Monday Sept. 20, 2011

Days like today are really tough to deal with. They’re days when you wake up knowing that you’ve got a bunch of work to get through, but realize that you can’t really get started because it’s been raining for 5 hours, and as a result your entire neighborhood is flooded. They’re the days when you wonder why the government doesn’t know how to design storm drainage systems, so that every time it rains, at least half of the houses in your neighborhood get flooded. They’re the days that start at 3pm instead of 8am because the road had 2 feet of flowing sewage/rain water on it. They’re the days when all you want is to be dry, productive, comfortable, but can’t be.

Myself, and my colleagues Ben, Erin, Romesh, Siera, and Don waiting the rain out at breakfast!

And they’re also the days that humble you. Days that make you look outside, and say “Wow! I’ve never seen so much rain before” or “Wow, Ghanaians are such optimistic and positive people.”

Yesterday, after 5 hours of rain the area of Tamale in which I, and a few other EWB volunteers live in, pretty much turned into a lake. The storm drainage system of our area is really really really poorly designed, and we often have to deal with flooded roads. But never have I seen flooded homes.

After getting caught in the rain for a couple of hours at breakfast, I headed over to Ben & Erin’s house to dry off, drink some coffee, and just unwind from the stress caused by the storm. When we arrived we found out that Ben & Erin’s neighbors house was completely flooded. We dropped our bags and for the next 2 hours helped them try to get all the water out of their house.

You can imagine how you would react in Canada if you’re house was flooded and many of your possessions ruined. It would be pretty devastating, but the way in which Ben & Erin’s neighbors responded to this disaster was truly admirable. They responded with laughter, with humbled disbelieve, “We’ve been staying here for 17 years, and never has water entered the house,” with optimism at seeing the sun finally eclipse the grey rain clouds, “Today will be a nice day,” and with a matter of fact understanding that they could not have controlled what the rain wanted to do that day.

Its days like today that you learn about humility, that you remember that Ghana is a developing country with similarly developing infrastructure, and that laughter is beautiful. We can all learn to be a little more light-hearted.

All the best!

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