La saison des pluies

J: The rainy season in Chad is a surprise. From past experience I imagined the rains would be the short, violent storm variety, where first it gets extra hot and the air is quite still, then the dust blows in, and finally the sky cracks and pours for about 30 minutes. We've had that a few times, but rainy season at least this year is more like living in Seattle! It's rained for full days, lightly but continuously, and it rains almost every day.

The means may be different but the ends are the same- flooded streets and collapsing houses. There is quite a bit of construction and displacement going on around town right now- a story fit for its own post. For now it is just interesting to note that the wide-spread disruption is now compounded with flooding of entire neighborhoods and mud-brick houses collapsing. If the photos above give you a sense of the flooding (and the rutted muddy roads), now imagine what its like in the not Beverly Hills sections of NDJ, where there are no canals or paved roads. (Interesting side note: our neighborhood, the Beverly Hills of NDJ, is actually called Klebmat, which is arabic for dead dog. Mais oui!)

I've heard of some people moving their families over to Cameroon, and others who leave their motos on the paved road 3-4 km from their house and walk through puddles and mud to get home every day. Up side- the rain keeps it cool (maybe around 90s?). Most Chadians still prefer the rains to the heat, though as one put it "The heat is exhausting- but the rains? They're terrible!" And then we both cracked up. Chad humor, chad life.