the first blessing is rain

Or was it cattle? In any case, there's a Tanzanian proverb that ranks rain, cattle and guests among life's great blessings.  So in a sense, we have entered a time of great blessing as the long rains have begun. We think of that Vietnam War scene in Forrest Gump when Forrest says, "One day, it was like someone turned on the rain, and it didn't stop for 3 months." That's pretty much how it happened here too. 


There are nights where we're kept awake by the insistent rattling on our tin roof. We know the farmers are happy. The wells will fill. But the heavy rains bring mosquitoes and malaria. Flimsy houses built on the sides of Mwanza's many rocky hills will collapse and crush those sleeping inside. Swollen rivers carry away small children and animals, roads are flooded, ugly piles of garbage clog up already broken drainage systems. 


But we take heart in remembering that Mwanza and Tanzania and this whole wide world we live in are not the way they're supposed to be! And in these days leading up to Easter, we give thanks that the healing has already begun.