Wade in the Water!

Well it's been an interesting week here in the wet state of Nagpur, India.

Many of you in Australia know how much we love the rain and in some ways need it as we're often in a season of drought. Karen and I love sleeping in on a Saturday when it's raining...very romantic!... However, rain in a sub tropical country is somewhat different...

Here we've seen over 100mm of water come down in just a few days. With some added wind, we've seen trees come down, small creeks turn into torrential rivers & we even had a few leaks inside our apartment. Our good friends here even had a flooded balcony which turned into a small waterfall down to the ground floor!

Aside from the difficulty in travelling and the occasional wet hair we're totally okay - however, it's got us thinking about the people just down the road from us who live in a slum...

The waters had ripped through these low lying areas and many have become displaced. Blue tarps, scraps of cardboard and old advertising boards aren't really designed to hold up under torrential rain.

For the people at Ashirvad, it's made traveling to and from the hostel almost impossible. There's about a 500 metre walk from the main road (small lane way my Australian standards) and this has turned into a muddy pit. Most 4-wheelers (cars) just skid all over the place and the 2-wheelers (motorbikes/scooters) don't even try! You may recall the picture of the road on our earlier post, not just imagine this with 5 cm of water... you get the picture!

India is an incredible place of contrast and even as I look out from our apartment, I'm so grateful for what God's given us and the overwhelming blessing of living in Australia.

Next time it's raining and you're romantically listening to the pitter patter of water on your corrugated iron roof, spare a thought for the millions of people who when it rains are sent into chaos!

Post Script: Thankfully the local government here has stepped in and has hosted some of the local people in nearby schools and other facilities...a temporary measure, but something in the least...