HEAT

When I mentioned the heat in Juba on this blog in January, I thought I felt hot.
I had no idea what was round the corner.
In the past week or so, Juba has heated up so much that it makes January seem like a cool month in comparison!

As I write this, I am basking in the cool breeze from our air-conditioner, but in 15 minutes the MAF generator will be switched off. As the night progresses, the natural heat of Juba will take over the cool air created by the wonderful air conditioner machine.
 At the moment, our room is a comfortable 25'C (which Esther declares is "freezing!" Little does she understand about the true meaning of "freezing"!!). Then the temperature will climb and the room will reach at least 31'C by midnight, staying this temperature until the generator is switched on at 8am and we can turn the air conditioners back on.

Here are some factors which mark this hot season:

- everyone is talking about how hot it is! Even Grace, who was born and raised in Juba, is complaining about the heat as she tells me how she and family cannot bear to stay inside the house at night where the air gets trapped in the small house and heats up, so they sleep outside on mats. It is not much cooler outdoors, but at least it helps a little.

- you can stand still and still be sweating! Sweat pours off me as I stand at the sink to wash up. Sweat soaks into our pillows as we sleep; we wake up feeling like we are in a puddle. Some people soak their sheets in water before they go to bed. Others soak their mossie nets and then hang them up before they sleep. We turn our fans on full blast. They are noisy, but at least it makes a breeze (I can't hear them over the generator noise anyway!)

- the water from the cold tap feels warm,as the pipes have been heated by the sun. The water from the hot tap is sizzling!

- a cold shower feels like a welcome treat. A hot shower feels like it would be torture!

-the water in the toilet is warm and the toilet seat is warm too! ( I heard that the Mad Raving Loony Party in England once campaigned for heated toilet seats for pensioners- they would have been very happy with the toilet seats in Juba!)

- the kitchen bin feels like it is alive, as the contents get warmed up in my 33'C kitchen! Even the tiles around the bin feel warmer than the other tiles in the room! It is imperative that I empty the bin each day, or I fear an invasion of nasty organisms in the rotting bin bag, oozing out through the lid and infiltrating my kitchen!

-we hear ourselves shouting to the children, "Shut the door! Keep the warm air out!" The opposite of what I might call in England!

- Andrew comes home and reports that he has been in places where the temperature was over 40'C and that the temperature gauge at Juba airport showed 40'C on the ground as he landed.

Out of interest, here are our house temperatures in an afternoon :
-bathroom: 35'C
-kitchen- 33'C
-bedroom- 31'C

With all this heat, we are keen for the rainy season to start and bring some relief! When the thunder starts booming and lighting tears apart the Juba sky it will be happily welcomed as it marks the end of this dry, hot season!