Esengo: Rainy Sudan

It is raining. It is that soft, quiet kind of rain that rustles on the leaves of trees and glistens on the grass when the sun gets its moment of glory in a day shrouded by a prevailing layer of grey clouds. The rains have come. They came first with thundering storms announcing their arrival, and have now set in for days at a time with the soft pitter-patter that comes and goes, lulling the world to a slower pace of life.
It is a slower pace of life for everything but the grass and shrubs which seem to know that if not now, they will never grow. Already the grasses are four feet tall and in a few weeks time they will be seven feet, and then ten. The trees are bursting with leaves and spreading in every direction; this is their chance at life before the months of rain come to an end and everywhere green has covered this earth that only a few months ago lay barren, blown with dust and ash.
The evenings are cooler, by Sudanese standards, and I find myself putting on several layers of clothing. It is only 75 degrees and I laugh because I know my friends have their air-conditionings set to 70, but still, when the temperatures have been above 95 degrees for the last 8 months 75 feels like a winter of sorts. I have started wearing gumboots because my flip-flops just aren’t up to the task at hand, but thankfully this year several of the roads in town have been repaired and I am no longer pulling vehicles out of the mud on a daily basis.
This past week has seen many changes come to our compound. My friend Fletcher has finished up his contract and is headed back to the US. He has been replaced by another friend, Angelo, who spent the last year working at another location further south of here. While I am sad to see Fletcher leave, I am confident that Angelo will be able to pick up where Fletcher left off and the work will go on as usual. With Fletcher gone, I have moved tukols (mud huts) once again, replacing Fletcher in his larger, more spacious tukol. I anticipate being able to stay in this tukol for the rest of my time here which will be nice.
We have also just received a Kenyan engineer to start the work on our hospital ward that was burned in a fire in February. This is not the most ideal time of year to be building in Sudan but we are going to go ahead with it nonetheless and I will be quite busy ensuring that the proper supplies are gathered for the work to continue.

My New Tukol - Inside