Last Blog

My host brother becoming a herd boy

   Already my time in Lesotho has come to an end.  I had a very busy last few weeks saying goodbye to everyone at school and my friends and host family.  I tried to make sure I had at least a few more days of spending time at home with the neighborhood kids, doing laundry by hand, taking bucket baths, and all those other things I am really going to miss (really).  I don't think I will ever have this type of lifestyle again and I know I will miss it.  But I am also really excited to go back to the modern conveniences of showers, washing machines, and electricity.  Will I ever have a house where lots of beautiful children just show up all day to play in the yard and herd the sheep, maybe, but probably not!

My Basotho Blanket

  On the last day of school we had a big parent meeting and the teachers and parents surprised me with a goodbye party.  Several people gave speeches and I also had to give one.  I tried not to cry and struggled through words to express my appreciation and good wishes for everyone.  The students performed and I was given some gifts including a traditional Basotho blanket and hat.  It was so special to hear everyone's good wishes.  I hope that our friendships and connections continue.  We had a big feast and then I had to say goodbye to many of the students and their families.  I was able to spend some more time with the school staff later in the week when we had a staff party.
       When school ended I spent a few days with my principal, one teacher and the Australian volunteer traveling in South Africa.  We went to the coast and spent some time driving in reserves to see all of the animals.  The teachers had never seen many of the African animals and it was really fun to see them together.  We did an amazing Hippo boat trip and one of my friends had never been on a boat before.  Everything is amazing when you experience with people who are having new experiences.  We did some swimming in the Indian ocean and we collected a lot of sea water to bring back to Lesotho.  Many people in Lesotho believe that sea water keeps away bad spirits and it is a great gift! 

My teacher friends collecting sea water

  I was lucky to have such an amazing experience and learn about the Basotho culture.  I will never forget my time living in the "Kingdom in the sky."  Now I am enjoying a few days in Sweden with good friends and next week I will be back in the US.  I can't wait to reconnect with family and friends.  Thanks for reading!!

Saying goodbye to friends on the last day of school

   

Opening

Our opening for the new classroom block was held this week.  We were very pleased with the turnout and the day was really fun for all of our students, staff and visitors.  Unfortunately the Prince was unable to make it, but we were luck to have the Chief Education Officer for all of Lesotho here to speak.  We also had Peace Corps Lesotho Staff & some volunteers, Village chiefs, parents, and many other visitors.  The program only started around 1 hour late, pretty good for Lesotho, and we actually kept it short and simple.  Each speech was followed by some entertainment from our students and from correctional services.  There were plenty of armed guards around to keep the prisoners in line, and we were very impressed by their singing and dancing.

Co-MCs

   I was lucky to get out of having to give a full speech, but I was talked into being a co-mc with my friend and teacher Maki.  Basically she introduced everyone and I just sort of repeated what she already said in English, not so hard.  I also led a guided tour of the new classrooms for our visitors.  It was really fun and I was surprised how well it all came together.  People here really like their events and everyone likes to give speeches so I was a little worried that it would be really long.  Really long is not always good when you have a lot of students with special needs and people like me who don't understand the language!

Our Girls Dancing

The best part of the whole ceremony were the performances by our students.  Two students gave a speech and the whole group participated in several cultural dances and singing.  It was so nice to show our visitors how "able" our students with disabilities really are.  The kids had so much fun performing and everyone made it through the whole program without any problems.
    After the ceremony and ribbon cutting we had a huge feast.  The dining hall was decorated to the max and the food was great.  All of the women at our school were up all through the night cooking and preparing the food.  It was very impressive and everyone worked really hard.
    Thank you again to everyone who contributed to this project.  Having new classrooms with bathroom and kitchens will make it so much easier for the teachers to work on vocational and self-help skills.  The teachers are really excited to start working in the new rooms, hopefully this week, and the community feels inspired by the growth at Thuso Centre.  I was so happy to be a part of it all, but it wouldn't have happened without the support from people at home and the Ministry of Education in Lesotho.  Kea Leboha!

Staff Singing

Inside 1 new classroom

My Principal and Chief Ed Officer Cutting Ribbon

Preparing Our Feast

Mokhotlong

I had the most amazing weekend in the mountains of Lesotho.  My principal decided to take Kirby (speech volunteer) and I to the village that she grew up in.  Only last year did they build a road that gets near to this village, before that you had to walk for a day or ride a horse to get anywhere near a town or main road.  We took her car to the closest town and then traded with someone for a 4x4 pick up truck for the remaining few hours on dirt roads.  Three of her brothers decided to come with us also and they helped with the driving.  The final leg of the trip was not even on a dirt road, rather just driving down the side of a mountain, so crazy, but so fun!
     When we got to the small village it was dark and we woke up in the morning to discover our amazing surroundings and several curious villagers.  Some of the people said that we were the first foreign and "white" visitors to ever come to this area.  They kept saying how happy they were that we came and throughout the day people from nearby villages would come by to meet us.  They killed a chicken and a sheep in our honor and we actually had to sleep with the meat hanging in our small room!  They also entertained us with stories and we enjoyed watching our water come up from the river on a donkey.  He was fully trained and walked right to the house on his own.

Horse Race Crowd

  Our horse ride took us further into the mountains to a place were we joined all the locals to watch horse racing.  It was a really amazing scene filled with mostly men and boys in blankets and horses everywhere.  The 4 races we watched were exciting and very fast.  Most of the jockey's were young boys and they were riding without saddles.  I even bet on one of the races, but lost.  Many people were surprised to see two white women ride in and we were overwhelmed with greetings and requests for photos.  I wish I could post all the photos, but alas there are just too many.

Small Herd Boys

   Our ride home was also an adventure and we stopped at the family's cattle post to drop off papa, corn meal for the heard boys to eat.  They live out in the mountains with the sheep and cattle and they usually only eat papa once a day.  We also had to give them instructions to get the sheep vaccinated and washed.  To get to the post we had to again drive off road down the side of a mountain.  At one point we were probably close to 11,000 feet.  We even saw a little snow on the ground.

   The village was so welcoming to us and if it wasn't so hard to get there I would definately go back as much as possible.  Now my time here is winding down and all I want to do is see more of the country and spend time with my friends here before I leave.  I am so thankful that I have such a great principal and friends who have welcomed me into their lives here.  It is really hard to explain how amazing it is here, you will just have to visit.

Posing 

Our 4X4 on the non-road

Self time pic with the villagers

Our view from the village

Water delivery

Getting horses ready to race

EFA

Swarming Students

Last week was the EFA, Education For All, week in Botha Bothe.  The schools in the town were asked to teach students about the importance of education for all.  On Friday the schools all got together at one of the primary school yards and there were performances of dramas and songs surronding the education for all theme.  When our students first arrived at the school we were swarmed with hundreds of young students chanting "education, education" while dancing around us.  It was really cool, I tried to put a video up, but it didn't work.  I am constantly amazed here when I see hundreds of children singing and moving in sync without much direction from their teachers.  They really made our students feel welcomed and gave a huge cheer after our students performed.  It was great to see our students included in some way with the general ed. schools.  Hopefully in the future we can get some of our kids actually in attendance at these schools, although with class sizes around 45 students, good inclusion is quite a challenge here.

My Principal and I at the football match

   I told my principal that one of the things I really wanted to do before leaving was to attend a good football match.  So last Saturday we went to Maseru to attend the Premiere League final match between Botha Bothe and Maseru Correctional Officers.  Unfortunately Botha Bothe, our team, lost.  I was surprised at how low key this premiere league championship game was.  I still want to try to go to a bigger match in South Africa if possible.  We went out to lunch at the mall and had a good day overall.  Thanks Me Mamonuku!
    We finally found a new plumber and he and his crew are basically starting from scratch.  Although it is frustrating that we have had to go over budget and wasted a lot of time, I feel so happy that it is now being done correctly.  He moved all of the pipes and geyser inside and their work looks neat and organized.  They should be done within a few days and we will have working plumbing that actually looks good and is leak free!  I can't wait to post some pictures, hopefully in my next blog.  Otherwise we are making plans for the opening of the new classrooms, now scheduled for May 23rd.  We are getting a tent and having many visitors and performances.  We are even inviting the prisoners, yes prisoners, to come and performs.  Apparently they are very talented.  This is going to be a much bigger event than I would have planned on my own, but I am happy that the school is so excited about it.

Football Match

My morning sky

Political Horses

Group singing to prepare for election

Elections are upon us in Lesotho.  The scheduled date of national elections is May 26th.  Parties are in full swing with events and meetings.  On the weekends people come out and sing, hold flags, line up their horses, and urge people to vote for their party.  There are many parties here, so it is hard to keep track of it all, but there are at least 2 major parties and from what people are saying it will be a very close election.  The current prime minister formed a new party to run with and there has already been a bit of fighting (actual physical fighting) even within this one party.  I hope for the people here that all goes smoothly and there is a clear winner.  One thing that I love about this whole process is that people come out from the villages  to the towns and there is a lot of horse riding happening.  One man wanted me to take his picture and he even let me sit on his horse, I didn't ride anywhere because I didn't have a helmet on (peace corps rule).  He even came to my school the next day to get a print out of the pictures!

Political Horse, all dressed up, no riding :( 

    On Sunday the new volunteer speech pathologist at our centre called me to say that Me Mary wanted us to walk over to see her house.  She is one of our teachers, I have blogged about her before, 64 years old and much stronger than me.  She started the school and worked for years without pay.  We walked with her out to her village above the town.  We got to meet her 3 grandchildren who she raises and we had a very yummy lunch.  She wanted me to teach the kids some yoga moves and they were naturals.  I asked her how long she had lived in her house and she said that she was able to rent the land around 6 years ago and she built the house herself.  She now has a few chickens and pigs and she also has a small garden.  Her house was simple, 2 beds and some stuff for cooking, but it seemed like such a nice way to live.  Sometimes I think that we complicate our lives with too much stuff.  Mary and her kids have only what they need and day to day they seem quite happy

The rest of my Sunday was quite good also.  I spent some time playing with the kids, reading and cooking.  I think the pace of life here is really nice and I know that I am going to miss it at home.  I had a group of about 6 kids playing UNO with me till it got dark out.  They loved it, my nephews love it too!  We also played with Amu in the wheelbarrow.

Mary in front of house she built with her hands

    At school this week we have almost finished the new classroom.  We did run into some more problems with our plumber and we have decided to find a new plumber to finish the job.  I held a review meeting with the teachers last week to go over many of the concepts we have learned about and this week the Speech Pathologist, Kirby, and I are planning a workshop on literacy and books.  Always a challenge when there are no or very few books in Sesotho, we are just going to use the ones we have in english and ask the teachers to adapt.  We set our date for the opening of our classrooms for May 17th.  All for now, thanks for reading.

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Mary's Kids doing Yoga

Happy Herd Boy

It is getting cold in Lesotho now.  This morning it was around 30 degrees and then it will go up to about 70 during the day.  I love this weather, it is so nice to sleep in.  It is autum here and the wind is blowing leaves off of the trees.  Everyone is wrapped up in blankets and the mountains are turning dusty brown.  The change of seasons is nice, but it can be hard for some people.  People here spend so much time outside, especially children, and now they are getting cold.  Homes also don't always stay too warm with tin roofs and dirt floors, so people have to spend extra money for firewood or parafin for heaters to keep warm.  The free fruit, mostly peaches, are now gone and everything just feels a little bit more quiet.

The schools were closed for a few days for the Easter Break and I decided to just stay put.  I really enjoyed being slothful around my house.  I played with the kids, read a lot, and went to watch a football game with some of the boys from my school who stayed over the break.  Only the students that have family members fairly close to town go home over these short breaks, so the house mothers and fathers try to entertain them with little outings.  One day a group of about 10 girls and a house mother walked over to my house for a while and just hung out on my porch.  Although I understand a bit of Sesotho, I still have a lot of trouble communicating fully, but with the students we just kind of find a way around language and still communicate well together.  At the football game I heard one of our students yelling at another boy because he heard him call me "lekhoa" (not always a nice name for white person), he said "Me Lisa, not lekhoa"  It made me so happy that the kids were standing up for me and had fun hanging out with me.  I am really going to miss these students.

 Last week I was given a surprise birthday party at school.  It was really fun.  The teachers got cakes and balloons and we had a big dance party with all of the students.  It was really special because birthdays are not really celebrated here like at home.  Many people don't even know their actual birthday because they may have been born at home or in a village where there is no need for calendars.  After school I invited the teachers out to a hotel in town and we had some drinks and pizza, such a fun day.
  Things have been very busy at school again.  We are finalizing the new classrooms, just waiting on the plumber to finish up!  I have learned so much about plumbing, maybe a new career is in order.  Once everything is finished we will have an opening and then put the rooms to use.  The teachers are very excited about being able to teach cooking classes.  We are also trying to get things in order for our new volunteer speech pathologist from Australia.  She will be here working in Lesotho for 2 years and we are very lucky to have her based at our centre.  Finally we are getting the animals and gardens ready for winter.  This week one of our teachers, Me Mary, brought her neighbor's male pig to our school to try to get our female pig pregnant.  The pigs spent a few days together and then the male went back home.  Mary, who is 64, tied a rope around the pig and walked it all the way back to her village yesterday.  It is quite a funny and noisy thing to walk a pig.  It is not easy and she still manage, I hope I am as strong as her at that age.

Our pig Thuso

My principal's car on one of our trips to hardware store, we were so
squished we could barely drive home!!

Celebrations

Cattle Riding at Cultural festival

Boys doing a Zulu dance

   Our school was invited to participate in a cultural festival last week.  The festival was hosted by Phelisanong Lesotho, a centre for orphans, disabled and HIV/AIDS affected children.  The centre is located in a beautiful village setting surrounded by mountains.  Other schools and orphanages were invited to come and perform and it was an amazing day.  The dancing and singing was impressive and there was also a great display of animals and even cattle riding!  The women and men of the host village were honored and thanked for helping to take care of the hundreds of orphans in the area.  It was really touching to see how strong these children are despite their circumstances.  

Our girls performing in the dust

     Several girls from our school performed a traditional dance while other school staff and boys sang for them.  Unfortunately a big rainy,  windy spell started during their performance, but they still did great.  Other schools performed dances and songs and the host school cooked an amazing meal for everyone.  At the end of the day we had to hike out of the valley, roads were too rough for the vans, and then proceeded to wait another hour for our ride to show up.  Only one of 2 vans made it (flat tire) and we actually fit around 26 people into one van.  Such a fun trip!

Honored Caretakers, thank you

    At the end of the cultural festival the women of the village were thanked for their work with orphans.  They were given blankets and maize meal.  The men were also thanked and they were given warm socks to wear inside their rain boots.  The organization has a really good website if you want to learn more. http://www.phelisanong.com/

 Another celebration was for my host brother's first birthday.  He is walking all over the place now and he loves to yell to me and laugh.  His father told me that sometimes when I am not home he goes to my door and yells.  I am really going to miss him and the rest of the family.

   It is also almost time to celebrate the completion of our new classroom building.  This week we did our final shopping trips (we hope) and by next week everything should be installed.  Then we have to plan an opening ceremony and start using the rooms with the teachers and students.  I really can't thank everyone enough for donating to the project.

Posing with my teachers

My Host Brother in his new birthday track suit

Action

Girls playing Net Ball

   Last weekend I went to a rural village with for a youth group event.  One of the PC volunteers, Lauren, works with a youth group that recently got a donation.  With the money they received they had an event which included HIV testing, drama and sports.  They had a good turnout and they were able to offer some prize money to winning teams. Their drama focused on the importance of knowing your status.  Many people got tested and everyone had fun.  I had so much fun watching the sports.  The girls played net ball, kind of like basketball, but no dribbling and protected shooting once you are in a zone.  It is funny because I actually remember playing this game in gym class in high school, I never knew it was a real organized sport!  I was so impressed with the girls athletic ability and their sportsmanship.  Players are pretty aggressive when fighting for the ball and there is even some tackling, but nobody got angry or mean.  I think it is due to the peaceful culture here, people seem to rarely fight and they handle disagreements calmly.
    While the girls were busy with net ball, the boys and men stayed busy with their football tournament.  I was equally impressed with their skills, especially since they were playing in very high grass.  The tournament started out great with one whole team getting their HIV test to help to promote the testing.  It is quite a challenge to convince people to get tested, it seems even more true for young men, so this was a great help.

Footballers

  The youth group also used some of the money that was donated to get uniforms for their group.  This was good because it was easy to spot who was in charge and it made their drama and speaking stand out.  They were very proud and Lauren, the PCV who works with them, was so happy that they had such a successful day.
   I spent most of my time wandering around and taking pictures, such a beautiful setting.  I also talked with the youth group a little and tried to practice some of my Sesotho.  I had a really good day and felt inspired by the work that many of the youth and peace corps volunteers are doing here.  It is essential that HIV awareness becomes ingrained in the culture here, the rates are so high and the effects are alarming, life expectancy here is less than 40 years!

Lauren with youth group in their new uniforms

   This week I was also able to attend a forum on Autism.  When I first found out about it I was kind of disappointed that they did not ask me to participate, however I eventually understood that decision.  The presentation was all done in Sesotho, which I can't speak well enough, and it was given by parents of children with autism.  They did a great job and the large crowd that was there was fascinated by them.   I was surprised how much I was able to understand without a translator, I think it is because I know the subject matter so well.  After the presentation I met with the parents and let them know that I would be happy to facilitate further workshops with teachers or parents.  I am really hoping that they contact me because awareness of autism here is still very minimal and I would love to help increase it.  There is sometimes a belief here that children with autism and "strange" behaviors are possessed by demons.  This is extremely hurtful to families and leads to a lack of education.
   Finally, our school project is continuing smoothly.  We are still having a lot of small issues with the plumber, but we have accepted it!  I am really excited because I think everything will be done soon and that means that I will have some time to work with the teachers in the new classrooms before leaving.

Village kids posing for me

New classrooms, with windows and doors

 

Shopping

Itjareng Vocational Centre for Adults with Disabilities

   Our new classroom project is moving right along.  This week the electrician finished all the wiring and we now have working lights and outlets in the building.  We bought most of the plumbing supplies and also went shopping for furniture.
     Our plan is to have the furniture made at Itjareng, a vocational center for people with disabilities near Maseru.  This way we are supporting their school and the cost is less than most stores.  Itjareng is school that runs a  program for adults with mild to moderate disabilities.  The students live at the centre for two years and focus on learning metal work, carpentry, leather work or sewing.  Our school has sent a few students there after they have left here.  They are going to make some sample pieces and bring them out to us next week.  They might even build them right here if we can organize all of the materials in time.  The picture below is one of our former students who is now attending there, he is showing us some potential sink options.  It was fun for my principal to see him again.  All of our errands took much longer than planned and I ended up having to stay the night in Maseru.  My Principal's brother hosted us (gave me their bed, I tried to refuse but couldn't) and a yummy dinner.  Their 1 year old baby was not so excited about me and he spent the first hour or so crying whenever I was near him.  I think pale faces are scary for babies here, it happens a lot!  Eventually he warmed up and figured out that I am a lot of fun, as long as his mom was nearby!

 

My Principal's Nephew and sitter

So we got really lucky with our builder and electrician being both efficient and skillful.  The luck must run out somewhere and it might be with the plumber.  Here is how our shopping trip to the hardware store went:


Lisa:  Excuse me Ntate (respectful term) Plumber, I was wondering why the two different quotations we got have so many different items on them?
Plumber: Yes Me'Lisa, I will look at them and make sure we get  everything we need. (this was on the way to store)
Lisa:  Excuse me Ntate, don't we need to buy a cistern, top part of the toilet? (at the store after list was finalized)
Plumber: Oh yes, we also need that.
Lisa:  Excuse me, (no more polite after 2 hours in store) don't we need all of the stuff that goes into the top of the toilet?
Plumber:  Oh yes, I forgot about that.
Lisa: Don't we need something to put the basin and geyser on? (when we are in line to pay)
Plumber:  Oh yes, let me run and get some more things.
After going through line a few times, multiple receipts and one returned item, we finally finished our 3 hour shopping trip.  Each day since the trip someone has had to run out and buy another thing that is needed for the plumbing.  Oh well, it can't all go smoothly!  At least the plumber is very nice and polite.

My shopping trip

Crazy Hail storm in my yard