Refreshed

Notice Peaches drying on the line

   On Monday I headed out to Maliba Lodge, very fancy, where I did a presentation about the Get Ready to Learn Yoga program.  Sentebale was having a meeting with 12 of its' partners, organizations serving vulnerable children.  They have been thrilled with the program and they wanted me to come and present on it to others.  I was also able to be there for my Principal's presentation on our activities at the center.  Getting out there was not so fun.  I happened to be the person who got the very back corner in a very crowded taxi van.  I was so hot and feeling claustrophobic, thinking, why I am doing this?  Then I got very sweaty on the hour hike, mostly uphill, into the lodge.  Not the way you want to start a presentation.  The presentation went smoothly and Sentebale provided me with lodging for the night.  Taking advantage of a bathtub and a shower, I had a very relaxing evening.  I also had a beautiful hike out the next morning and felt renewed and refreshed.  Having access to a nice bathroom and solitary hiking did me wonders.  I was also pleased to learn about more of the organizations serving vulnerable children in Lesotho.  There are some very committed people here who take care of hundreds of of orphans with only a little support.  Sentebale is providing support for them now, but they won't be there forever.

Ntate Neo and his fans

  Speaking of very committed people, I wanted to highlight another one of our staff members.  Ntate Neo is one of our 2 house fathers.  He has been at the centre for a number of years and he works very hard.  The 30 plus boys here all look up to him a lot and he has a fun relationship with most of the kids.  He also leads our physical therapy group each morning and he always seems interested in learning and trying new things.  After school he is always organizing some kind of sport activity and sometimes taking groups of kids into town.  I have also been told that he will volunteer to stay with students at the centre if they do not get picked up for vacations.  I wish that we did not have a language barrier so that I could get to know him better, but without words, I can tell that he is a committed caretaker and hard worker.  Most importantly he is like family for the kids at the centre.
    The new building is coming along nicely and school is continuing as usual.  Next week I will spend the week team teaching in another classroom.  I keep doing this in the hopes that some of my routine and activity will rub off.  I still get frustrated with the amount of "down time" that the students have.  One day this week 3 of 5 teachers did not show up for school and those students pretty much just sat in their rooms all day, no subs here.  I am really hoping that the new classrooms and materials are inspiring to the teachers.  I know that things take time to change, but my time here is running out.  On a lighter note my principal had several of us over to her house last weekend.  She even went shopping in the next town away and got Bacon for me, so nice.  We had fun singing and dancing and eating too much!!

Dancing at My Principal's House

On my restorative Hike, Self Portrait