The Midnight Rain

"Julie, you need to come to the kitchen."

I fumbled for my glasses, and untangled myself from the mosquito net. It was 2:30am. This couldn't be good. I followed Logan silently to the kitchen listening to the sound of rain outside.

"Please God, not bug infestation or snakes, that's all I ask." My imagination went a thousand directions in the few steps it took to get to our small kitchen. As we rounded the corner, I found out that it was not raining outside, but inside. Water was falling from the ceiling over our refrigerator and cabinets!

But who do you call at 2:30am in Kenya? This would be a dilemma even in the States! Logan started calling every maintenance and security number at the hospital. He talked to several men who promised to send someone. We both agreed, however, that we should keep calling until we actually see someone at our door. Meanwhile, I gathered every towel we own (about 5) and started mopping up the water that was now about an inch thick on the floor. I put two bowls under the main dripping spots.

A knock at the door. Thank goodness! The two men determined there is nothing they could do in our place, so we called our upstairs neighbor, the attorney for the hospital. He checked his place, but no water. We then called our other neighbor upstairs.

She awoke to a sea flowing through her place and her things floating around like little boats. Her water pipe had busted.


By this time, I felt like the guy trying to keep 10 plates spinning because I was dumping out full bowls and adding more bowls until we finally decided to pull the fridge away from the wall and just line the wall with bowls. At about 5:00am, we decided there was not much else to do, but go to bed.

Much of the next day was spent cleaning out our wet cabinets, mopping, and helping Patty upstairs by doing her laundry for her. The problem was fixed, and we actually did not have too much damage.

I am so thankful that Logan was on call that night, and that he got thirsty when he returned from a c-section! Otherwise, we would have just kept sleeping to the sound of the "rain", and who knows what the damage would have been in the morning!