Herr Kento

Really it all started as a joke when Nick Swanepoel suggested that my name should be "Herr Kento" ("Rain Bringer") as it was when I first arrived that those big storms came rolling through, drowning all our desert hardened skins and sensibilities.

And it's happening again. We've had huge thunder and rain storms the past few days. Friday night was so bad it woke all of us up and immediately sent us running outside to bring Abaya in out of the rain so the poor man didn't drown. And then again on Saturday night we had a bit of a sprinkle and the dirt smelled all lovely and fresh in the morning.

Sunday was when the joke about my name became reality, as at 8 am I looked at Alicia and said, "I would love it to rain during the daytime so we could actually enjoy it." Sitting in church at 9:30 am, listening to an appropriately timed sermon on Revelations, we could hear thunder off by the mountains and see massive thunder clouds rolling towards us. Whoa. It's like that girl from X-Men who can control the weather with her mind.

While we were sitting at Sunday lunch (A.K.A. "Weekly Thanksgiving Feast"), rain started pelting the house. We quickly decided it was therefore going to be a cozy movie day, threw the generator in the back of the truck, drove it up to our house, and came in sopping wet. And did we ever enjoy our day! Sweatpants, baked goods, a movie! I only use my powers for good.

Later in the evening, Ruth, Alicia, and I took a walk to go see the lugga flowing. We found our students Zaki and Elias playing in the water, and continued on a bit of a creek walk with them. It was so nice to have my skirt-hem soggy and muddy, and to still have rain and cool breezes floating around in the air.

As a joke, Alicia told me to ask for some more rain for the next day, so I asked nicely once, and when nothing happened immediately I yelled, "I want my RRAAAIINNNN!!!!" and, no joke, at that instant a huge lightning bolt flashed across the sky.

(This is Tigger, the Swanepoel's dog, loving playing in the lugga on our walk)