Waiting for the rains

This is the hottest month here in Arusha and everything is dry and dusty. Just driving down the road from our house to the main road is like driving through the Kalahari desert with dust billowing up behind - if you have to stop you are immediately engulfed in a thick cloud of the stuff!

The dust is so fine - like talcum powder! Anne has to clean the whole house everyday. Where it comes through is a mystery, we have tried to seal up all the cracks. Still, a think layer of dust covers every flat surface each morning.

The whole town is waiting for the rains. It is the talk every where. When you go shopping people mention it, when you visit farmers, they are anxiously looking towards the sky, hoping for a good rainy season. It seems that everything is slowing down waiting for the precious rain.

There have been a few small showers, but these have just been teases. We say, "The rains have come!" only for the showers to be over in a couple of minutes and the clouds that looked so promising vanish away.

Mount Meru waits for the rains. Each morning I look up on this beautiful mountain and see it covered in promising clouds, but by afternoon they have dispersed and we know we have to wait another day. It is fascinating that while this is the hottest month here in town, it is when it snows on the very top of the mountain. When the clouds part you might catch a glimpse of white snow in the gullies far up the mountain.

And so we wait...