The cyclone season is upon us! Up first (and hopefully last) was Cyclone Jal. On Sunday, November 7th we woke to dark skies and slow rain. Within hours the whole storm would be upon us so this meant it was time to get ready! Volunteers who had heard our request for help the night before, woke early on their day off and gave an amazing amount of effort.

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Before the heavy rains came and before potential winds of 140kmp arose we had a lot to do! Trenches needed to dug, seasoned bunds needed to tended and anything that could fly away in the storm needed to be relocated. This took a lot of effort and before you knew it, the rain was getting heavier and heavier!!

After the rain had been falling for a couple of hours, the next step was to go around and make sure we didn’t have any flooding or pooling water in the wrong places. Since the rains come mostly during one time of the year, it is hard for us to know in advance, exactly what will happen with such a big storm. As to be expected, some areas of Sadhana Forest needed help! Our already cold and wet volunteers got back to work after a quick breakfast of hot raggi porridge and fruit and helped save the day!! Several areas needed water control and for this we made homemade sand bags from t-shirts left in our store room. Songs were sang, cold sweat poured down and in no time we had done everything we could. Good work everyone!!!

For most people, the rest of the afternoon was spent in a big pile of pillows, blankets and humans!! Volunteers took all the pillows of the main hut and kept warm together in the middle. They told stories, read books, took naps and became better friends.

In the end we only caught the edge of the storm. We didn’t get the huge winds or never-ending rain we were expecting (some parts of India suffered serious losses and damage). We were very fortunate and again saw the beauty and power of both nature and our volunteers; strangers from all over the world, coming together, unshakable even in potential crisis. Amazing!