Water, water everywhere... and lots to drink!!

The day the rains started I chuckled to myself as I saw so many people running flat out when they saw clouds coming their way. Being from the west coast of Canada, and well used to rain, I thought this was pretty funny. It's a good thing I didn't laugh out loud! I have never seen or heard such pounding rain in my life! And hail!! This was the start of the rainy season... thunder, lighting, clay that sticks to your shoes inches thick... slipping and sliding all over the place, temporal streams coming to life in the middle of paths and fields- crazy! Now I see why so many people love wearing gumboots here... (I started teaching gumboot dancing...)

Here is a photo of Dinah, collecting the water off the roof. Iron sheets as roofing material are sturdy, and allow you to collect a lot of water but they are LOUD! You can't hear a word someone is saying unless they are immediately next to you... even then it's difficult. Dinah and her husband have a farm quite far from ICM so instead of commuting they have rented a place in town. One of many downfalls is that it is just one room- not enough space to keep their three children with them... so, the kids were sent to live with Dinah's mom in town.

The same day this photo was taken, there was a fire in a cookhouse of a woman in the trading centre. Each household has a cookhouse separate from the main sleeping area. In this case, excess 'firewood' (Maize stalks) were kept too close to the fire and started to burn themselves. The cookhouse was made of mud and sticks so the walls were somewhat safe. All the women in the area formed a haphazard bucket brigade, bringing their buckets of water they had JUST collected. Thank God it had just rained... if the fire had started two hours before there wouldn'thave been water available to fight it and it could have spread to all the other houses' straw rooves very easily!

This beautiful water fall was about a half hour walk away. The water is heading to Lake Victoria, and eventually, the Nile. I loved it- an adventure in itself just to reach this viewpoint, but very worth it. Many locals still follow spirit worship, and those that do believe this place is haunted. Apparantly many people have seen a large snake-like creature that is as big around as a fat person. It is different colours, depending on who sees it, and lives in the rocks. It reminded me of an evil version of the Loch Ness monster. Many beliefs here on the mountain are pretty demonic. I'm glad I spend most of my time with the Christian folk, who are not held by the power of witchcraft & superstitions.