The umbrella dilemma

One thing I can safely say is that rain was not on my list of things to expect in Kenya. I vaguely remembered Sara mentioning briefly in an email back in August that Kenya was coming to the end of their rainy season. And so I naively assumed there would be little or no rain whilst I was there. What I didn’t realize: there is more than one rainy season in Kenya!

For the last several days it has rained, truly rained. Did I bring the umbrella and/or poncho suggested by GVI, of course not! Where are the umbrella men who mysteriously appear on the streets of New York, the instant a drop of rain falls? Walking to school through the village of Bombolulu becomes a journey that needs to be carefully navigated – one small slip of concentration and into a puddle of water or mud you step, much to the amusement of fellow volunteers and locals.

Rain, of course, is desperately needed here in Kenya, it helps the crops to grow and provides livestock with grazing. Unfortunately, when it is torrential, as it has been, the result is the flooding of the homes in the slums. This is when you realize how much we take our homes for granted. When it rains we just shut the front door and we are dry. In the slums, they have to find a way to dry out their homes and hope it doesn’t rain again. The unfortunate irony of Kenya.

But there is an upside to this rain, umbrellas! I could do a whole photo essay on them: the sizes and colours. You see children swamped by their umbrella you wonder how they can see where they are walking. When I finally arrived into my classroom, after wading through knee high water – the school playground had flooded - I was greeted by a classroom that contained an array of colourful umbrellas and a sea of smiling faces. “Good morning Madame Louise, How are you?” Despite the rain and the flood at Olives School playground, they had all made it to school. And from that moment I knew I didn’t want to be anywhere else but in my wet school surrounded by my class.

And the weather today? Hot and sunny!

- Louise Ellard

The umbrella dilemma