Oh my hail

12 July 2012

In Ethiopia, one of the oldest Christian nations in the world, it should not surprise me that seemingly biblical events occur almost regularly. Many people are familiar with the terrible famines that have given the country international infamy. Furthermore many foreigners have told me that they feel as though they are in a time-warp in Ethiopia, as things are done here as you would expect to have happened thousands of years ago. Many people live in round mud homes with thatch roofs, walk barefoot, flow by two oxen, eat without using utensils, etc… Simply put, for better or worse, life in Ethiopia is unbelievable. I have long before accepted this statement as a fact but still I catch myself repeatedly exclaiming “I can’t believe it!” So why was I caught by suprise, yet again, yesterday when we received a hail storm of epic proportions. The storm lasted for only 20 minutes but it left the town covered in white except for the areas when the flash floods tore through the town. I shrugged it off, mourning my young and probably deceased garden and stayed inside for the remainder of the evening.

My garden is a goner!

The next day, I woke up early to go to the primary school. Once inside the school’s compound I post-holed through the hail drifts, sometimes breaking through and the drifts I discovered they were as high as my knees! The rivers are thick and brown with mud and the banks are completely washed out. In one area of my town 11 cows were killed from the weather event. I saw snowball fights and kids making their first snow cones (albeit a little bit muddy). More than two days later there are still many patches of hail around town, some drifts still around 1 foot tall. Some of the hail balls were as large as cherries! Finally, people have something to talk about that is new and exciting again.