Rainy Season

Since returning to Zobue, Dan and I have been amazed to see how green everything has become.  Zobue is bursting into life.  Corn grows in wavy rows along the contours of the hillsides, tadpoles swim in puddles on the path, and kids run naked through the town, playing in the streams of water that flow at every rainfall.  Grass is growing in the cracks between bricks, moss is spreading on the walls, and vines are threatening to overtake our brand-new bamboo fence.   The mountains and fields and pathways are green.

After struggling through months of hot and arid winter weather, we are fully ready to appreciate the life-giving, landscape-changing force that is rain.  It rains every day, now, and in totally different forms.  Sometimes it drizzles, sometimes it pours, and sometimes it hisses across the roof like waves of steam.  After just the first few drops, Dan, Romao, and I can be found standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the porch, holding cups to catch the drips that run off the corrugated tin.  It is, in Dan’s words, "Free water from the sky!"

Rain is a beautiful thing.  

Fresh flowers on a background of green

Green fields in Zobue

Tiny flower hidden amongst blades of grass

A green chameleon

Dan looks over cornfields at the edge of town

Sunset in Zobue

Thunderheads over Malawi

A misty morning (Mount Zobue)

Walking home from the market.  Note the height of the corn!

Walking home from the market.  Note the sandbags and the state of the path.

Our house and (slightly flooded) front yard

During a rainstorm, paths become rivers.  This trickle is the result of a very light drizzle.

Every spare inch of land is bursting into life.  Left: Our neighbors grow corn in their front yard.
Right:  A vine scrambles  up our new bamboo fence.  

Alzira (left) picks up Gilda from school.  Both girls run home under a threatening sky.

Our house in the rainy season.  Water-related items that can be found in this picture (from right to left):  Foot washing basin, hand-washing station, Bwino's water bowl, electric tea-kettle, bathing cups, dishwashing sponges, water storage buckets, basins of rainwater, umbrella, water bottles.  And don't forget the water on the floor!  During the rainy season, water is everywhere!

Dan and Bwino on a rainy afternoon

...and thirty minutes later

The forecast for Zobue, Mozambique:  January 21 - February 2

While we are relieved and grateful to have rain again in Zobue, there are some areas of the country (mostly in the south) that have been severely affected by intense storms and high levels of rainfall.  Flooding is a serious problem in Maputo, Gaza, and Inhambane provinces.  So far, thirty people have been killed and more than 70,000 have been affected.  Peace Corps Volunteers have been evacuated from Xai-Xai, Chokwe, and surrounding areas.  To stay up-to-date with the latest news in Mozambique, visit this website:

 All Africa:  Mozambique

Can't remember what winter looked like in Mozambique?  Visit Zobue in the dryseason!