ONGWEDIVA – Villagers in the Ongwediva constituency and other parts of the Oshana Region could not contain their joy when they received unexpected heavy rains yesterday morning.
Some villagers in fact decided to take the day off from ploughing in accordance with the belief in the Oshiwambo tradition that if you plough on the first day that it rains heavily it will not rain again. According to tatekulu Simon Amutenya of Okaandje village, it started raining around 02h00 and the rain continued until about 04h00 yesterday morning. Amuntenya who could not contain his joy said the village has not received much rain since the beginning of the rainy season. “When I woke up this morning and I looked around, all I saw was water everywhere. I looked at the oshana and it was all covered by water. I couldn’t help it, but shed tears of joy,” said Hamutenya.
Linea Lazarus from Ondjajaxwi, another village in the constituency, was just as excited and almost besides herself with joy and said it was the first time the village received as much rain in the past two rainy seasons. She said she was still awake when it started raining a few minutes before 02h00. “It was very windy and there were heavy thunderstorms. I understand a house on the other side of the village was hit by lightning, but it was just a tree that collapsed and hit the wall fence of the homestead,” said Lazarus.
By Helvy Shaanika