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!