We want some Rain

Morning Therapy Group

   Coming back to my everyday life in Lesotho has been both challenging and good.  School is getting busier as we are really trying to start the school year off right with lots of productive teaching time. I have been spending my mornings team teaching with one teacher and my principal with another so that we can do some modeling of what we want to see happen in the classes.  It has actually been really fun to be teaching the students, but frustrating because of the language barrier.  At least our daily yoga and therapy sessions don't involve too much talking!  We are still missing a few students, basically the one's who are orphans and are staying with younger siblings.  They don't usually have a working phone, so we just have to wait.  Hopefully they will return this week, if not we might have to go get them.  The rest of the students seem very happy to be back among their friends.  I have been amazed at how easily they fall back into things and how well they help each other out.  Right now we only have 4 house parents (who are responsible for all at night) for 65 students, so they really do need to help.

Student with missing
wheelchair getting some help

    Last week I went with one of our students and his mother to Maseru for a dentist appointment.  The dentist that we saw in town referred us to the hospital in Maseru and with the referral he said that we could also get transport from the hospital.  At first I was very excited to avoid the usually public transportation woes, and then I found out that we would be riding in an ambulance.  Yes a real ambulance moving very fast, complete with siren, stretchers, nurse, etc. all for a dentist appointment.  We weren't alone, they packed around 10 people into the back, none needing emergency care.  Some did not even need any medical care, but just wanted to catch a ride.  While we were all sliding around the back I thought to myself that it was funny that I felt so unsafe and worried about accidents while riding in an ambulance.  Strange use of resources, but at least we got a free ride, we even stopped to do shopping on the way home!  I think the transportation adventure stories will never get old.

Yacoob and Mom in Ambulance

   Outside of school life has been pretty challenging.  I miss having visitors, showers, and yummy food.  It has been very hot here and still no rainy season to speak of.  All around the outside of  Lesotho there has been plenty of rain, even flooding, but we haven't gotten much in country.  I actually haven't had water in my area of town for over 4 days.  I had a lot stocked up in buckets, but now I am down to nothing.  I am going to to carry some home from school today and maybe make a trip to the river with my host sister, but I am not able to carry 20 Litres on my head like the women and girls here, maybe I can carry 10.  It is amazing how little water you actually need.  This may sound bad to the rest of you, but I actually bathed, cooked, did laundry and dishes over 4 days with less than 40 litres.  My clothes are a little soapy but clean.  At least I have water at work.

House father in sporting Red Sox

    One thing that makes me happy everyday is seeing Boston Redsox hats on the heads of our house fathers, my host father, and the school gardeners.  They were a gift from my sisters along with cool bags for the women.  The men all wear them religiously and it looks like they are part of their uniform.  Thanks, and more importantly right now GO PATS!

Hot sheep trying to find shade at my house

My neighborhood kids reading books from my nephews, thanks!

Animals

Carrie on Pony passing donkey and heard boy on Pony

   So many animals on our travels.  In Lesotho most of the animals we saw were your typical country animals such as horses, donkeys, cows, sheep, goats, dogs, chickens, birds, etc.  I guess what is so cool about these guys is the settings that they live in.  Traveling with my visitors I was reminded again of just how amazing the herd culture here in Lesotho is.  Mostly boys and young men will travel with their herds into the mountains for long periods of time.  Watching the herds and hearing all the bells on animals ringing in the distance is one of my favorite things here.  The animals get to graze in beautiful settings and they live without fences.  The life of the herd boys is tough though.  They have to carry everything they need with them and often go through cold and huge storms without shelter.  In fact in Lesotho there are quite a few deaths from lightning every year.  They travel with their Basotho blankets and they are such a cool sight to see on the steep mountainsides.  The animals in Lesotho all work and are highly valued, which means they are pretty well taken care of.  Notice the donkey in the picture above carrying cases of beer, funny.

Small boy on Donkey

  Ok, out of the mountains and into South Africa now.  I was lucky enough to go to two different areas of Kruger park with my visitors.  Carrie and I did more of a self guided safari right in southern Kruger and my family and I did a guided safari in Timbavati reserve on the edge of the western Kruger.  We were so lucky with our timing because this week there has been bad flooding and many roads closed in and around the park.

Yawning Hippo

  We were able to see almost every animal we could think of minus a few wild dogs and male lions.  Apparently the male lions are pretty lazy and it is mostly the females that you will see out for hunting, taking care of the cubs, etc.  We saw a white lion, very rare, and several leopards.  My personal favorites where Rhinos, elephants and the ever hiding Hippos.  Usually you just get to see the tops of Hippos eyes, but we had a few glimpses of them yawning.  The elephants were huge and plentiful in Timbavati and the Giraffes and Zebras were easy to spot in Kruger.  My favorite sighting was on a 4:30 am guided walk in Kruger (guides carry rifles).  We came across a Black Rhino about 20 yards away.  I was very scared, but also felt very lucky to be that close to a wild animal in their own setting.  It is hard to explain how impressive it is to just be driving and come across these animals.  At Timbavati we had a very ambitious guide who would literally drive through brush and trees to get us up close to many animals.  Despite what you would think the animals were not startled by this because they are used to vehicles, however he said that if we were to get out of the vehicle they would most likely run or attack, because then they would see us as another animal.  I was very happy to stay in the vehicles!  Hope you are not exhausted by the photos, but it was too hard to narrow them down.  Enjoy!

So Close to Us!

Taking a Nap

Old man, the males are left alone when they are old :(

African Penguins in Capetown

So close to Giraffe, I was driving on my own in Kruger

Rhinos, too many being poached over 20
already killed this year just for their horns :(

People

Carrie and Maggie at blanket presentation

I had such an amazing holiday and summer break.  I can't begin to fit all of my pictures and adventures into one blog post, so I decided I will post one with some highlights of people and another with highlights of animals.  I was overwhelmed with both over the last 5 weeks.
   My wonderful friend Carrie came to visit over Christmas.  We had many travel adventures in Mozambique, Lesotho and South Africa.  I think one of the highlights of her trip was spending time at Semonkong.  Semonkong is a village with a lodge in the mountains of Lesotho.  Everyone there rides horses and donkeys and there are no paved roads.  We picked up Maggie and traveled on a beautiful but challenging unpaved road through the mountains.  It took us about 3 hours to go around 40 miles!  At one point we got stuck going up a steep hill and out of nowhere a young herd boy, dressed only in his underwear, came to our aide putting big rocks behind our tires and giving us encouraging gestures and smiles to get us up the hill.  Besides horse riding on Christmas and taking in the amazing surroundings we spent some time learning about the Basotho blankets and their history in Lesotho.  Me Elizibeth and her sister-in-law showed us how blankets are an integral part of all aspects of culture in Lesotho, especially in the highlands.

Carrie and our tiny rental car driving to Semonkong

 The people in Lesotho were so welcoming to both Carrie and my family when they were here.  We had unexpected meals and gifts bestowed on us and plenty of help whenever needed.  One of the teachers from my school hosted Carrie and I with her family for a night in her rural village.  We all slept in the same room and almost had a run in with the boys and dogs from an Initiation school (mountain schools for boys that are very secretive, they only come down at night and you are not supposed to see them.)  Another teacher from my school made a traditional Lesotho meal for my parents and sister and had us all come to her house.  We were also lucky to hear some singing from neighborhood children and the teachers at my school recruited the football team nearby to sing a few songs with them in our cafeteria.  This singing was arranged in about 10 minutes and my family was so impressed by both how well they sounded and by the entire group's choreography while singing.  A big part of the culture here is singing and people are always able to harmonize and sing together with very little rehearsal time.  As my father excitedly told the teacher "that would never happen at home!"

My Principal dancing and singing with
neighborhood children

We also met wonderful people in South Africa and Mozambique, but I think Lesotho wins the "people" award.  Maybe it is because I am living here and I am able to understand a little bit of the language and culture, or maybe it is because of the simple and calm lifestyles of people here, whatever it is we were all charmed by children and adults.  Carrie and I even got a marriage proposal from a police officer who pulled us over (sounds bad, but he was really sweet!)
  Of course I was super excited to show my parents and Amy Semonkong also.  I think I will never get tired of a lodge nestled in a village in the mountains with horse riding and yummy food.  I am so happy that some of my family and friends got to meet my friends here, I wish you all could come.  I was also very thankful to Carrie who put in some days helping us at school.  We did a lot of cleaning and organizing to give the teachers a head start. More about our travels and the animals coming soon.

My family and I at Semonkong Waterfall

Amy and my parents at Me Matiiso's House