It is currently the windy season in Burao. People had talked about the wind coming a month or so ago, but I didn't realize what it was really like. Last week and the week before were quite windy, but not so bad. We just kept the windows closed so that things didn't get too dusty, and the weather was still warm, so the wind didn't bother me too much. The last three days, however, I have began to discover what it can really mean to be windy. The office floor was cleaned on Saturday. On Sunday morning, we left the central door open as we always do. Within a couple of hours, there wasn't a bit of the tile floor that didn't have sand on it. The door has been shut since then, the floor cleaned again, and still the sand has managed to make it's way (not as badly, but still visibly) throughout the entire hallway. In the room where the TV is, there's a cord that we bring in through the window in order to plug into the DSTV box that attaches to the satellite dish. The cable is maybe 8mm in diameter. In spite of this tiny gap that leaves the window open, the TV screen, seats, floor, carpet, and everything else in the room gets covered in a layer of sand each day. When walking between the office and the house, the sandblasting cleans me enough that I don't think I need to shower the rest of windy season. Our health manager said today that when she tilts her head to the side after walking between the house and office, sand pours out like an hourglass. I don't know how much longer the wind will be this serious, but the windy season lasts several more weeks. I hope that it goes back to just a constant heavy wind instead of these crazy constant sandstorm winds.
I write about the wind as I have above, but I live in a cement block house. A little sand on dishes, furniture, and the floor is a little annoying, but not bad at all. Most people around here, however, live in makeshift shelters that are made of sticks and covered in fabric, old tin cans cut up and flattened, and cardboard. What is a minor annoyance to me that I'm experiencing for the first time is something that the people who live around me have put up with on a much more severe level for weeks every year their entire lives. I doubt their clothes will be sand free for quite some time. The food they have, where they sleep, everything for them is nowhere near as protected as me and my things are.
In spite of some minor inconveniences, I am very thankful to God for what he has allowed and continues to allow me to experience. We each have perspectives that no one else has on life, and God uses those to shape us and mold us into what he wants us to be and do. Don't feel sorry for me, don't feel sorry for my neighbors whose lives are more greatly affected by the sand that covers everything. They know how to cope and have bigger problems than some sand. We all do. I do, you do, and your neighbors do. It's up to each of us to try to overcome the obstacles and challenges and get involved in the things God leads us to that can impact and assist our own and other's lives.
One of the displaced pcamps we work in, quite crowded. What even a lot of normal homes look like for local residents
Home sweet home (roof terrace, balcony, nice place!!)
Favorite lunch activity - relax on the roof in the hammock (before the wind anyway)
Walls constructed of used milk powder tins, oats, tomato paste, and whatever else they can find
I think I'm gonna try this with my beard sometime soon. What d'ya think?
Another view of typical camp structures
A random shot of some people in town
1 comment:
just found your blog. love these photos. hope you're well.
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