Rain - the lifeblood of Africa.

Rain has always been the lifeblood of farming communities. Without rain, the dams remain empty, the crops of Maize, Sorghum and Sunflowers shrivel up, become stunted and die.  If the grass, being the staple diet of all the many animals, both domestic and wild, which roam this beautiful continent of ours grows badly and drys out far too quickly, then we are in trouble.  Everything depends on the amount of rain we receive.

I have a friend in Germany who laughs uproariously whenever I excitedly exclaim "We had wonderful rains last night".  In countries where rain is not an issue, and very much taken for granted, it's almost inconceivable to get excited over a thunder storm, and yet I do, and continue to do so, except for the time it rained without ceasing for three solid weeks.

The water table rose to the point where the ground around my house was like a water logged sponge.  There was nowhere for the water to go any more, and so it just remained on top of the ground nestled between the lengthening grass. 

I received a call from a client of mine who had bought a house from me a few years previously, to say that her furniture was floating around in her sunken lounge!  On inspection, I saw a lot of bubbles emanating from the middle of the room.  An underground Spring, which had remained dormant for a long period of time, had been thoroughly awakened by this extended period of inclement weather.  A crack in the floor had allowed it to spring into action and bubble up into the house.

Mozambique, a country adjoining the vast Kruger National Park was almost entirely under water.  The huge rains from the middle of the continent, found their way down to Moz via the Limpopo river, with devastating results.

The urge to live is very strong in most of us, and this was brought home to me as I watched images on television. People struggling through waist high water, in order to board one of the far too few Helicopters.  Scenes of people huddled on top of the roofs of their flimsy houses, together with their children and a few rescued livestock.  People hanging on to trees while the water relentlessly swept by with the odd pot-bellied sheep, legs stiffly pointing skyward and lips pulled back in a deathly grin of white teeth.

The most miraculous story to come out of Mozambique, was the one where a pregnant woman went into labour and gave birth to her baby while clinging to the branches of a tree. Fortunately, her husband was there to help her.  Any woman who has given birth to a child, would marvel at the enormity of this feat.  There she was for the whole world to see, semi naked, and tightly clutching her baby, while the hovering helicopter winched her to safety.  Amazing! 

We often look at the human factor when disaster strikes, but not much is devoted to animals.  Pets might be considered worthy enough of being rescued, but cattle and sheep and horses etc., tend to take a back seat.  One picture on the TV will tug at my heartstrings for the rest of my life.  It was a video of an Ox who had somehow managed to anchor himself against one of the pillars supporting a bridge.  He was completely submerged except for his nostrils, which desperately moved in and out, in and out, in....and out.  My heart bled for that animal, so intent on staying alive, but... in all honesty, for how long?  Anyone's guess.