Rain Again

As I write, it is thunderstorming away. I sat for a bit, enjoying the breeze coming in through the open windows and the lightning flashes peeking in through the curtains. And then I remembered an article I read while waiting in a doctor's office the other day. Rainy season, while bringing delight to me and growth to the many fruit and veggie plants in our yard, brings with it what I can only imagine is fear and discouragement for many. Especially those who live in John Laing compound- one of the poorest in the city; one that does not have any sort of functioning drainage system. A storm like tonight, for so many, only means the beginning of a season of sickness and death; all beginning as the water stagnates, the refuse overflows, and the germs infect.


UNICEF reports that over 5000 children die there every year from diarrhea. Cholera abounds. Malaria proliferates. Can you imagine what it must feel like to be a mother living with her children in John Laing? Attempting to keep some semblance of normalcy even though you practically need a small boat to get to the market everyday? Trying to protect your children from whatever lives in the 1.5 meter deep pool of water that has now overflown your house? Watching your child waste away into nothing but a memory? I really can't imagine.

Next time it rains, won't you pray with me for them? Lord, give those mothers peace tonight. Protect their little ones. Comfort the ones who are already sick. Be near to the ones who are left to mourn. In all of it- may you receive all the glory, O Father.