Happy Holidays

M'e' Matiiso and Amy

This is Me Matiiso, she is a teacher at my school.  We took this picture because we thought it was funny that almost all of the dolls that they sell here look like this one.  Not only is the doll white with yellow hair, but it is also kind of funny that her name is Amy!  As you can see in the background of the picture there are some Christmas decorations here also.  There is definately not the same level of focus on presents and such here, but Christmas is the time of year that people choose to buy new clothes for their families and clean and repair their houses.  I have heard that all of the children go parading around town in their new clothes on Christmas day, I will be sad to miss it. I am hoping to spend Christmas with Carrie riding horses around Lesotho!   I guess we will see other kids in their new clothes, just not the ones that I know.

    School is quiet this week.  All students have now gone home, Seabata and I made it smoothly to his village and I really did enjoy seeing the southern part of Lesotho.  My supervisor and I still go to work each day and we are busy trying to get estimates from builders for a few more classrooms at out school.  We are also working on getting the money to pay for them.

Seabata having ice cream

 Otherwise I have been having a nice time hanging out with my host family a little more this week.  Yesterday we just sad in the yard together playing with the baby and playing some games with stones for a few hours at sunset.  It was really nice, although I still get frustrated that my host mother and I are really unable to talk to each other because of not knowing each other's language!  Why am I so bad at learning languages?
     Only two more days until Carrie comes to visit.  I am so excited to have a friend here to travel around with.  My blogs may take a break for a bit, but I will try to update after the holidays.  After Carrie leaves I will have my parents and sister here for another 2 weeks.  I am so happy that I have adventurous friends and family.  Can't wait to post some exciting new photos from new parts of Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa.  Happy Holidays!

Long Week

Parents washing blankets, with feet!

Over the last week my host family has killed 5 pigs, my school killed 9 geese and we got a Cow!  Strange week for animals.  Our cow was a donation from someone in Germany via Sentebale.  The cow was promised several years ago, but never actually given to the school.  Then we found out that the German donor would be visiting our school this week, so within a week Sentebale had the cow driven from South Africa and our principal had about 3 days to have a corral built, train a staff member to take care of the cow and prepare our school for the visitor.  The cow is beautiful, a Jersey, and she is about to have a calf (which might be named Lisa :) She will provide milk for our students and hopefully generate future income.
  On Wednesday our school officially closed.  Parents came mostly on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and they helped with washing blankets, cleaning and cooking.  We had a parent meeting on Wednesday and I did a session about goals for their children.  I really enjoyed meeting so many parents, a lot of grandmothers, and talking with them about their children (mostly via translator and charades)

Seabata, not so happy

Our visitors, the German donor and Sentebale CEO from London, came via helicopter on Friday.  The families and staff were so excited, I have to say it was pretty cool to see them land in our school yard.  They stayed for around an hour or two and our kids demonstrated some of their craft skills, gardening, and yoga.  They were very nice and although they kept our kids at school an extra two days, seeing the helicopter and getting the cow were worth it!  They also provide most of the funding for our centre so we kind of have to be accommodating.  After a tiring week I came back to school on Saturday morning to organize some things and charge my computer and I found that 2 students were still here.  Both are double orphans but have teenage brothers that were supposed to come pick them up.  One of the children is severely autistic and he seems just as happy to stay here and keep his routine in place.  But the other student, Seabata, has only physically disabilities and he is very upset that he has not been picked up.  He is very sweet and it is so hard to see him sad.  We tried to have a fun day out in town, but he just really wants to go home to his brothers, around 7 hours away.  We finally got to talk to his brother and he said that he just does not have any money to pay for transport.  The school can give him money, but he has no way to get here to get it.  Most of our school staff has to attend a workshop tomorrow so it makes the most sense for me to take him home.  It should be quite an adventure and I am happy that I will get to meet his brother and see another part of the country, Mohale's Hoek.  I am a little nervous because we can't take his wheelchair in the taxis and I will have to carry him and his stuff twice when changing vehicles.  He is little so it should be OK.  Today, Sunday, when I came to school he greeted me with a huge smile and I know he is eagerly awaiting our trip tomorrow.

Thanksgiving

Just a random Peacock hanging out by the Post Office

Maolosi with Mom, better now.

  Well this is my second year in a row being out of the US for Thanksgiving.  Last year I was in India and now Africa.  Next year I promise to eat 3 years worth of food.  For now I am going to go to work, try to make some thanksgiving like food, skype with my family and remember everything that I am thankful for.
     At home I am thankful for good health care (it's all relative), friends  and family, electricity, indoor plumbing, special education laws, OTs, PTs, Speech therapists, the diversity of the US, Target (yes the store), and functional government (again relative, but it is actually functional).  I am also thankful that privacy is considered normal and that "you look fat" is not thought of as a compliment, I just can't get used to it!  I am thankful for being anonymous on the streets of NY, and for cheese, bagels, coffee shops, bookstores, and NPR.  I am thankful for growing up with the "Dold" work ethic, being able to go out after dark, having opportunities and education, teaching materials, museums, parties, etc.  I am very thankful for people who are so generous, mail, and packages and for volunteers.

Thanks for the art stuff Jess!

    In Lesotho I am thankful for friends, people who work for maybe $5 a day and still treat the children well.  I am thankful for beautiful singing that happens spontaneously, my yard full of kids, cooking from scratch, peace corps support, villages and my greetings full of smiles every morning.  I am also thankful of children who are so respectful and appreciative of school, huge thunder storms, lots of animals, people who always want to help, YOGA, people who are so happy without material possessions, babies on backs, blankets, baby donkeys (so cute) and beautiful mornings.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Notice the little guy eating packet of  drink mix in the back! I remember doing that with Koolaide

 

Independence

Since getting here in august I have been a little bit worried about what happens when I run out of gas.  I like to be independent and without a car, the idea of bringing back my gas container and getting a new one seemed challenging.  Well this week I did run out and my supervisor, who does have a car, is out of town for the week.  I asked several people at work what I should do.  Their answers scared me a little.  For one I wasn't aware that there had been a strike at the gas company and for the last few weeks there was a shortage, this also caused the prices to go up.  Also one women told me to just carry my empty container to the main road and then catch a taxi to town.  My empty container, larger than the one in the picture, was not that light, and I am strong, but not as strong as the women here.  I finally decided on the last option which was to take my empty one in a wheel barrel to the closer shop, not that close, and exchange it.  BUT I had to first leave school early and go to that shop to make sure they had the gas, they did.  I had a friend help me because I was a little worried about navigating the wheel barrel on hills, sand, rocks.  We made it and now I know for next time that I can handle this challenge.  

Maolosi Leading Yoga

New Hospital in Maseru

Lesotho has a brand new hospital, much needed.  This week I volunteered to take one of our students there with another teacher.  The hospital itself is very nice, large and clean, and since it just opened it has a very positive feeling to it.  Unfortunately it was not as easy to navigate.  We weren't sure where to go to and after waiting in a few lines and being sent to 5 different reception type desks we finally took our place in the line to see the doctor.  After waiting around 3 hours the nurse told us that there were currently not enough doctors and gave us another appointment for March.  This was a non-emergency, but it still would have been nice if we knew this ahead of going.  They are still working out the kinks.  I have to say that waiting in the hospital was probably the most pleasant part of our day.  The student we brought, Neo, is 11 years old but small for his age.  When you are 11 you do not get your own seat in public transportation so the 3 plus hour journeys there and back we had Neo squished in on our laps.  This was fine for a while, but eventually your legs turn numb.  Additionally Neo, not used to riding in vehicles was car sick 2 times.  The first time unexpectedly he got my bag and skirt, the second time we were prepared with plastic bags.  Not to mention that it was probably 90 degrees and people here don't like to open windows or use AC, I am surprised more people didn't get sick.  Needless to say it was not pleasant traveling, and Neo was very hungry by the time we got home!

Neo

Well it is supposed to start raining here in November, but we haven't seen too much yet.  Everyone here likes to talk about how all the seasons are changing too much.  The climate change is a big topic here because people depend so much on the weather for their food.  Planting, grazing, and water.  I have had a few days when there is just no water at all coming out by my house, and many people have it even worse.  I have some back up containers, but I am curious what is going to happen when it is worse.  Water is one of the resources in Lesotho and it is heavily exported to South Africa, yet the taps run dry, I don't get it!

The most capable students tending their plots

The middle group socializing and trying to figure
out what to do.

Despite the climate concerns our students are working on their plots and gardens in the hopes that all will work out.  The older and more capable students actually have their own plots that they work on each day.  The younger and more severely disabled students work more as a group to take care of the schools plants.  Or as you can see from the picture, sometimes they just socialize.  Either way they are outside and learning about something that will be vital in their lives.  As usual I continue to try to encourage the teachers to include the most severely disabled into these tasks, even if it is just a minor role, at least it is something.  Most often they just find a spot to watch the action but don't necessarily do anything. I get really frustrated by this sometimes because I feel like they could be doing more, but then I have to remember where I am and be happy that they are even attending school.

The observers (my favorites) Thanks for the Helmet!

Before and After

    This is Retse, he is my 8 year old neighbor.  Every evening I look forward to watching him go out and round up the sheep.  He will hold them all by ropes, so they won't eat the veggies or flowers, and herd them back to their pen.  Most of the time they fully drag him along, but he always has a big smile on his face.  I sometimes go out and try to help him, after all I did grow up with sheep, but usually there is not much for me to do.  The children here are given a lot of responsibility and they grow up quick.  Of course this has both its good and bad points, but for the most part I am usually highly impressed with their maturity and skills.

    This was another busy week at school.  Teachers finished up working on their IEPs for their students and we were happy to have my principal back, she was away last week.  I had the Peace Corps country director come for a visit.  Of course she came on the day that I was giving a presentation and I was even more nervous than usual.  The presentation was on mental retardation (mental disability to be more pc), causes, characteristics, prevalence, etc.  I was surprised at how much the teachers wanted to discuss these topics and about how much I learned.  Apparently there is a strong belief here that if you have a child with a cognitive or mental disability a lot of people believe that it is because of witchcraft.  I also learned that there is a common medicine that the natural healers give to pregnant women that now is believed to cause some disabilites.  Also that pregnant women don't want to be around people with disabilities because they think their fetus can catch it.  We tried to clear all of this up, in an hour, but I can see that there is still a lot of disability awareness work to be done here!  I was happy that the director got to meet the students, many of whom entertained her with impromptu yoga routines which they learned from our regular morning routine.  I think that will be sustainable.

BEFORE

          Finally I wanted to show you my "before" and "after" photos of our storage closet at school.  A few weeks ago I got a peek into the closet for the first time when they were putting away winter blankets.  I couldn't believe it.  There were bags and bags of donated clothes, bedding, school supplies, etc.  I don't think that anyone intended for it to get this bad, but the school is grossly understaffed and it just wasn't really anyone's job to organize or distribute.  I begged my principal at the time to let me clean it out, but she wanted to wait until a time when teachers could help me and we could actually give away the clothes to students who need them.  Well this week she finally agreed to let me dig for some shoes for a boy, and once I started I couldn't stop. After two days of sorting, piling, labeling, etc. two teachers and myself got the job done. It would be even better if there was a Container Store here.  Unfortunately the clothes still have not been given out, I have found that people really like to save things here, probably from fear of tougher times when they will not have anything.  I will continue to work on encouraging them to use the things they have instead of just locking them up, but I also know that their fears are justified.  I also found 3 good wheelchairs under the pile.  One was given to a student who needed it and the other 2 are now easy to grab when needed.                                          

AFTER

   

Good thing I have burglar bars!

Being Patient

Taxi or Kombi, can hold sooo many people

    When I arrived here in August I asked one of the other volunteers "What should I know about Lesotho?"  He said just remember to be patient.  So this week I had my test at being patient.  On Monday I had my week planned out, mostly helping teachers with creating IEPs (Individual Education Programs) for their students and I was going to do a workshop on cognitive disabilities on Wednesday.  Monday went as planned, although instead of helping several teachers I worked with one teacher the entire day on her IEPs.  I think her version of "help" was that I would do each one for her, oh well, we did them together.  Tuesday I was asked if I could go to Maseru (capital 3 hours away) on Wednesday for a meeting.  My principal forgot that she wouldn't be able to attend and needed someone to go. This was fine, except that it meant that I couldn't do my workshop planned for Wednesday, oh well.
     Going to Maseru with public transportation meant that I had to leave town by 6:00 to get there by 9:00.  As I was walking to the taxi rink in the wee hours of the morning, my principal called and asked me if I could go back to the school because she didn't know how to put the new printer cartridge in.  How does a very smart woman who budgets for and manages an entire school not know how to do this?  Not to mention the fact that they have had this printer since before I came, oh well.  After a printer cartridge insert lesson, I was finally on my way.  I squished into the Venture with 9 other people (size of a SUV) and was off.  As I always do I asked the driver to find me a Sprinter (second taxi thing) to transfer to.  Unfortunately I got into the Quantum instead, this looks like a sprinter but makes all the local stops.  Finally I get to Maseru and have to take a "special" taxi to the meeting.  I think it was special because I am foreign and they want to charge me a lot more, oh well.  Finally I get there, over 40 minutes late.  I am never late, I hate being late, but I was late.  Of course this is the day that the heads of the meeting, forum, decide to talk about being professional, on time, etc.
   At the forum I was able to talk to a few people about obtaining services, wheelchairs, etc.  However most of the presentations were done in Sesotho and the translator (who is very helpful) was very busy with other things and I missed a lot, oh well.  I decided to walk to the mall after the meeting and there I got some groceries, REAL CHEESE and wine.  I also had a latte at the coffee shop, first one since NY, yummy.  I decided that I better get going so I could be back to my house before dark.  My taxi to the taxi rink got stuck in traffic, so I got out and walked not knowing it would take over 30 minutes.  Finally reaching the taxi rink I settled on a quantum, too tired to search for the sprinter.  We sat there for at least another 40 minutes waiting to fill up, they won't leave until every possible inch of space is full!  On our way and going fast until TY, town along the way.  Several people get in and out in this town and then the quantum conductor kicks us all out and we have to get into a different quantum, oh well.  In this next one we take forever, but finally reach the midpoint where I sit in another Venture for at least 30 minutes waiting to leave.  This particular Venture is really falling apart, no inspection process here for vehicles.  I think my door might fall off so I spend the whole ride holding onto it and leaning in with my fingers crossed.  FINALLY I was back in BB, after leaving over 12 hours earlier, and I just had another 30 minute walk home.  At least I had a latte!

     Thursday started off with a phone call at 5:30am. MacDonald's mother asking me to go with her to the Social Welfare office with both of her disabled children.  I thought this was a good idea because last time she went they were not so helpful and we decide if we brought the kids they might make something happen.  For those of you in the US, picture going to the DMV.  We sat at the office for over 2 hours just waiting for someone to show up.  Then when they did show up they said that they couldn't help us, it had to be the other person from the last time who couldn't help her before.  This is when I decided to mention that I had met the head of the ministry, their boss, at my meeting in Maseru and she gave me some info about wheelchairs etc. Soon after someone finally came to help us.  They asked me to go with them to the hospital and they would give us a new wheelchair for MacDonald.  At the hospital I was led to a storage room and had move boxes around to reveal brand new wheelchairs!!  Hooray. Unfortunately our ride to the hospital was only one way, so I got a lot of funny comments walking back through town pushing an empty wheelchair.  Back to the office, paperwork filled out, and our 4 hour visit was over.  MacDonald left in his new ride, brand new adult size wheel chair!!!  THANK YOU was all we said, but I wanted to say "How come we were originally told that there were no wheel chairs? How come we had to bring 2 disabled children to the office when you are supposed to go to their house? How come you wouldn't help their mother the first time she came?"  I didn't say any of these things because I am remembering to be patient!!

MacD and his brother with his new wheelchair!!

     Finally it is Friday and I am trying to cram in working with 3 more teachers on their IEPs.  Everything happens here in its own time and I am slowly adjusting.  It is not always easy to be patient and it is exhausting.  This week has reminded me that we have it pretty good at home.  I miss the subway and the organized chaos of NYC.  At least I had a latte!

Quiet Week

   This is Me' Mary.  She is one of my favorite people here in Lesotho.  Mary has been working at our school for over 20 years, since the beginning.  Many of those years she worked without pay.  Now she is paid, but it is very little because she has very little formal education.  She believes strongly in teaching students with disabilities and she has a great sense of humor.  She is usually here bright and early and she always gets students to help set up the dining hall for yoga.  Mary also is one of our go-to people for planting, animals, building, etc.  She pretty much knows how to do everything.  When we were working on digging out the foundation for the new pig area, I became tired pretty quickly, but Mary dug all day and she is 64!  She walks to school everyday, pretty far, and she is often carrying large buckets of stuff on her head. She is one of the really tough women here that I talk about a lot, yet she is so caring and always has the best interest of our students in mind.
    Below Mary is a picture of my walking crew.  These kids usually leave around the same time as me and we walk to school together.  They are pretty fun and they will run to catch up with me or slow down to wait for me if I am in sight.  Our usual conversation is very brief, comment on the weather, how are you, etc.  But we have quiet understanding of friendship.  The taller girl in the blue was very excited to show me her report card a few weeks ago, even though we don't really even know each other.  It is funny how so much of my day is spent walking and talking to people.  After living in NYC with millions of people you get used to just walking by people without saying much.  Here it is the opposite, I have to say hello to everyone.  Although some days I wish I could hide, for the most part I really enjoy the friendly social walks I have here.  Lumela (Hello) probably comes out of my mouth at least 100 times a day.
   Well overall, this was a quiet week.  I was sick for a few days with a stomach bug and I came to fully appreciate indoor bathrooms.  No fun running to the latrine in the rain and dark!  All better now.  I can't believe it is already almost the end of October.

updates

Last week when there was no school I took a couple of days to hike in the mountains.  I visited another peace corps volunteer in the village of Ha Sefako, at the very top of Lesotho.  We were technically hiking on the border between South Africa and Lesotho.  At one point we were on the top of a mountain looking down into South Africa's  Golden Gate National Park.  We saw zebra, springbok, buffalo and eland through our binoculars.  We also heard monkeys and I thought I saw a hyena chasing the buffalo, but my friends say it was probably a dog!  On the left is me very tired and hiking down the mountains.  We went to the top of tow different mountains and were gone from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm, the terrain was pretty steep and rocky at times and I now have very sore knees!

     

No School

No school this week, yet this is the 3rd day in a row that I have been to my school.  Although some students have gone home for the week, there are still many who stay here because they don't have a home to go to or because they live too far away to go home for just a week.  Which means that the house mothers and fathers are also here.  Today we are taking a small group of students to the capital to present at a southern African environmental day, EEASA Conference.  The students made crafts out of recycled materials and now they will show them and sell them to people who are interested.  We might even taken them to KFC for lunch.  Yes, that is right, Kentucky Fried Chicken.  It is the only American chain here in Lesotho and it is very popular.  I sometimes see families all dressed up to go to the one in Botha Bothe.  It is not cheap for people here, and therefore it is a big occasion when they do go.  I have only been a few times and that is when I am with my work friends who really want to go.  Anyway, I think that that the students will be very excited if we go there!   As you can see from the picture above we did go, and the kids were very excited.  We also caused some traffic jams by trying to ride the escalators at the mall.  Our students have never seen one (there is only 1 in the country) and they got quite scared and even sat down on them!

The other picture is of my principal with the materials that the students made.  Overall we had a great day and it was so much fun to see our students proud of their work in the big city!                                                                                                                                                                    

Besides spending some time at school I have also done a few home visits this week for my new friend MacDonald.  He is a 14 year old with pretty severe CP who does not attend school.  His brother actually attends our school and has cognitive and language delays.  His mother came to me a few weeks ago and told me about him.  She would love to have him attend a school but his disability is pretty severe and his wheel chair is from when he was 4 years old.  Now, ten years later, the chair does not exactly work for him.  I have asked the appropriate ministry about getting a new chair and they said yes they can give him one, but they don't have any now.  So his mother and I are working on fixing up his chair.  I am going to use a wooden broom handle to make extensions for the foot pedals and some foam or pillows to raise the seat.  We are also trying to make him an adapted spoon and cup to try to work on having him learn how to participate in feeding himself.  If we can get things figured out a bit, we are hoping that his chair can get him to our school for at least a few mornings a week.  I think his mother, who lives in a tiny home with two children with severe disabilities could use the break and that he might enjoy some social stimulation.  I will keep you posted on adaptations and progress with MacD (as his mother calls him).

Downs and Ups

   This has been a very emotional week, both sad and happy moments.  I will end with the happy to leave you in better spirits.  First my sad moment.  On the right is Mameliso, she was just brought to our school on Monday.  Although she doesn't technically have a disability, she can barely walk and is extremely malnourished.  She lost both parents and was left with an uncle who could not care for her and locked her inside.  She is actually 14 years old and she only weighs 35 pounds.  Now that she has been found and treated at the hospital and received basic medicines she was needing a home. They brought her to our school because they felt like the orphanages here could not handle her special needs.  Our principal had no notice, rather people showed up with her in the back of a truck and asked her to please take her.  How do you say "no" even though there is no bed and technically she should go somewhere else.  Of course the teachers  met and we agreed to have her stay.  The school will be able to feed her without a problem and take good care of her.  I found an inexpensive mattress in town and the house mothers have made space for her.  Everyone is working to make sure she eats well and has some positive social interactions.  I have started bringing my seated yoga DVD to her on my laptop, she can only do little bits but she seems to like it.  Even being here, amongst a very vulnerable population, I couldn't believe how neglected this child was.  When she arrived it brought tears to many eyes and I was thankful for the strong teachers who knew they had to take care of her.  I want this blog to be a nice thing to read, but I have just been so consumed by this over the last few days that I had to write about it.  Welcome to this school Mameliso!

   On a more positive note, I also had some happy tears this week.  This is Me Mase who works at our school as a secretary right now.  She also has taken on the challenging role of being my language tutor!  I am really not good at learning languages so it is quite a challenge.  She recently graduated from Agriculture college and last Sunday she invited all of us to her graduation party.  I went with my supervisor and co-teacher out to her family home in a rural village.  After getting lost several times, we finally found it by seeing the large tent and gathering of many people.  Here when there is a graduation party the graduate asks all of her friends who have also gotten degrees to attend in their graduation robes and caps, there were not too many, maybe 8 other people.  I did not have mine, but she included me with the group. Little did I know that there would first be a special mass followed by speeches about the graduate.  At first they had someone translating for me, but then I told them to stop because I felt like it was distracting for everyone else.  So I didn't notice at first when everyone was looking at me expectantly, then the person next to me said it was my turn to get up and speak!  I was not prepared at all, but come up with something, in English of course, but sufficient.  Finally my friend, the graduate spoke, I could tell that she was thanking all of her family, teachers, etc.  It was very moving and a good example of a "village" raising a child.  She then spoke about me and what I was doing here and how happy she was that I attended her party.   I was feeling so happy to be included and welcomed and also embarrassed by too much attention.  After the formalities we had quite a feast and it was fun to see all the older women of the village go into a back room together. I asked "where are they going?"  I was told that they were going in there to drink some shots!  The women do celebrate here, just more privately.

       This is the last week of school before a week vacation for Independence Day.  Everyone is busy finishing up craft projects for the upcoming environmental fair.  Others have been busy building a new home for the pig and harvesting some of the plants.  I have continued to help out wherever I can and have had a lot of fun learning some new skills in farming and building.  I am just continuously trying to show how all the students can be included. Otherwise I am still trying to learn new words and names to communicate better.  These are pictures of us working on making trays out of empty tomato boxes. It is not easy to teach someone how to use a hand saw!                                  
                                                             

Peace Corps - 50th Annivesary

Last week all the PC volunteers in Lesotho traveled into the capital to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps. We had a special lunch and reception a the Morija Museum, one of the earliest learning centers in Lesotho.  The new volunteers were sworn into their service by the US Ambassador Bond and the King of Lesotho, Motlotlehi Letsie Oa Boraro (King Letsie the 3rd).  One of the Ministers in Lesotho who was taught by a Peace Corps Volunteer donated 5 cows to our feast and a catholic priest who hosted us at a monestary type place donated  beer and wine for our evening.  Overall it was very nice to meet all of the other volunteers and to honor 50 years of Peace Corps.  It was overwhelming to hear about the positive impact of volunteers in the development of Lesotho.  The people here are very appreciative and they have such a positive view of  Peace Corps and the United States overall.  We were asked to dress formally for the event so I had a seshoeshoe skirt and head scarf made.  Wearing the seshoeshoe material is important at special occasions.  Another teacher at my school made the skirt for me and I received many compliments.  The whole event was filmed by Lesotho television and I have had several people in the last few days telling me they saw me on TV!!

One of the other PC volunteers had students from his high school perform at the celebration.  The girls are doing a cultural dance with bells and metal pieces under their skirts to make noise, the dance is called Mokhibo.  The boys did a very impressive dance called Mohobelo with a lot of high kicks and stomping.  Behind them other students were singing and drumming.  It was all very cool to see with the backdrop of the American flag and pictures of JFK etc.  It was fun to spend a few days away with a large group of Americans, but I was also happy to return home to my round house. 

Yes, it does feel like home now.  The rest of the weekend  I kept busy with washing, reading, cooking, yoga, etc.  I actually cooked a lot and I have decided  to try to make as many different recipes as I can from my cook book (without an oven and limited ingredients).  So far I have done pretty well and I am slowly finding out that there are lots of spices and other ingredients hidden in the backs of stores here.  Sometimes you just have to ask.  I managed to make my own tortillas, yogurt, mexican rice, beans and veggies for a yummy feast!  Who knew you could have a mexican dinner in the mountains of Africa! I also spent some time preparing for my week at work.  We are focusing on teaching the students crafts made out of recycled materials and I am specifically trying to show teachers how all students, even the most severely disabled can participate in some way.  Many of the students who cannot do just sit and watch, but easy adaptations can be made to include them.  We will see how it goes.  Next week I will write more about school and the people with disabilities that are slowly revealing themselves to me. 

This is a picture of some of the students and teachers making paper machete and working on other projects.  I will include some pictures of the finished products in next weeks blog.

Gum Boots

        Last Week I traveled out to another PC volunteers village.  We had a big plan to get started early and spend our day hiking through the beautiful Tsehlanyane National Park.  I told her I would leave my place at 6:30 and she would then wait for me by the junction of her village, around 7:30.  As it turns out I got to a deserted taxi rink around 7, didn't leave town till 8:30 and then got to her at 9:30, oh well!  When you get in a taxi here, a small van than seats 18 people, or 26 if it is a school day, you don't leave until the entire thing fills up.  If you are one of the first it can be overwhelming trying to decide where to sit.  Do I want to be next to a window?  Where will I most likely not be sat on by someone else?  Where are the older people going to want to sit?  Where will I be noticed less?  Anyway my decisions were made and after moving a few times to accommodate everyone I had a surprisingly amazing ride out to Maggie.  I couldn't believe that the scenery would get even more beautiful.

 It took us almost 3 hours of hiking / walking just to get to the park.  Our plan was to try and hike within the park for around 5K then turn around and head back, but we were running out of time in order for me to get all the way home before dark.  It was amazing though.  Several mountain ranges and river valleys. Passing through villages and meeting people who wanted to sing to us along the way.  There is also a 5 star resort in the park that we stopped into for a yummy glass of wine (on the way back)!  It is called the Maliba Lodge, look it up, it will make you want to come visit.  It is very pricey, but they contribute a lot of resources to the nearby villages and community programs.  Anyway it was an amazing day and the scenery was breathtaking!

        As I mentioned last week, my school had visitors from a special education class at the Lesotho University.  Unfortunaley they were a few hours late, kind of normal here, so the program had to be shortened.  There were about 30 students and they wanted to visit the school, play with the students, ask questions etc.  It was great to see so many people very enthusiastic about special education.  Our students performed a song, they performed a song, our teachers performed an amazing song (which I was part of, just pretending to sing in the background!) and then there were a lot of presentations.  They asked me to speak and I was kind of put on the spot, but did say a few words about the importance of special education and disability rights.  After I was asked about 50 times to take pictures with the students.  It is funny how people who don't know anything about you want pictures with you.  Remember Southeast Asia and India Amy! 

       

            The picture below is of our students practicing a "gum boots" dance with their teacher.They were supposed to perform this during the visit, but since it started so late we ran out of time.  I figured I would give it some attention on my blog!  It is almost like "Riverdance" or tapping but with big rubber rain boots on and lots of slapping your legs!  Overall It was a really nice day and the school and students felt proud of themselves. 

        An unpleasant thing that has happened at school is an outbreak of Chicken Pox.  Although this is very common, here it can be harsh.  People who are HIV positive (which is close to 1 in 4) can't afford to get sick.  Also we are a residential school and that makes it very contagious.  Right now we are up to about 6 cases, but I imagine it is going to be more.  The kids also get very frustrated because the school tries to quarantine them in a seperate room and they just don't understand.  They are very unhappy and they sometimes succeed at escaping out the window!  Hopefully it will not be too bad. 

       All for now.  Next time I will write about seeing the KING of Lesotho at the Peace Corps 50th anniversary celebration!

Winter - Summer

  Spring is here.  Actually here people don't talk about spring or fall.  On August 31st it was winter and then the next day they said it was summer!  I was really confused at first because a few things changed at work on the schedule and then I realized that we were now operating on the summer schedule.  The tree to the right is my Peach tree, in my yard with beautiful pink flowers.  I took this picture at twilight when the light is so nice here, but the picture doesn't really reflect it so well. Another sign of summer is that I have taken off a layer of clothing.  Now I just where one layer and a jacket.  It goes from being around 40 degrees here in the mornings to around 80 in the afternoons.  It is very confusing to me, but I am slowly adjusting. It is also extremely windy right now and there have been a couple of days that feel like dust storms.  People here just go about their business, but I have to hide in my jacket and then run for my house because it is so dusty.  The dust just never goes away here. I should have brought a Netti Pot.

Another PC Volunteer just moved nearby, about a 45 minute walk between our houses.  She is very nice and it is fun to have a friend in the area.  The picture on the left was taken on the walk to her house.  It is amazing how just walking to town or a friend's home is like going hiking here.  The views are amazing and the terrain is rough.  I am kind of sad that I did not bring hiking boots, my sneakers are getting worn out quickly.  On our walk to her house we passed through several villages, climbed through a ravine, and came across many herds of cattle and sheep.  Some days I get stuck behind large herds of sheep and goats and usually someone will come by and say "I didn't know that you were here to take care of the sheep!"
 

This week at school has been very busy.  I was able to travel to the capital to meet people at Sentebale, the charity that provides a lot of funding to our school.  Sentebale was founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso who were overwhelmed by the plight of vulnerable children in Lesotho.  This school has really benefited from the charity and they have made great improvements in the kids lives.  One thing they did for the school is build a usable kitchen, ramps and better dorms for the students to use.  On the left two of our students are washing dishes in the kitchen.  It actually has hot running water!
     Besides going to Maseru, I have been helping the teachers prepare for visitors on Friday.  The students and staff have been cleaning the whole school and practicing music and dance routines.  They are having visitors come from National University of Lesotho, the only higher education in the country.  Their students studying education will visit us tomorrow to see what happens at the center.  I will put some pictures from that visit in the next blog.  The students continue to work on improving their vocational and self help skills.  I continue to work with the teachers on adding strategies to their teaching and ideas for using materials they can get easily.  We are making a lot of TEACCH tasks (for those special educators!)  I am also working hard at trying to speak more Sesotho, I have never been good at learning languages, but I am getting the basics down at least.  All for now

Food and Kids

The food here is pretty good, but pretty basic.  I get a nice hot meal at school everyday.  The picture on the left is the typical meal.  The white stuff that looks like mashed potatoes is called papa.  It is thick and sticky, made out of maize meal.  You break off pieces with your hand and then use it to pick up the Moroho, greens or cabbage.  It is really finally chopped up greens (spinach, kale, mustard, etc.) or cabbage cooked with oil and salt.  I really like it.  The egg or meat is a special treat and usually only served on special occasions.  Some people here will eat this everyday for all meals.  Some variations include adding beans (stewed or baked) or instead of papa having samp which is also white and made out of corn, but a little more creamy??  Overall I think it is a pretty healthy meal that is cooked fresh for all school children and staff everyday at most schools in the country.  They have us beat in that way.  I have to say I don't miss seeing microwaved chicken nuggets and burgers typical of our schools at home. This food is also grown right at school so the students learn the process of cooking, growing, etc.  The picture on the right above is the students at school teaching me to chop Moroho.  This is an educational goal for many of the students so I figured I should learn how to do it too.  They need some bigger knives and butcher block counters!!
      The children here are very beautiful and fun.  Notice the two in the picture below, Moliehi and her baby brother live next door to me.  They like to come over and look at pictures in my books.  They are very nice and the children actually speak English quite well so I have no problem communicating with them.  Today I walked to school with a pack of kids, all very excited to keep me company and talk in English.  Children as young as 4 walk to school all by themselves, and they walk far.  Probably a few kilometers at least.  For several days now I have passed the same little girl, 4 or 5, crying while walking.  The first day I stopped to make sure she was ok, which she was.  They after a few times I figured out that she was probably having the same seperation anxiety that I have seen in many Kindergarten students at home.  The difference was that she managed to still walk herself to school all on her own!!
      My school is getting busier and busier.  This week I met with the teachers to talk about using visual aides with their students.  I showed some simple examples and they were thrilled.  I hope this means that they will start making and using them!  They are so used to lecture style teaching, which really doesn't work with kids with disabilities, that they might have a hard time breaking their habits.  I also found out that our school will be closed for a week at the end of September.  There is a lot of vacation time built in here.  I think at least 2 of my 10 months here the school will be closed!!  I will make the most of it.  Excited about traveling and seeing some more of Afrika!!

People love having their photos taken here.  Last week I took photos of all students and staff and manage to print them.  Everyone was thrilled and nobody complained about how they looked.  I even saw one of the teachers in town later that day showing off her picture.  I might need to get some real prints done for gifts before I leave.

Sadly No Photos

Hello Friends, Unfortunately I am having major internet issues and I am currently unable to upload my photos.  So this is strictly a text post.  Sorry if it seems boring.  This week I had my first really sad, missing home moment when I heard about my friend Larry passing away.  I was at work when I saw the message and I was so upset, additionally in the same day I heard about 3 other deaths affecting my co-workers at school.  In Lesotho, death is very common and it is a regular routine for people to attend funerals on weekends.  I am sad not to be able to attend Larry's services, but I am reminded of what a rich life he had.  When I started to talk about him here I told people about all of the wonderful adventures and travels we where able to do together and that he was 67 years old and had cerebral palsy, this made me realize that he had an extremely full life. Thanks for all of the great memories Larry and thanks for teaching all of us about defying the limits.

Today I will do my first solo adventure to the capital city, Maseru.  I had my language tutor work with me this week on all of the requests, directions, and questions I will need to be able to say in Sesotho.  Fortunately many people also understand English, but I want to be on my game if in a jam.  It is not so straight forward as taking a bus from one city to the next.  The process is much more complicated.  First I will go to the taxi rink in my town and catch a Venture to Maputsoe.  Not a bus, car, taxi, etc.  Then I will ask the driver to help me look for a Sprinter in Maputsoe, not a quantum, venture, bus, or taxi.  Then I will take the Sprinter to Maseru where I will catch a 4+1 into town.  This means 4 passengers plus 1 driver in a taxi.  From town I will then take another taxi to my destination.  If I can get through all of this I will feel very confident!  My co-workers are going to call me this evening to see how it went, they are so good to me.  In Maseru I will get to see a friend from home, get real coffee and have a change of scene.  So excited.

School this week has been eye-opening.  I was able to continue our yoga program and participate in an really good physical therapy program that I will co-teach each morning with different teachers.  Additionally I was able to present information to teachers at my first teacher meeting.  The topic was lesson planning, which is universally stressful for teachers.  Probably not the best topic to start with, but important non the less.  It went ok, but the meeting turned into a venting session about how hard it is to plan for so many subjects and so many kids.  These seem to be problems everywhere in the world!  We moved on to learning about breaking skills down and trying to teach without using so much verbal language.  I got a few blank stares and realized that I am going to have to back up a little.  Teaching here is still very traditional, standing in front of the class, at a chalkboard and lecturing.  Unfortunately for children with severe disabilities this has very little effect.  The good thing is the teachers are pretty open minded and they are more than willing to let me demonstrate.  Next week I will try some model teaching.  Wish me luck. 

Africa, who knew!

Who would have guessed that there was snow in Africa!  I had a surprise outing from my friend Andrew on Monday.  He is here filming a movie called "The Forgotten Kingdom"  He took me to some of the places where he has been filming and we we where stopped on a snowy mountain with an amazing view.   One of the best parts of the adventure was stopping in a small village and playing the Lesotho version of duck, duck, goose.  It is Catse, catse (cat), Njha (dog).  The children came from all over the village to play with us. They were so happy to just say "hi" and they loved to see their pictures on the camera.  Thanks for a great day Andrew, I can't wait to see your movie with beautiful footage of Lesotho!

School was very fun this week.  I was able to continue the morning yoga program and I will do a little workshop about the benefits of it for the teachers next week.  I have moments of ups and downs here.  At times I get frustrated because the pace and instruction is so much slower than I am used to.  I see students kind of hanging around a lot and I think that time is being wasted.  I am so used to maximizing the time of our students at home to help them overcome gaps, but here it is different.  Everyone takes life at a slower pace here and I think that it is better in some ways.  The students here have far less stress, tantrums, anxiety and overall they seem very happy.

The other day I was looking for one of the classes that I wanted to spend time with.  They weren't in the room and then I saw them sitting out in a field.  At first I thought that they were just sitting there and thought "why aren't they in class"  As I got closer I was pleasantly surprised.  The teacher was teaching the students how to weave with grass.  Not only is this a great fine motor activity, but they were able to make their own jump ropes and then engaged in a great social activity.  This skill will be much more useful to them in their lives back in villages than learning some academics they might not ever use.  This was one of my ups!