God bless the rains down in Africa

You didn’t think we would end the blog without a reference to the 80s song by Toto, did you? After waiting, 5+ months for daytime rain, we’ve reached the rainy season. We had no rain in Diani from October until late March when it began to rain overnight. Now that we’ve reached April, it is officially the rainy season and it is raining during the day!

In Kenya, they don’t celebrate spring, summer, winter, and fall and you’ll get funny looks if you refer to those seasons. They have short rains, long rains, and the rest of the time it’s just sunny. It was actually quite amusing learning the unit “weather” with the children at school because there were only four types of weather: sunny, cloudy, windy, or raining. No snow, sleet, hail, fog, or other unsavory weathers. Just sun or rain.

April and May are the long rains in Kenya meaning that it rains for longer than 5 minutes and can occasionally go the whole day punctuated by periods of the usual heat and humidity. During the hot, dry season (Dec-March), Mombasa only averages 2 cm of rain per month but in the rainy season, that climbs to 30 cm.

These pictures were taken 2 weeks apart. The difference is profound:





The effects of rain aren't limited, however, to grass growth. Remember for M's UTI project there was a lot of airborne contamination of the sample plates? That has been almost completely eliminated since it started raining because the contaminants are no longer in the air. We're expecting mold growth at any time from the dampness... So much for consistent experimental conditions.

I have always loved the smell of rain. It’s not really a smell you can describe but it’s always been a favorite of mine. Let me tell you, there is nothing so wonderful as the smell of rain in Africa after 5 months without it. It was so dry and dusty that the air was filmy and filtered before the rains started. The rain is such a blessing here.

Our first rain in Msambweni, we ran outside to play in the rain barefoot. Needless to say, the locals think we're crazy.



"It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you"



"There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do"



"I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in Africa"