and we'll roll with it. We don't control it; we don't even understand it. But we know the One who does.
* denoting or relating to language used for general purposes of social interaction, rather than to convey information or ask questions. E.g. "Hello," "How are you?" and "Nice morning, isn't it?"
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