It's bleak traveling around in winter in the rain doing home visits. The rice hasn't been planted, the fields are muddy, the lanes are muddy. My assistant even said how ugly every thing looked. I got wet and cold and sick, they just got cold and wet.
We had the best deal yesterday really.It stopped raining every so often and so we had periods when we were moderately dry. Some of the parents were out preparing the fields in the rain. The fields need tending to even though it is a cold and wet day, as they have to plant the root vegetables to feed themselves and their pigs.
Some of the homes we visited had flooding of a meter inside a few weeks back and some of them hadn't bothered to clean the meter of mould off the outside walls, but the inside of all the homes had been scrubbed down immaculately. Some didn't flood but had many leaks, with the rain coming through holes in the roof where the metal sheeting had worn thin and some had chipped or cracked tiles. Buckets and bowls sat around collecting the rain. Some had plastic sheeting collecting the rain as it came through. Some homes were cold and damp and even the kittens had trouble finding somewhere warm. The firewood in many homes was wet and they only had a little kindling to boil water by for tea to try and stay warm.
What's it like living in a flooded home for a couple of days or in a home that leaks every time it rains, and it rains for about 60 days out of 80 in the rainy season?
I had hot running water to come home to and a hot bath, and a tumble drier to dry all my wet clothes that won't dry in the cold, wet air. I had some hot food to eat soon after returning home too. I know I am very fortunate but just felt sad and bleak in the bleak, cold, wet weather after visiting so many who are suffering even more than usual.
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