Floods - Blessing or Curse!
The rains have been pounding the earth, and doing so with such dexterity that one would think its a revenge mission - to try and repay for the dry spell that we have experienced in the near past.
The weather guys have gone ahead and given us a gloomy forecast - that the rains will pour till January next year. Simply, this means that we won't enjoy the holiday season in as much pomp and glamour as we would have wanted to. The dreams of roasting nyama in the open air, enjoying that much deserved swim, partying and making merry all seems just like that - a dream.
Also cast in a dark spell is the expectation of ushering in the new year. If your plans are to stay awake, especially in the open, the whole of New Year’s Eve, in order to usher in the elections year with glamour, then you need brace yourself for an unexpected shower in the rain, spoiling all the fun!
Zooming back to today, whereas we all love the rain and hate that it decides to fall on the wrong day - does it have to rain on monday, or the wrong hour - does it have to rain at 4.59 when we all want to go home, does it have to rain at the wrong place - it should rain in shags where they have crops not here in nai where we aint farmers! All these questions point us to our not so friendliness to the rain.
The other thing that really makes us mad-raven, is the fact that come rain in nai, and two things are synonymous. Traffic jam and jammed drainage. No one has ever understood the relationship between the rain and the jam. We all very well know that once it rains, especially in the afternoon just before we leave the offices for home, the traffic will be chockablock.
The other common occurrence is the drainage problem. Just a small downpour and the roads are filled with brown water. Alas if your car and water aint buddies and it will break down in the middle of the pool. At that time, its still raining and you are in the middle of nowhere and not mechanic at sight. Then you wish you had bought that insurance that comes with rescue. But its tooo late. U are already stuck!
That is the common scenario in nai. Going to shags is a different storo. They dont complain about jam or bad drainage, for here, the issue is not the downpour. The issue is floods. They come, and do so with might and gusto. The riverbanks are broken and the waters flow, the waters come in splendour and due to the low levels of the areas, the waters decide its time to create an artificial swamp, and convert it into a dam. And all this is, not in the open ground, but on someone's hut, someone's house and since the waters dont spare, they come and carry the household goodies and this is done, not in broad daylight, but at night. No chance to salvage anything, but just self.
Since flooding is a normal recurrence in this country, we would expect that action would have been taken in anticipation of coming floods. But alas, again, this is Kenya. We only remember to take action, or to plan for the future once disaster has struck. So, in the meantime as the floods continue to wreak havoc, the media stations will have news to report, the authorities will have things to say, and plans to put in place and pleas to ask for aid.
And the cycle continues!
The weather guys have gone ahead and given us a gloomy forecast - that the rains will pour till January next year. Simply, this means that we won't enjoy the holiday season in as much pomp and glamour as we would have wanted to. The dreams of roasting nyama in the open air, enjoying that much deserved swim, partying and making merry all seems just like that - a dream.
Also cast in a dark spell is the expectation of ushering in the new year. If your plans are to stay awake, especially in the open, the whole of New Year’s Eve, in order to usher in the elections year with glamour, then you need brace yourself for an unexpected shower in the rain, spoiling all the fun!
Zooming back to today, whereas we all love the rain and hate that it decides to fall on the wrong day - does it have to rain on monday, or the wrong hour - does it have to rain at 4.59 when we all want to go home, does it have to rain at the wrong place - it should rain in shags where they have crops not here in nai where we aint farmers! All these questions point us to our not so friendliness to the rain.
The other thing that really makes us mad-raven, is the fact that come rain in nai, and two things are synonymous. Traffic jam and jammed drainage. No one has ever understood the relationship between the rain and the jam. We all very well know that once it rains, especially in the afternoon just before we leave the offices for home, the traffic will be chockablock.
The other common occurrence is the drainage problem. Just a small downpour and the roads are filled with brown water. Alas if your car and water aint buddies and it will break down in the middle of the pool. At that time, its still raining and you are in the middle of nowhere and not mechanic at sight. Then you wish you had bought that insurance that comes with rescue. But its tooo late. U are already stuck!
That is the common scenario in nai. Going to shags is a different storo. They dont complain about jam or bad drainage, for here, the issue is not the downpour. The issue is floods. They come, and do so with might and gusto. The riverbanks are broken and the waters flow, the waters come in splendour and due to the low levels of the areas, the waters decide its time to create an artificial swamp, and convert it into a dam. And all this is, not in the open ground, but on someone's hut, someone's house and since the waters dont spare, they come and carry the household goodies and this is done, not in broad daylight, but at night. No chance to salvage anything, but just self.
Since flooding is a normal recurrence in this country, we would expect that action would have been taken in anticipation of coming floods. But alas, again, this is Kenya. We only remember to take action, or to plan for the future once disaster has struck. So, in the meantime as the floods continue to wreak havoc, the media stations will have news to report, the authorities will have things to say, and plans to put in place and pleas to ask for aid.
And the cycle continues!
posted by Rich Mind at 7:21 AM
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