And So it Begins...

After a long and thorough application, a medical check-up, and months of waiting I am finally two weeks away from leaving the country, joining the Peace Corps, and living in Lesotho.

The past few months have been filled with updating people of my plan for the next two years and consistently receiving quizzical looks with the question, "Lesotho?"  So it seemed logical to start this blog with a brief introduction to the country.

CIA-The World Factbook

Lesotho, also known as the Kingdom of Lesotho, is in South Africa, literally.  It is a country landlocked by another country.  Which means that to get to Lesotho you have to go through South Africa.  It is a very small country, about the size of Maryland.  Lesotho is also a very mountainous country and is located at a very high altitude.  Its lowest point is 1,400 meters above sea level and its highest is around 3,400 meters.  This high elevation causes the country to have extreme temperature ranges.  Summers are very hot and winters are very cold.  Remember, Lesotho is also located on the other side of the equator so the hottest months are November, December, and January and the coldest are in June and July.
The people of Lesotho are called Basotho.  The local language is Sesotho.  Sesotho does not have a -th sound so Lesotho is actually pronounced Leh-sue-too.  Another tidbit:  The title of this blog Lumela! is actually pronounced Dumela.  It means "hello!"

CIA-The World Factbook

A few fun facts...

• Lesotho has an educated population where about 85% can read and write.  Education is available to everyone regardless of sex.
• The national moto is Khotso! Pula! Nala! which means "Peace! Rain! Prosperity!"  This is represented by the national flag which was created in 2006.  The stripes represent rain, peace, and prosperity accordingly with an indigenous hat in the middle.
• I was looking at Lucy Lui's Wikipedia the other day and I saw that she has visited Lesotho before.  Not really relevant but still a fun fact.

And a few not so fun facts...

• About 95% of Basotho are under 65 years of age with an average age of 23.  They have the 9th highest death rate in the world
• About 25% of the population has HIV/Aids attributing to the high death rate.  Lesotho is in the top 3 for HIV prevalence rate.

So where do I come in?

Peace Corps-Lesotho

Lesotho is still a developing country and education has been an important factor in their development.  In recent years the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has been creating initiatives to not only make education more accessible but also improve it.  In 2000 the Government of Lesotho implemented Free Primary Education to increase the number of students.  This has lead to the over crowding of classrooms and a lack of qualified teacher.  This is where I come in.
I'll be teaching high school level science in a local school.  Outside of school I will be working on HIV awareness and helping my local community learn more about the virus and what they can do about it.  It's going to be a tough two years but I am very excited and I can't wait to leave.  I'll be maintaining this blog through out my service and I hope to share pictures and any other interesting tidbits.

For now I have to start packing.

Aparna