Rain

A couple days ago it started to drizzle a little bit and it was not until yesterday afternoon when it started to rain while I was working at the center and then this morning when it was raining on our way into work that I really started to think about the rain in Kenya.  I have thought about it before but this morning when driving the about half hour from our home to Pangani, I began to really contrast my thoughts of rain in Kenya to how I think of rain when I am back in California.  

When I am home and it starts to rain I just love it! I love the rain.  I love the way it looks, the smell the feel, everything about it.  It is probably because it doesn't rain often in California but when it does no matter how long or how hard I always love it.  I never carry an umbrella, I just walk in it and let myself get wet, that's how much I like it.  I might be crazy but that is just how I am and have been about rain for years.  But I think when I go back I will not quite look at rain that same.  I won't hate it but I think rain will cause me to stop and think differently than it ever did before.  

When it starts to rain in Kenya I can't help but think about it differently.  Instead of walking around in it and just loving it I stop and think about how it is affecting the people of Nairobi.  I think of how I have been told matatu prices can go up in the rain.  I think of what I was told 5 years ago about rain in the slums brining an increase in crime because of the noise it creates.  And even being one that loves to get wet by the rain I always did like to go home and change, but today when driving into work I just saw all the people walking along the road and thought about how wet they would get walking all the way in the rain and how they had to stay that way most of the day.  I thought how many of their homes would be wet from the rain.  I thought how they would not be able to wash their clothes because when line drying them outside they would get wet.  I thought about how many children and adults for that matter do not have shoes so they would be walking around in mud created by the rain.  The rain in Kenya just affects the people so much differently then it does at home.  

As October approaches and brings with it the rainy season, extra prayers will be going out for all the people of Mathare at this time when, something that I enjoyed so much at home I now stop and look at from a new perspective.