First trip outside of Lesotho - Durban, South Africa

Please forgive the numerous pictures with little text, but I wanted to share some of the highlights of this past week without being too verbose.

We completed Phase III in our original training village, Ha Koali, and many of us ventured off for our first visit outside of the country of Lesotho.  I had not solidified plans since my mother was hospitalized and I really needed to make sure that I had cell service and at the last minute I decided to join some of my PCV colleagues and head to Durban.

Since I had not planned well, I was able to find a last minute deal in a very exclusive hotel right near the City Hall.  It is not the safest part of town, but I took precautions and felt safe. The Royal Hotel has welcomed such dignitaries as Nelson Mandela and Presidents of surrounding nations, and now it has even welcomed me.

 

I ventured off for a day of beach walking and found quite a few interesting sights.  I even took the funicular ride over the beach just to get a better view.  Note that the weather was not what one might expect at the beach, but honestly, it was cool and refreshing.  I was particularly intrigued by the sand art found interspersed along the beach.

Having noticed that I there was an Indian festivity in town, I ventured under the tents only to be treated to free vegetarian food, a tattoo (not permanent, thank goodness) just like all the other participants were getting and a show of bull-riding.  I was tempted to purchase a number of books and beautiful Indian clothes, but I resisted and just enjoyed the meditative state of those surrounding me.

 

I had noticed that there were a number of people attending Good Friday services in the early morning, but I had anticipated attending services around 3 PM as I have been doing for so many years.  As I walked by one of the oldest churches in Durban, St. Paul's Anglican, I noticed that people were just leaving.  Although I missed services, I chatted for quite a while with the Priest about the rich history of the Church and how it had served as an infirmary during wartime.  He invited me to the Church Hall to enjoy tea and hot cross buns (now I know why they call them hot cross buns!). Although I did not make it to Church service, I did attend the Durban Passion Play at the theatre very near to my hotel.  It was a good day.

 

Easter Sunday was a day of highlight for a few of us.  I had found a trail run along the beach and in the dunes and mentioned to a couple of friends who might be interested.  We were up at 4:30 and ventured north by taxi (way out of my budget!) and I ran the 5K while they ran the 16K. 

 

I showered and went looking for church services, but unfortunately, I could not find any after 10:30, which I found quite interesting.  I did make an effort to get back into St. Paul's and said a few prayers of celebration.  

We ventured back to site the next day and honestly, it was a bit difficult to settle in.

 

Moshoeshoe Day and Athletics!

All is well here in Lesotho for the most part.  We made it through Moshoeshoe Day with bells and whistles. Five schools gathered and we had a track competition followed by a singing presentation and a huge meal.  It was truly a festive occasion and I very much enjoyed joining in, but I can tell you that I was exhausted and ready for peace and quiet when I got home.

Basotho are by nature loud when they get together, but when you are with hundreds of children and loud Basotho music, I have to take breaks from it.  My classroom has a veranda roof and the space for the children to play is limited.  I find myself putting earplugs in my ears just to be able to stand all the screaming.  And the kids like to hit each other with sticks and kick each other.  Even the very little guys engage in this sort of play.  Honestly, I don't like it all, but when I query the teachers, they all tell me that it is just their style of play.

One of my favorite after school activities has been watching the kids practice track.  It is by no means a track like the ones you see at schools in the United States.  We depart school and walk about 20 minutes to an open field where one of our teachers has measured the meters necessary to time them. My role is either to use my IPhone to time the top three winners, or to hand a piece of paper with a number on it to the runner who comes in 1st, 2nd or 3rd.  They wanted me to write down the names, but that will not happen as I still am having the hardest time learning the kids' names.  I call them all "Sweetheart".

Elections 2015

Elections are being held today in Lesotho.   We were all geared up for loud and rambunctious strife.  My school is the local voting station.

It could not be quieter here and a typical seasonal storm is brewing in the backdrop.

Since I am so close to the voting station, i have stayed in all day reading and listening to Tchaikovsky.  Pretty relaxing.

As much as I would like to be consolidated so that I can see my PC buds, I do hope that all is peaceful for the Basotho nation. 

Keep your eyes and ears open (Google); I am grateful to get a clear RFI signal here. I do like the French  perspective on Africa as well as getting European updates.

Needs

Many of you have asked about needs here in Lesotho.  I cannot thank all of you enough for all the coffee, coloring books, nuts and all of the other wonderful gifts that you have sent.  I am grateful for those of you who have sent money knowing full well that postage is always around $70 per package and usually takes about two months to receive.

Books are still much needed.  I have set up a little library and we only have about 40 books and many of them are not books suitable to be read to the little guys.

Here is a link from the Darien Book Aid that clarifies how to send books cheaply to Peace Corps Volunteers: http://www.darienbookaid.org/us-peace-corps-requests.html

We mostly need easy readers that are hardback.  Even the little ones that you first buy for your kids.  All non-fiction books with great pictures work well.  My school is a Catholic school so all kids like religious books as well but Halloween and other type books are highly frowned upon. I would really love to have brought my children's praise books that I used for Religious Ed some time ago. I hope this gives you a bit more of an idea of books to send.

I was asked where to get crayons and for the life of me, I have yet to see them here.  I probably could buy them in Maseru (the Capitol City), but we are no allowed to travel to Maseru as the elections approach.  I think about the HUGE box of crayons that I had kept from the early years of my kids (who are now 28 and 25) which I just gave away - - wish I had brought it along. So if you would like to fill Ziploc bags with crayons to fill voids in packages, that would be great.

Thanks again to all!

Moshoeshoe Day - March 11.

Look it up on Wikipedia!

We have been practicing singing every day after lunch in preparation for Moshoeshoe Day - much to my dismay as it encroaches in instructional time.  But what do I know?!?!

The last two days we have been practicing athletics for the occasion!  Here i am walking up the hill with the cute little ones who are observing!

I swear, these kids could outrun any American I know (maybe) without shoes!

Teaching at Gethsemany Primary School

I have now been teaching at Gethsemany Primary School for three weeks and what an adventure it has already been.  Peace Corps Eds are encouraged to teach English to 4th, 5th and 6th graders, and Life Skills (HIV/AIDS) to all or any grades. Since the school had not really expected my arrival, there has been some confusion about what I am supposed to teach.  At this point, I am just trying to adjust to the schedule and teach according to their needs, although it has taken some juggling since the kids eat porridge first thing, and then lunch sometimes gets overextended not to mention all the song practicing for Moshoeshoe Day on March 11th.  They have BEAUTIFUL voices and note the way that they read music - reading Do, Re, Mi and they they put the words to the music that they have learned.

It has been wonderful, however, setting up the much needed library that primary schools are struggling to have established at the schools.  The Principal and Teachers gave me one of the classrooms to work with and although we do not have very many books, we now have a location.  I have only had a couple of classes come in but I am wary of this becoming a space to "park" classes since there is a trend of teacher absenteeism here in Lesotho (sometimes required by the government for training/documentation) and there is not a protocol for hiring substitute teachers.  But everyone really loves having the space and I read to the students every day after lunch.

It amazes me how the children entertain themselves.  The girls play a game whereby they draw a circle and push rocks in and out of the circle trying to keep only one remaining.  The boys set up a geometric figure whereby they push rocks away from the intersecting points of the lines.  Pretty interesting and it can become quite competitive and loud.

New Site

It has been a busy month and I cannot believe that I have not updated this in some time.  Many of you have been inquiring about my site and have found me lacking in expressing my enthusiasm with my site.  This is because I was very unhappy at my original site for many reasons; briefly that there was very little personal space as the site was located in the middle of town, the transportation was poor and I had trouble getting on taxis, and I was uncomfortable with some of the village protocol.

That being said, I have been moved to a new site.  I do not want to be too precipitous in singing its glories, but I am much happier here.  I am now living at at Catholic mission in Berea.  My living quarters previously housed the Sisters and a Peace Corps Volunteer lived here two years ago.  The locals are used to having a PCV there and the accommodations are far more suitable to my lifestyle.