Another Freezin Season

We're headed back to Kenya in less than a week which means that the four feet of snow outside my window isn't as depressing as it might be. Or maybe it is. Western Washington hasn't seen weather like this in maybe, ever. Although the history keepers reside in Seattle where there has been both snow and very cold temperatures for an unreasonable amount of time in our moderate climes, up here by the Canadian border we are furrowing our brows and realizing that what we once knew, we know no more. Even twelve year old Sam, who is visiting from Southern California, can't figure it out. "I thought it was global warming," he says, pulling on the borrowed hip waders for a romp in the snow. I try explaining how "global warming" means shifts of pressure systems, which in this case, has shifted weather south that might have been intended for my friends up on Priincess Royale Island. He doesn't care.
The people who are also caring a little less than they used to are my friends in Ngomano, Kenya. Benson writes that we are lucky because much of Kenya is facing famine because of persistent and recurring drought. Because we have finally been able to create a sustainable water source, Ngomano families are able to grow enough crops to eat and even sell a little. Things are about to get even better. Accompanying us on this trip are Harvey Mudd Engineers for a Sustainable World. These students have been working for two years to help design a method of improving water quality. That's huge for a place whose biggest health problems come from unsanitary drinking water--even more so now that most everyone has mosquito nets.
So as the snow piles up outside, the calender year winds down and that pesky packet number three has been submitted, I have a little time to reflect on what a Goddard education has helped me accomplish. I certainly wouldn't have been thinking about the meaning of weather. People in Ngomano might not be sending emails to a house on the Canadian border thanking us for the help in not going hungry. And four students from Harvey Mudd College wouldn't be packing equipment for what I hope will be a trip that will impact them for a lifetime. Not a bad return on the time investment... maybe even the tuition investment. I'll try to remember that next week when I start pulling my hair out writing packet four.