What happens when it rains in Kenya

Bright, sunny day. I go outside to wash my face and hands – after a day in this nearly intolerable heat, I feel unbearably sticky. I see, in the very near sky, black masses of clouds. I call to my family that we are going to get rain, at first they are skeptical because it is still so bright, but after all it is the season of short rains.

Within a few minutes, the sky darkens, the droplets begin. This begins a fast-paced and important process in a rural Kenyan household. The laundry on the line must be taken down, the animals corralled. The firewood covered, the buckets placed out for collection: rain here is a useful and needed natural resource.

The family amasses in the house, which includes some frightened chickens (which one will we eat this week?) and goats as well. The rain quickly escalates, and I venture outside to observe the action. I lean on the still warm side of our mud and concrete house. The walking paths fill up, and I know that tomorrow’s transport will be very difficult and that vehicles will not be able to pass.