Rain

All winter long, Port-au-Prince was like a dry dust bowl.  I know I often wished that it would rain because I was so sick of all the dust.  But, two weeks ago the rains started again and now I feel guilty for ever wishing for it.

Almost every night for the past two weeks, we have gotten very heavy thunderstorms.  Personally, I like thunderstorms and we certainly needed some rain.  However, I have a safe comfortable house to live in.  Yes, water often comes in under my door and floods my floor, but I never worry about being swept away or having all my belongings ruined.

This might sound like the same old sob story, but its a sad reality...thousands of Haitians are still living in tents and each time it rains, they are scared.  One of my neighborhood friends told me, "Katie, my family and I are afraid to go to sleep because when it rains our tent floods."

I read this in an article by the Associated Press: Nadia Lochard of Haiti's Civil Protection Office said Friday that five adults and one boy were killed when a mudslide crashed through their homes in the Morne Calvaire district above the capital.  The rainy season in Haiti traditionally begins in April but this year it has come early.  The capital of Port-au-Prince has been soaked nightly over the past two weeks with showers that have triggered flooding and rockslides.  The rains do little to comfort the 500,000 people who were displaced by the 2010 earthquake.  They are living in hundreds of tent and tarp settlements that flood and leak in the rain. 


This evening, I received an e-mail warning from the U.S. Embassy: The Haiti National Weather Service is predicting heavy rainfall on Friday evening (March 30) and on Saturday (March 31). The whole country is predicted to be affected, including Port-au-Prince. Please be careful, as flash flooding can occur, making conditions very dangerous.


I ask that you please join me in praying for my Haitian friends that have been and will be affected my the rain.  Please always be thankful for your warm, dry homes.