Busting a Myth

It’s rained almost daily during my first two weeks of life in Uganda, and every time, I’ve been surprised. Rain? I say to myself. Really? It’s raining in Africa?

So while caught in a brief rain shower while walking home today, again stunned to find rain in Africa, I began questioning my surprise. WHY am I astonished when water falls from the sky here? It’s a completely natural occurrence in my homeland; I’ve seen rain in all forms, from day-long drizzle to hurricane style. Why does its appearance here startle me?

Africa = sunny, flat, and wild? False!

As I hustled through the rain, pondering my surprise, a picture crossed my mind. It was the end of a National Geographic documentary about Africa; actually, it was the end of pretty much any documentary about Africa. I could almost hear the narrator, his deep voice majestically concluding the documentary as rain began to fall across the plains in torrents: “And the rains finally began—the animals would thirst no more.”

Wildlife, anyone?

 I nearly stopped dead in my tracks (the mud prevented a full stop, unfortunately). National Geographic. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC! They are to blame for my surprise at rain in Africa! All those documentaries about the dry season, about animals searching for water, about lions and hyenas fighting for a boar-hole—yet never once a documentary about the wet season! Hence, my bewilderment at finding rain in Uganda. National Geographic convinced me that Africa was continually despairing of water…despite the fact that the rain came (in bucketloads, at that!) at the end of every documentary.*

I felt like a real live Myth Buster this afternoon. 

Myth: It never rains in Africa.

Truth: It does rain in Uganda. A lot. And since Uganda is in Africa, ergo…

Truth: It rains in Africa.  

This picture is even from NG! So they don't intentionally conceal the truth...

*note bene: I understand that Africa is much larger than just Uganda and that there are some places in Africa where water truly is in great demand. And I’m sure that in the Ugandan dry season, National Geographic will be proved right.