It seems like every time we get out of the trucks it starts to rain. For us, a fun and sometimes uncomfortable happening. For members of the Insiza Area Development Program (ADP) this is a welcome bit of fortune.
The rains are late in Zimbabwe. They were expected in October but by early January the rains hadn’t arrived.
But that all changed this week as it’s rained every day we’ve been here. In fact, each time that we’ve visited a farm or irrigation project it has rained.
Yesterday, we were at an irrigation project overseen by 24 women and 1 man. (GIRL POWER!) Just how they were about to show us how the system worked we felt the cool breeze of an oncoming shower followed by the sounds of some of the women shouting at their kids to run home.
We all saw the rain come like an oncoming truck moving the leaves in a tree. Whoosh! And just like that a huge wind and sideways rain hit us. With 2 kilometers between ourselves and the Land Cruisers we all began to walk through the mud. I was near the back, walking with Nikki from World Vision. We both quickly realized that the umbrellas we held were mostly just blocking the wind and we were instantly soaked. While we all tip-toed across a small creek on the way up the hill so as to stay dry, we both splashed right through a now bubbling stream as we stumped our way into the heaviest mud.
As we got near the cars we saw the calamity before us. Emily Capes had made a wrong step, falling and sliding backwards into a raging stream that wasn’t even there 45 minutes prior. I knew she was OK because she was laughing. While she stubbled to regain her footing the team both roared with laughter as Jeff stepped forward to rescue her.
Standing there, all of us soaked to the bone, we laughed and praised God for the much needed rains.
Little did we know that this was merely the beginning of our rain induced troubles.
Today, we visited two farmers who benefited from the Heifer Project. (A World Vision program that gifts a calf to a family with the understanding that they will pass along a future calf to another recipient.) Early in the second stop we could see a massive black cloud coming our way. Hilary, the Area Development Program Manager, did his best to wrap up the meeting with the impending storm approaching. When Leah asked Wendy to pray I knew we were in trouble. As soon as Wendy began to pray I zipped up my camera, tightened my rain coat, and popped up my umbrella. (I recognized the amazing sound I mentioned before.)
Whoosh. It hit us and we all scattered. I hunkered down behind a building with Brian fruitlessly. A few minutes later we dodged into the farmers kitchen hut for a few minutes.
Getting to the cars was only half the craziness as we’d crossed a lot of little bridges on the way to these meetings. Sure enough, the first river we came to had swollen over the bridge with a swirling mess of high waves acting like a chainsaw chewing up wood. When we popped out to evaluate the situation you could literally see the water level rising. We quickly backed up our vehicles a safe distance away as the water built and built.
We waited it out. 30 minutes or so later we could seer he pilings of the bridge again. With a break in the storm and no comfort that another one wouldn’t come, the drivers decided to give it a try. It may be fairly routine for the ADP staff, but for us it was massive adventure as we finally crossed the bridge.
Home free? Not so fast.
As we drove across the ADP on our way to our final appointment at a food distribution point we reached another, much larger river. It made the last crossing look like a joke. You couldn’t see any evidence of the bridge and the water was steadily rising. I shot a short video and in that one minute the water level rose about a foot! It was shocking.
On top of that, the rain started again, this one heavier than any we’d seen yet.
There was no way we’d cross that way. We weren’t even sure if there was a bridge under all that water or where it was. We were told that the last time the waters were that high it was 2002.
After waiting for the water to drop for an hour it was decided we’d head back to the hotel, the long way around the ADP.
I think our team is a bit tired of the rain. But we are torn because, as much as we’d like to see blue skies, we are thankful for what all the rain means for the people who live here…. life.
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