Saturday, April 24, 2004

Since Maluti is an Adventist hospital and their Sabbath is on Saturday, I went to TY with Pam and Dick. The plan was to meet Andrew, another Peace Corps Volunteer, for lunch at the Blue Mountain Inn, but we had plenty of time beforehand to roam around for a while. And since there’s not TOO much in TY and we exhausted all desirable shopping stops just in time for lunch.

Lunch was a typical Basotho lunch…waiting nearly 2 hours for a pizza. But Andrew was great company. And it was great fun to watch all the tiny bo ausi walk by from the braai with a plate heaping higher than that of a linebacker in the Country Buffet. I guess I should explain that even though the older (meaning married) women (‘me) are quite large, the younger, non-married girls (ausi) are incredibly tiny. I explained to Buck that it is his fault that I’ve gained so much weight. After all, it is because of him that I am ‘me rather than ausi. :o)

Anyway, on our way out of town we bought some onions so I could make French onion soup. And then we had a rather cramped taxi ride back to Maluti. Overall, it was such a nice, relaxed, low-key day. I needed one of those.

  Friday, April 23, 2004

I arrived in Mapoteng last night and I am staying with Henry and Daphne who live on the hospital campus just two doors away from Pam and Dick. I am still stuck in the mode where I feel like I have to be doing something every second. I actually wrote a “to do” list that included knitting. It’s so sad when you have to make your relaxing activities seem like work so that it feels like something is being accomplished that needs to be accomplished.

This morning, out-of-country representatives from the Lutheran Federation came to see the work that Maluti is doing. So I tagged along and finally saw the fields I hear so much about. Our first destination was just a quick stop to a small field harvesting some beautiful potatoes. We continued on to view the homemade greenhouse. Alas, my pictures from these places are not yet developed.

Let me just interject here and say that much of the experience was actually getting there. Our 4x4 was certainly necessary to get over those roads…and to cross the river. I don’t think the visitors had too much fun on the ride.

But then we headed over to another field where the bo ‘me greeted our arriving vehicle with hoots and hollers. There’s really nothing like this sound. It carries through the mountains and valleys. Responses are often heard seconds later in a distance from a neighboring mountain. But apparently it serves a function as well. Within moments of our arrival, all the field workers started coming out of their homes and into the fields. All the women gathered around while Ntate Mokhotu and Thabo, a key player in Maluti’s agricultural projects, discussed and demonstrated double-digging. I didn’t learn anything myself, of course, since my Sesotho has not advanced much beyond what it was my first month here.




We stopped at one of the high school female boarding houses where Nthabiseng (one of the sponsored children) and about 30 other girls were staying. I talked with Nthabiseng and her friend who was also named Nthabiseng. It was really a pleasant afternoon and then we returned to Maluti.

It is getting dark crazy early and it gets crazy cold at night now. Since I didn’t realize it would get so cold so soon, I packed mostly sandals and my toes are not too happy with me. But I practically missed two winters, so I really can’t complain. But the lush green has essentially disappeared and everything is transforming into dry brown.

  Thursday, April 22, 2004

So today I leave for Mapoteng. I will be gone for just over a week. You see, the problem with being in Public Health is that we are all about sustainability. And the Public Health in me isn’t satisfied with just raising school fees for 21 kids for one year. So for the next week, I will be going with a translator into various villages in Mapoteng to record people’s stories and take pictures of their lives. Then when I return, I will transform the stories and pictures into a book (homemade, of course) and sell it at a huge mark-up to friends and family (that’s you) with all proceeds benefiting the education and food security of the orphans of Mapoteng.

I will be staying on the hospital campus while I am there, and I am not sure what my internet access will be like, so you may not hear from me until the beginning of May.

And I’ll be home in less than 3 weeks!!! (Despite a very nice offer from PSI that would keep me here an extra 5 weeks.)

  Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Today I got the worst compliment ever:

KB: You’ve gained weight.
ME: I thought I might have.
SYLVIA: Oh, yes. You’ll go home and people will notice.
ME: Really?
KB: They will say Lesotho treated you good.

Little do they know that their “compliment” is actually every American girl’s worst nightmare. I guess that’s what happens when you go 3 months without exercise.