When it Rains in Tanna...

By: Cindy

It’s been raining here all week. When it rains in Tanna it really isn’t such a bad thing. Okay, so the girls DO get a little stir crazy after a few days (and so does their mother). And we may have a laundry basket full of clothes waiting to be washed. But, that is okay because the alernative is to handwash in the rain and then deal with wet clothes that won’t dry because of all the moisture in the air. Okay, so we may have to wash dishes in the rain because our washing table is outside, but hey, washing them makes them wet anyway, right?

There’s good things about this week of rain too. One thing being, I don’t have to haul water very far. One of the gutters on our house is broken so it makes a nice stream of water right out the side of our house. I just put my bucket right under the water and pretty soon it is full!

Another good thing is that we are blessed to be located high up on a hill. And because we are high up on a hill, we get a lot of volcanic ash blowing our direction. It falls down on the ground (and on houses and plants and sometimes our hanging clothes). But, with so much ash mixed in with the dirt, it doesn’t really get muddy here. Our house is surrounded by “cleared” ground – just dirt, no grass – for about 4 feet each direction. If we didn’t have the ash, we would have a virual mud pit! Instead, the water just soaks right into the ground and we have very little mud to deal with!

Of course, with all the extra humidity in the air, it tends to just soak right into everything, including our box of matches. Wet matches don’t strike (yes, I know, so profound). BUT, Aaron and I are coffee drinkers. No, you didn’t mis-read that. One DOES have something to do with the other. There is an easy solution to the problem of damp matches. Just place them in your container of coffee and soon you will have dry matches! I won’t charge extra for that little tidbit!

After being stuck inside all day long on Friday and Saturday due to a literal DELUGE of rain, we began to get the itch to get out and get some fresh air and space. There is only so much spreading out four people can do in a two-room house, afterall. So, we beat the trail down to Tess and Harry’s kitchen, where we found them gathered around the fire. Passing the time together on a day like today gives much the same feeling you get when you are cooped up with your family during a blizzard. You are just happy to be warm and dry. And if you are those two things then you can relax and have a little fun. So, we practiced the Bible class songs from the USA that Aaron and I have taught the kids, which sent us all laughing hysterically to tune of “Hippo-Hippo-Hippopotums”, “Hallelujah, Praise Ye the Lord”, and “Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up in Jesus”. Good times! Then, Aaron pulled out a deck of cards and we taught their family how to play Spoons (only with shells instead of spoons) and Go Fish. Before long, the sun was setting and our stomachs were getting hungry so I headed back to the house to cook dinner with Aaron, Kaela and Melia braving the rain about 20 minutes after me. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and bonding with our two Christian friends and their 6 kids. Come next week when we head back for our month-long time in Vila, it will be hard to leave.

So, when it rains in Tanna…you get the good and the bad. I may not love my leaky roof (which is especially bad when it has been pouring night and day), but at least I am blessed to have enough bowls and pots to catch the water! And not to worry, the sun is sure to come again. Let’s just hope it is soon - I only have one laundry basket! Ha!