Rain=Blessings

In Uganda, rain is considered a sign of blessings. I remember when I was in Uganda in 2006 and my roommate and I just arrived to our rural homestay in the Sorti District and it started to rain. My host mother said that the district had been experiencing a drought for the past few weeks. When living in rural areas droughts are a serious thing, especially in Africa. According to my host mother, my roommate and I were brought along a blessing of rain to the district.

When I arrived on the 25^th of July it started to rain while we were making our final drive into Mukono. Mark, the director of the program I work for, said we (I arrived with the new program coordinator and her husband) brought a blessing to Uganda. I like the thought of being a blessing to a group of people I don’t even know. The rainmaking is a skill I haven’t learned yet, but I think of it as a blessing to me also. The light rain that started when we stopped for breakfast on the way to Mukono reminded me of Seattle and how much I love the rain. Maybe it was a sign of blessings from God that I am at the right place at the right time.

Yet today (currently writing this on July 29, 2012) I am quite afraid of the rain at the moment. At times in Uganda there are those light patches of rain. Today is not the case. It is raining so hard that you feel like Uganda alone is trying to replenish the earth’s water supply. It reminds me of the storms in Georgia. The lightning lights up the sky at the same moment when the thunder roars. By the sound of the thunder and the lightning at the same time you think that something must have been struck by it, but all is well. At least I hope so.

I love laying on my bed and listening to the sound of storms, that did not happen this afternoon. My bed is metal and very close to the window. I have a big fear of lightning coming through windows, even though I do not know if that is possible. I am away from my bed at the moment. All is well though. I can still hear the rain pounding outside. The storm is heading east and I can breathe a little lighter that lightning isn’t going to strike me through my window. So I’ll return to my bed to listen to just to the rain now and eventually pick up my book to read while thinking about how content I am just reading and listening to the rain. I am blessed.