Monsoon time!

June sees the start of the monsoon period, bringing rain, heat and humidity and unfortunately diarrhoea and mosquitos!!The monsoon sweeps up from the Bay of Bengal across Bangladesh and north-eastern India, and up through Nepal.The monsoon is a blessing and a curse at the same time.   The rains are essential for rice planting. It would be catastrophic if it didn’t come as this would lead to no rice planting therefor starvation follows along with disease and death.

BUT

If the monsoon is severe it brings excessive rains, flooding and landslides and this brings misery to hundreds of thousands.

Figures for last year:

161 deaths

51,300 homes destroyed

413,500 people displaced including 170,000 children

And of course, crops and livestock which was worth millions were destroyed.

So our prayer is that this year the monsoon would be a blessing bringing hope and joy to the people of Nepal.