It was a hot summer afternoon.
Lilato fanned herself.
“If only it could rain,” her brother,
Mayamiko, said.
It was too hot to let the children play
outside.
Ndo-ndo!
Lilato heard it first.
It sounded like a stone
bouncing on the roof of
the house. Lilato looked at
Mayamiko but he didn’t
look at her.
She tiptoed to the window and looked
up at the sky.
The sky was grey, almost black in
colour.
Lilato started to sing the song her best
friend, Mwansa, had taught her.
Wemfula isa isa
Twangale na mainsa
Wemfula isa isa
Twangale na mainsa
O rain come,
So we can play in the rain.
O rain come,
So we can play in the rain.
Lilato sang, rubbing her fingers
together.
Ndo-ndo-ndo-
ndo-ndo-ndo!
More raindrops fell from the sky.
“Maya! It’s raining!” Lilato yelled. “It’s
raining!” They ran outside the house.
Mama was already putting buckets
around the house to collect rainwater.
They ran to the road in front of their
house and joined other children.
A chorus of wemfula isa isa twangale
na mainsa, was heard all over the
neighbourhood.
The sky opened and poured more rain,
joining into the music of the day.
O Rain Come
