It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
Bless the Rains Down in Africa is an old Toto song, but it is one which many South Africans are singing with glee these days as many parts of the country at last get some respite from the worst drought in 32 years.
The drought was so bad that there were areas where the locals had to resort to drinking sewage water, and the Orange River ran dry for the first time anyone can remember.
Aliwal North in the Eastern Cape, which was left without water for around 2 weeks, received gallons of rain; Carnarvon in the Northern Cape also got buckets of rain, causing flooding of roads and some homes; and drought-struck areas in the province of KwaZulu-Natal also received heavy rain.
Weather patterns have changed considerably over the last few days, going from searing dry heat to thundershowers and flood alerts. Ventersdorp in the North West province recorded a new high rainfall record for January when it received 88mm of rain in 24 hours; the previous record was 47mm recorded on the 19th of Jan 2004.
While the flooding in some areas has caused concern, most South Africans, and most especially the farmers, are ecstatic over the rainfall and photos abound on the internet of farmers on their knees giving thanks for the rain and of others playing in the water on their lands like little children, joyful that their crops may have been saved just in the nick of time or that the rains now allow them to plant next year’s crops.
One good thing that came out of this drought was to see the love for fellow South Africans and the Spirit of Ubuntu (Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’) that saw regular individuals, many of them who themselves do not have much, donating bottles of water to be trucked to those in need and volunteering to pack and transport the water.
Hopefully another thing to come out of it will be the fact that everyone eventually realises how precious water is and how we cannot do without drinking water and will make a concerted effort to save water going forward.
Buy water coolers online and rent water coolers from Living-Water. Get bottled water coolers and mains water coolers in London.
