Rain.  In the States it’s a nuisance: wearing raincoats, using umbrellas, avoiding puddles.  It makes our hair frizzy, our clothes wet, and our moods sullen.  It keeps us inside, gloomily peering from our windows wondering if it will ever end.  It’s something we need for our crops and water sources and land beautification, but I bet if there were another way of doing it, we’d sacrifice the rain.

I imagine people in the Dominican Republic feel similarly about their rain, yet there is something magnificent about it in this country.  It rains frequently, but rather than being a nuisance, it’s amazing.  It drizzles quiet, small drops from the beautiful Dominican sky, luscious green plants, flowers and trees standing ever so wonderful as the rain replenishes their life.  Perhaps it isn’t that the rain is less annoying, but the scenery so beautiful that it is impossible to wish it away.

The students play in the rain as if they are seven year olds, laughing and spinning, soaking it up and using it as a weapon against the more timid students who hide under patio coverings.  The metal roofs of the dormitories absorb the falling drops and rock everyone to sleep like a soft, sweet lullaby, and wake us in the morning with its frequent down pours.  It brings a sort of calming to the work sites, and provides opportunities to sit around tables and build relationships rather than focus on to do lists and tasks.  The truck rides are wet, but adventurous, and the mood is playful, lively, inspiring.

These rainy days are ones to soak up…literally.

To see photos from our trip: CLICK HERE