The dry season, which started in June, is harsh. My feat are beyond filthy. My clothes absorb more dust than 3 buckets of water can soak out of them. My skin and mouth are dry. My feeble gardening attempts have failed. Worst, a depressing haze sits over town: the dust blocks the blue sky and views of Nyiragongo.
For Rwandans, this is a time to dry out corn, rather than grow new crops. Cooperatives we work with complain that it’s hard to feed their cows and goats. Although Gisenyi’s water supply is dependable, my colleagues in other parts of the country face regular water outages.
It hasn’t more than drizzled for weeks. But finally, today, it rained. The dust has temporarily settled, the skies are temporarily visible, the air is temporarily clear.
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