After months of waiting, the rainy season has finally begun. I have already written about northern Benin's other two seasons - harmattan, the cool season from December to February, and chaleur, the hot season from March to May - but the rainy season that makes up the rest of the year was very slow to get started. Much to the chagrin of local farmers, plus myself, we experienced a drought for the first few months of rainy season. Now, however, the season has begun in earnest.
Over the last two weeks, we have been getting near daily rains. On some days, it can rain for ten hours at a time, and on other days, we receive downpours that last several hours (given the metal roof on my house, it is impossible to sleep when the rain is coming down). There is no point in going to the well or pump anymore as you can collect all the water you need from home. Some people, like me, have cisterns, but others just put out large bowls to catch the rainwater off the roof.
Since the rest of the year is dry as a bone, the rainy season is the only time of year for farming. Nearly everyone in my village farms, so during this season, the village is deserted. Most families have country homes that they move to in order to be closer to their fields, and they only come into village on market day (once every four days).
When it is actually raining, even the few people who stay in village during the farming season do not leave their homes. If you have scheduled a meeting, it will not be held until after the rain stops, even if that takes six hours.
While the rain on the whole is welcome, the vast quantities can complicate things, especially transportation. We only have dirt roads in village, and they are cratered with potholes, so the rains turn our roads into a series of lakes. Some of these large puddles can be 20 feet wide and 10 feet across.
I, for one, am glad to have the rains. It has vastly simplified the watering of my garden, and I can finally use as much water as I want at home without worrying about shortages, especially since the pump has no water most of the time. This bliss will be short-lived, unfortunately, since the heavy rains should stop in a few weeks and the rain will stop altogether a month or so after that. Then we will once again go through the dry season...
Over the last two weeks, we have been getting near daily rains. On some days, it can rain for ten hours at a time, and on other days, we receive downpours that last several hours (given the metal roof on my house, it is impossible to sleep when the rain is coming down). There is no point in going to the well or pump anymore as you can collect all the water you need from home. Some people, like me, have cisterns, but others just put out large bowls to catch the rainwater off the roof.
Since the rest of the year is dry as a bone, the rainy season is the only time of year for farming. Nearly everyone in my village farms, so during this season, the village is deserted. Most families have country homes that they move to in order to be closer to their fields, and they only come into village on market day (once every four days).
When it is actually raining, even the few people who stay in village during the farming season do not leave their homes. If you have scheduled a meeting, it will not be held until after the rain stops, even if that takes six hours.
While the rain on the whole is welcome, the vast quantities can complicate things, especially transportation. We only have dirt roads in village, and they are cratered with potholes, so the rains turn our roads into a series of lakes. Some of these large puddles can be 20 feet wide and 10 feet across.
I, for one, am glad to have the rains. It has vastly simplified the watering of my garden, and I can finally use as much water as I want at home without worrying about shortages, especially since the pump has no water most of the time. This bliss will be short-lived, unfortunately, since the heavy rains should stop in a few weeks and the rain will stop altogether a month or so after that. Then we will once again go through the dry season...
How do you get back and forth to Kandi during the monsoon or do you just not go? Bikes don't work well in mud. The monsoon sounds like a blessing and a curse. It would be great if you had a way to store all the rain for the dry season.
ReplyDeleteJean Ralley
I biked to Kandi today despite the substantial puddles on the roads. One puddle was so deep that the water went up to my ankle even with my foot on the pedal. You just have to pick a spot to plunge through the puddle and hope there aren't any surprises underneath the cloudy puddle that could throw you off your bike.
ReplyDeleteIf you consider it season by season, there's no great time to bike to Kandi! Rainy season creates terrible road conditions, Harmattan brings enormous headwinds that drastically lengthen the trip, and the hot season is just hot.
How do the farmers get in their fields during the rainy season? Do children still go to school? Do mothers come to the clinic? What do you do when it rains for 6 hours and you can't sleep? Electricity has not come to your village yet, has it?
ReplyDeleteWe still have patients at the health center, but school's out for the summer. Some nights the rain is too loud on the metal roof to get much sleep, but living in Benin eventually forces you to get accustomed to sleeping through noise. We don't have electricity yet, but a volunteer north of me just got it. He has the advantage, however, of having a government minister in town, so that sped things up.
ReplyDeleteYou will obviously have a better story years from now have lived without electricity. On the other hand, it would be interesting to see how the residents in your village respond to electricity.
ReplyDelete