Before the Rains

The rains usually begin in southern Malawi about mid November, if it is a good rainy season. This is what people hope for, but there is much more to a good rainy season than hope. People must prepare. There is much to be done before the rains come.



Urban gardens, outside Blantyre



Malawians depend on a garden to secure life. If one lives in the city, the garden supplements life; if one is in the village, the garden sustains life. The garden must be prepared before the rains come. City dwellers have gardens around the city, outside the city, or back in their home villages, but they have a garden. Those in the village use the land around their houses, whether that soil is rocky and hilly or flat and siltish. The usual plot is an acre or more for planting maize and other vegetables that add flavor to life, such as soy beans, pumpkins, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots and peas, but mostly maize. But small plots serve the purpose, too. The ground must be cultivated and ridges built up to hold the seeds when the rains come so the crops get the water and the valleys of the ridges trap the water and they prevent the seedlings from being washed away. This is usually done in October.



Rural garden



Warning rains usually come about two weeks before the heavy rains begin. These are heavy showers that last for 2 to 4 hours, softening the ground, making it ready for the seeds. They may come for two or three days. Those rains came last week. Now people are frantic to get the planning done. Mvano meetings have been suspended for two months, for the planting and then the holidays. This allows women time to be in their gardens, especially of those gardens are in the village. All this work – the ridge building, the planting and later the fertilizing – is done by hand, so there is plenty of work to be done in a short time. About two weeks after the planting, the fertilizer should be applied. The hope is that the timing is right, that the rains have come, and then there is a short break to allow for the fertilizer to be applied. If the rains don’t return, the fertilizer can’t be applied without burning the seedlings. No one will do that. But if the rains don’t come, the seeds will dry up and the crop will be lost anyway. People watch the weather carefully. The timing of the rains is everything.



Burned kiln



In addition to the gardens, rural houses must be prepared for the rains. Many of them have thatched roofs and they must be secured against the heavy rains and the winds. The plastic that goes under the grasses must be whole and tight and the grasses thick and secure. Those with metal roofs need to check for nail holes that may let rain in or allow the wind to tear off the metal sheeting. This is primarily the men’s work. If bricks have been made for new construction, the bricks must be secured against the rains. That means the bricks must be burned. Otherwise all that molding will have been for nothing. Once the bricks are burned, they are safe for later use. Most construction is done with hand-made bricks, burned on site. The bricks form the kiln and the kiln is the bricks. If you have seen the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of “The Last Brick Maker in America,” you have seen the procedure that is followed here by everyone who builds a house or outbuilding or a wall. Securing all this is part of preparation for the rains.

Once the rains come, people can rest but before the rains, there is much to be done. It reminds me of “wintering in” in the northern United States – preparing for the snows. Once they come, little can be done but to trust your preparations and to trust the precipitation’s working on the environment.