I was teaching form three this afternoon when the wind
started blowing. Now usually, a bit of
wind wouldn’t disturb us; it’s often a bit windy here at our campus on the
hillside. But the wind was rattling the
windows and bending the trees, enough that the students started to glance over
their shoulders at the windows behind them a bit nervously. A strong gust blew right in the open windows,
and the students scrambled to gather papers that were blown off their desks and
shut the windows.
Within a few minutes, the wind blew in heavy clouds,
darkening the day considerably. But
these clouds were an odd color, with a sickly yellowish tinge, and low. They cast an odd enough light that my class
was rather derailed for a few minutes as everyone commented on the odd clouds
and fidgeted nervously. Finally, after
nothing further happened for a few minutes, I told them that if we died, they
would die having learned a bit more grammar, so sit down and be quiet.
The odd clouds grew an even deeper yellow-brown color as the
wind continued to gust, but by the time class was out twenty or so minutes
later, the worst seemed to have passed and the clouds were lightening to closer
to their normal gray. I caught a picture
of the last of the dirty clouds as I walked back to the library.
We later heard that it had been a huge sandstorm, and we had
only caught the very edge of it. Friends
in Kisongo (thirty-minute drive away) and out near Kilimanjaro sent pictures;
at the Arusha airport, the clouds were so thick and full of dirt that you could
hardly see the planes! I’ve never seen
anything quite like it and judging by my students’ reactions, it’s not too common
a thing here in Monduli, either.
Here are a few photos from other people:
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| The clouds coming up from the valley towards the school campus; I couldn't see this angle from the classroom, but another teacher took this photo. |
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| The storm passes over the Arusha airport. |
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| This photo was all over the news--someone took a photo from a plane of the storm passing Mt. Kilimanjaro. |
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