Letsatsi

Every once in awhile I visit a friend who has running water and electricity.  We cook a fabulous meal (because that's what she does), usually lose track of time and end up staying up until 11 o'clock catching up and complaining about students, teachers, and our lives.  For those of you who read my previous post you know that my usual bedtime is 9pm.  The thing is that when I can't see how dark it is outside, I have no idea of what time it is.  My internal clock is no longer dependent on what time the clock says but rather at what position the sun is in.  So when there's a bright, electric light above my head, I have no idea what time it is.
It's not that I don't have access to a clock; I have a cell phone and a watch.  It's just that, unlike America where there's some indication of time on every wall you see, Lesotho is less concerned with the exact minutes but the overall hour or time of day.  One of my teachers even told me that Basotho have three hours in their day: morning, afternoon, and evening.  Other than school, there are no exact times for things.  You ask a taxi driver if he will be leaving soon and that translates in to sometime in the next few hours.
For me this new earthly (or shall I say solar) clock wakes me up at 5 am on the dot in summer and that in winter 6:30 is still way too early to wake up.  It tells me that it's time to cook dinner or that I should take my clothes off the line about now or that I should head home from town.  I no longer depend on my phone for the exact minute of everyday but rather the general sense of the day.
That being said when you can't see the sun things come to a stand still.  The best way to put how Basotho view the night is that "it's not that it's not safe at night but that you just don't know what can happen."  For the most part people don't wander around at night. The camp towns are deserted, and the only people walking around the villages are the drunks (always male).  One of my friends had a school event that extended in to the night.  It was too dangerous for the students to walk home with out any light so the party extended until the wee hours of dawn.  This also meant that all the teachers were chaperoning the party the whole night (needless to say my friend was not too happy to lose a whole night's sleep).  In my case my school often takes class trips and by the time we hit the road it's getting dark.  So we drop of kids on the side of the road by their village so that (hopefully) they will reach home safely.
My favorite part of the day are sun sets.  Every single one in Lesotho is gorgeous and unique.  So to end this post I wanted to share a few of my favorite sunset photos (I'm usually too lazy/cold to wake up to the sun rises).

 The first sun set I took a picture of in Lesotho.  It's a January sunset.  The sen sets behind my house so this is what my backyard looks like.

 The two sun rises I was up for.  The first one is a March sunrise and the second one is an August sunrise.

This one's a March sunset.  The corn crops were growing and were this luch shade of green.

One of my favorite sunsets I have seen in Lesotho.  It was just as the sun was setting and sky had this beautiful golden color.

Peach blossems mark the beginning of Spring here.  But they're there for a week or two and then they're gone.  But while they're here Lesotho is this beautiful pink color.

Routines

When moving to a new place people often talk about getting in to a routine.  These routines help you start feeling at home and to integrate in to your new situation.  That being said my weekly routine is mostly defined by school.
Mondays through Fridays tend to be almost exactly the same.  I wake up between 6 to 6:30 am every morning.  In the summer time this is pretty easy for right now the sun is up before 5:30 am and, because of the sheer curtains that are widely available here, it is hard to sleep in past a certain time.  In the winter this proves to be very difficult.  The sun rises around 6:30am and it is still very cold in the morning.
The first thing I do when I wake up is open my front door and get a good idea what to expect, weather wise, that day.  Lesotho is a very windy country which translates in to the weather is extremely unpredictable. Often times mornings are still and clear.  The wind usually starts to pick up in a few hours and there is always a chance of afternoon showers.  And when it rains it pours and, because this is Lesotho, when it pours it also hails.
The next item in my morning routine is using the outhouse and dumping my pee bucket.  I don't think I've mentioned this before but Basotho use a pee bucket when it's too cold/dark to go to the outhouse.  In the summer, the nights are warm and I take my headlamp (keeps you from using your hands in the outhouse) to lead the way.  But in winter, and when it rains, a pee bucket is a very convenient alternative.  I also use it as my make-shift sink when brushing my teeth, and as a drainage system when dumping the water from my bath.  I dump this water in to a hole filled with rocks that is far away from our water source.
After brushing my teeth I start making breakfast.  Oatmeal has always been my breakfast of choice even in the U.S.  Here it's nice because it's healthy, easily available, and it can cook while I'm getting other things done.  While it's cooking I can make my bed, feed my cat, pick out my outfit, get dressed, and assemble everything I need for the upcoming school day.  By that time my oatmeal is ready to be eaten.  And I can listen to the radio and figure out what is going on in the world.  By this I usually mean South Africa since I usually listen to an Africaner station based in the Free State ( the area bordering Lesotho).
My school is a 5 minute walk from my place.  I usually leave my place between 7:15 and 7:30.  I'm usually one of the first teachers there so I open the staff room and start prepping for my upcoming day.  My coworkers usually arrive closer to 7:45.  Most of them live in the camptown and commute to town on a taxi.
At 7:45 assembly starts.  Assembly is how we start and end the school day here.  Students sing a hymn, say the Lord's prayer, and teachers give any announcements such as inspirational speeches from the Principal, club meetings, or what students will be punished that day for speaking Sesotho.  Yes, all students are expected to speak English all day unless they are in Sesotho class.
I teach 18 40 minute periods a week.  Most teachers are expected to teach between 25-30 periods a week.  But I am a volunteer and I am not expected to take a full load.  That being said there are teachers in my school who teach less periods a week than I do.  The amount I teach each day varies.  On Tuesdays I teach only 1 period while on Thursdays I teach 3 double periods for each of my classes.
Our school is set up with 4 periods in the morning, a 20 minute break, 3 periods, a 1 hour lunch break, and 3 periods until the end of school.  This takes us to 4:00pm.  We have a cook at my school who cooks lunch for the students if they pay a 100 rand fee.  Before lunch was part of the school's fees but schools have had to cut fees because of a government mandate and we can no longer afford to feed the students.  We usually eat papa (the equivalent of rice in the Basotho diet made from maize) and moroho (green vegetable that can consist of cabbage, spinach, and/or, rape) or beans or samp (like papa but bigger pieces) with beans.
At 4:00 the students line up for assembly, sing, and leave school.  I then head back home.
When I head back home I take a minute to eat something and then I clean my dishes from the morning.  I pump water that I will use for a bath and to wash my dinner dishes.  I then spend my evening watching TV shows on my computer, cooking, bathing, and at 9:00pm it's candles out.  When I eat dinner depends on the season.  I hate cooking in the dark because no matter how many candles I have lit I cannot see what I am cooking or eating.  So I cook when there is still plenty of light outside.  I also have to boil water to take a bath.  I boil a large pot's worth of water and I cool it down with the rest of the water in my bucket.  The leftover water is then used for washing my dishes.
On Fridays we have a half day and end at 1:00 (right before lunch).  No food in served and students and teachers go home early.  I usually use this day to do some grocery shopping in town since I have plenty of time to get back home before dark.
On Saturdays I usually head to town again to hang out with fellow PCVs or just chill in the camptown.  Villages are quite boring and the events of the weeks tend to be funerals.  Every Saturday there is a funeral or two in the village.  So going in to town is a preferred alternative.
Sundays are dead days for me.  Basotho are very religious people so Sunday is church day for them.  This means that almost nothing is open and transportation is unreliable.  I use this as a cleaning day.  I wash my clothes, clean my house, and spend the rest of the day reading and watching stuff on my computer.
Every once in a while my weekly routine changes if I spend the weekend at another volunteer's place one weekend or I leave for the week to do things for Peace Corps but for the most part this is what my life consists of.  I can't say it's very interesting but I am enjoying it.

Aparna

The Spaceship Problem

A few weeks back I was teaching my Form B class about forces, friction in particular. Like any good teacher I gave them classwork from their textbooks to test their understanding of the subject and within a few minutes a group of students had raised their hands to inquire about the same question.

The questions went like this:

As the American space shuttle enters the Earth’s atmosphere it gets very hot. What causes the heat? (Excel in Science, Form B)

The answer to this question goes along the lines that friction force is experienced between solids and gases and friction also releases heat. The shuttle is experiencing friction force between itself and the atmosphere and heat is therefore being released. But their questions had nothing to do with the answer. Their question was, “What is a space shuttle, madam?” It’s moments like this that I want to run to Maseru (Lesotho’s capital) find the person who wrote this book, shake them by the shoulders, and ask them “What the hell were you thinking?” Am I supposed to explain to them that humans have built these fancy ships that can leave the earth? Am I supposed to tell them that humans have landed on the moon, put flags and other mementos commemorating their achievement on it? My students are stunned that it takes 15 hours in a plane to get to Lesotho. Most of them have little to no idea what lies beyond South Africa. And here I am trying to explain a space ship to them.

I have many frustrations with being a teacher here but one of my biggest complaints is trying to teach a curriculum that wasn’t written for my students. The Lesotho primary and secondary curriculum is testing based. Every few years you take a test and only if you pass can you go on to the next level. The students I teach take a 3-year cumulative test at the end of their Form C. This means that my job is to get them to pass the test. This proves to be difficult when they are supposed to know what the beach and the ocean are without ever seeing one in their life, or knowing the difference between a graduated pipette and a burette when their lab has zero equipment, or asking to solve a problem with a spaceship when they are still taught that Pluto is a planet. And have I mentioned that their textbook has almost no pictures?

Don’t get me wrong; Lesotho has some very talented people in it. I have friends who have studied in Cuba, China, Zimbabwe, England, and the U.S. Just this weekend I went to the funeral of one of the few professors in Lesotho who was also the Minister of Development. If I just look at the Peace Corps. Lesotho staff there are staff members with Master’s degrees, Ph. D’s, with various experience working with NGOs and working or studying abroad. But this is not my Lesotho. My Lesotho consists of a school where most of the students have probably never left the district, let alone the country. My Lesotho is filled with students who come to school because that’s what the government says and that’s where their friends are (and being served food is a major motivation). My Lesotho is filled with parents that have zero involvement in their student’s educations until they get their grades and start blaming the teachers for their child’s failure. My Lesotho is one where my students have limited access to TV and the little they do see consists of violent movies and music videos from South Africa and the U.S. That’s my Lesotho. It’s a Lesotho where their textbook takes zero consideration to what they have access to and what they know. Many would jump to say “Well, that’s Africa” but it’s not. That’s the world. You can find little third world countries in the U.S. where they’re learning science with out chemicals, learning math with out calculators. This isn’t just a Lesotho or Africa problem, it’s a problem that teacher’s feel across the globe. But it’s only now that I see it.

As many of you know I celebrated my one-year anniversary in Lesotho a few weeks back. With this anniversary came a batch of new volunteers and I was with them, helping with training their very first week here. One of the staff members asked them to brainstorm what they hoped to accomplish here in Lesotho. Many of them talked about improving their school’s science scores, improving the quality of education at their school, etc, etc. And as I listened to this discussion I realized how jaded I’ve become about my time here. I even told one of the volunteers from my training group “I don’t even know why I do what I do here expect that it’s what I do,” and she agreed with me. I came in to this country, in to Peace Corps, determined to be better. I would be the better science teacher; I would be hands on and all of my students would pass science with flying colors. I was going to be better than all my fellow Basotho teachers; and perhaps that’s where my folly began.

I definitely bring something to my school but it is not my superiority. Most of my teachers are graduates from the Lesotho College of Education and after talking to a teacher there I learned that they get very little background education and more teaching education. Meaning that when it comes to knowing Science I have an upper hand. But when it comes to knowing how to teach they beat me hands down. They also know the students considerably better than me. Whenever I have problems with students I ask them about it and they can usually give me some insight in to my problem. And when it comes to getting results, mine are no better than my co-workers.

With my one year anniversary came a depression consisting of questions like “What am I doing here?” or “Am I really making a difference?” and “What’s the point?” When I left the U.S. people told me that I was going to Africa to do “God’s work” and that I was “really going to make a difference” and while numerous RPCVs (returned Peace Corps Volunteers) told me just the opposite, in my head I thought “Maybe I will.” Peace Corps Lesotho has even started trying to quantify the affect education volunteers have in their schools. But can the Peace Corps experience really be quantified? The trainees asked me the same question when I was at training. My answer was that while some of it can, by comparing test scores, most of it can’t. I can’t tell you the number of Basotho who, as soon as I mention that I’m a “moitaopi oa Peace Corps,” faces light up and start telling me about their Peace Corps teacher who taught them English, or Science, or Maths. You can’t quantify that.

And so I’ve learned to grab the little golds when I can. A few weeks back one of my Form A students dropped by my house to spend a little time with me. She’s first in her class and works very hard in all her subjects. She told me, “Madam, because of you I am now good at Science. In Standard 7 (the grade before Form A) I was failing Science; I had 7%. But now I am top in my class.” And that’s what keeps me going.

A year past...

On October 14th I will celebrate my one year anniversary since stepping in Lesotho.  This day commemorates the day I reduced my life in to 2 suitcases and a camping backpack and started my "once in a lifetime journey."  It's hard to condense the emotions, the challenges, the ups and the downs, in to a few nicely worded sentences.  One thing I can say for sure is that I didn't picture life to be quite as it is right now.  When I heard I was going to Africa I imagined living among the lions and tigers with native tribes doing all those things national geographic tells us Africa is about.  No, Lesotho is definitely not the Africa the media shows us.

I never saw myself having a pet ever in my life but I have to say that it is one of the best decisions I have made here.  Life here can be very lonely especially when you are the only person like you in your village.  After spending my whole day surrounded by kids I just want to come to some peace and quite and a cat is perfect company for that.

I never imagined being able to live without running water and electricity.  I always knew it was a possibility but I was always doubtful whether I would really be able to do it.  And here I am, bucket bathing and candle lighting my days away.

I'm surprised by my ability to endure.  There are days where I have no idea what I am doing here and if I am just wasting my time trying to help out.  Sometimes I just want to pick up the phone, call Peace Corps, and tell them to take me home.  But every time I just make a packet of instant noodles (or mac n' cheese if I have cheese and milk), watch some tv on my computer, go to bed, and without doubt the next day I feel a lot better.

It's the little things that make me so happy to be in Lesotho.  Like how my favorite day of the week is Sunday where I connect my ipod to my speakers, blast my music while washing my clothes and cleaning my house, sit down with a cup of coffee as the water for my bath is boiling knowing that I have absolutely nothing to do that day but read and day dream.  Or full moon nights; I've always read in books about heroes or heroines being guided by the light of the full moon but you can't know how bright that moon really is until you blow out your candles and it still as bright as if there were stadium lights outside.

And while it's impossible to know the future I'm looking forward to my second year here.  I'm not sure what to expect now that I've been here for so long but I'm looking forward to the new challenges that come my way, knowing that I can overcome them.  I know it's not going to get any easier but I didn't join the Peace Corps to do something easy.  When it comes down to it the longer I'm here the more I know that I made the right decision to join Peace Corps.

Aparna

Happy Birthday King Letsie III

 On July 17th 2012 King Letsie III turned 49 years old.  Every year a different district hosts the king's birthday celebration and this year it was in Mohale's Hoek.  I wanted to share a few pictures I took of the celebration.  To be honest the celebration was not mind blowing but we still had a good time.

When we got there we saw these colorful streams of gas in the air.  As they came closer to the ground we saw that at the end of each one was a parachutist.

 Most of them landed in the middle of the crowd where the performances were being held but one was a little off on his aim and landed behind a mountain (I hope he made it home safe).

A few of us decided to wear our seshoeshoes though a lot of people there were just wearing casual clothes. On the left is Nancy, and on the right is Janelle (and if you can't figure out which one I am I would suggest using process of elimination).  There was a special seshoeshoe fabric and basotho blanket created for the event.  The blanket had a picture of a dog on it since that is the name of the Mohale's Hoek soccer team (unfortunately I don't have a picture of it).

A few helicopters flew by with Lesotho flags hanging from them.

After the celebration (or rather when we started getting hungry and bored) we went to the local hotel for food.  The hotel is the best place to get more "Western" styled food.  The menu includes sandwiches, burgers (they have an amazing veggie burger), pizzas (the pizzas here have no tomato sauce), and other dishes.  This is a picture with one of my friends who works at the hotel.  Mohale's Hoek's seshoeshoe color is red so everyone in the hotel was wearing a red seshoeshoe.

We had left before they served food (which was free and a major attraction for many people to join the celebration).  Unfortunately the concept of trash cans is still a developing idea in Lesotho and most of the trash from lunch ended up on the ground.  The next morning I did see people cleaning up the area but it was still a sad site to see.

Winter Blues

Snow on the mountains after a few rainy days.

A man in my village on a cold, windy day.

I take pride in saying that I am a Cali girl. I grew up in an area where winters were extremely mild and you went on vacation to see the snow. So when Peace Corps told me in early December 2010 that I would be going to Africa I told myself, okay, yeah, this is perfect. Little did I know that they would be sending me to Lesotho one of the few (and perhaps only) African countries that experiences an actual Winter.

Snowy paw print

A lot of my friends and family ask me how cold it is in Lesotho at the moment and the honest truth is that I have no idea. The only weather I can find for Lesotho is for Maseru which is one of the lowest points in the country. This means that it’s probably also the warmest. Right now Maseru the high for is about 64 F (18 C) and at night 29 F (-2 C).  Where I live, it’s probably a few degrees cooler. That being said I cannot describe the winter I am experiencing using empirical data but rather my own observations. For the most part winters are supposed to be sunny with clear skies. I was told that Summer is the rainy season. This means that nights are unbearably cold and no matter how many layers you wear you are still freezing. So how does one sleep at this temperature? I personally layer my clothing and then layer my blankets. At the moment I wear thermal underwear, night pants and a night shirt, a sweatshirt with a hood, a thick winter scarf, and two pairs of wool socks. On top of that I have two flat sheets, a comforter, and a blanket on my bed. And when I sleep I tuck my head under the covers and assume a fetal position. It’s cold.

A rare snowy day in the lowlands

But as soon as the sun comes out the temperature rises considerably and the day is bearable.  I still have to layer to stay warm but I don't have to wear a heavy jacket.  But if it is cloudy or raining the days are extremely cold and even a warm jacket won't keep you warm.  You just have to grin and bear it.  Most Basotho may light a fire outside or have a gas heater inside the house.  Unfortunately gas heaters are only useful in small spaces.  Not to mention the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning.  Therefore I only use them when I'm taking a bath.

Some local village girls on a warmer winter day

Usually it doesn't snow in the lowlands, just rain.  After a few days of rain (in Lesotho it never rains just one day) the mountains are covered in snow.  It's quite a site.  But a few weeks back the temperatures dropped dramatically and we had snow everywhere.  I guess anything is possible in Africa.
Now I was in Mozambique last week and the “Winter” there was like a Californian Summer. I can’t imagine what Summer is like. When I was there it seemed like Mozambique is one of those typical African countries you see on TV: flat savannahs that last for kilometers, women wearing typical African fabrics, and if I haven’t already mentioned it, very, very, hot.

My host brother going out to herd his sheep.

In those ways Lesotho is quite different from Mozambique (not to mention the fact that all Mozambiquens speak Portuguese) but Basotho have adapted to this atypical African climate. Most Basotho use blankets to stay warm and depending on who they are and what they are doing there are many different ways to wear your blanket.  Men will usually wear it around their shoulders, and women will usually wrap the blanket around their waists.  Actually Basotho women wear blankets all year around.  When they are pregnant they wear a blanket around their belly to keep the baby warm.  Basotho women even use blankets to carry their babies.  They place the baby on their back and wrap the blanket around themselves and the baby and use a pin to secure it.

Local village girl wrapped in a warm blanket.

My coworkers with their warm jackets and blankets around their waists.

A former volunteer told me that the hardest thing about winter isn't that it's cold but that you can't get away from the cold.  With no concept of central heating this is very true.  Therefore unlike Americans Basotho never remove their layers when they are inside because it's still very cold.

A rondaval after a day of snow.

Traditionally Basotho used to live in houses with thatched roofs.  These houses are great insulators and are meant to keep the house cool during the summer and warm during the winter.  I had one during training so I can attest to the keeping cool part.  But from what my friends tell me about winter the houses are not that affective.  They all have very high roofs which means that when you do use a heater the heat rises and at the end it isn't much warmer.  But I'm sure it's better than nothing.
In my opinion winter has not been too bad.  Maybe it's my positive attitude or the fact that this winter has been milder then the last few but I have to say that I am proud to say that I have survived a Lesotho winter.  I can't say I'm ready to face the east coast or a European winter just yet but I'll take it one step at a time.

6 Months In, 10 Reasons to Stay

Believe it or not it has been about 6 months since I moved to my site in Mohales Hoek and about 9 months since I came to Lesotho.  1 pre-service training, 2 grading periods, and many marriage proposals later I can say that Lesotho is one of the best South African countries.

1. Basotho have a sense of fashion
Before leaving Lesotho Peace Corps sent us all a packet giving us details about Lesotho such as weather patterns and how people dress.  They told us that Basotho dress very well and I didn't know exactly what they meant until I came here to see for myself.  Basotho, for the most part, know how to dress.  This is especially true for people who are working.  The terrain may be rocky but that never stops anyone from wearing heels.  And Basotho women are quite good at matching their shoes to their outfits. As someone who has a deep appreciation for fashion I love that people here appreciate others that take time to put an outfit together.

2. Basotho are very clean people.
Never in my life did I see myself eating inside a tin hut but I have done it in Lesotho.  Basotho are extremely clean people; they sweep and mop the house everyday (which includes moving all the furniture to get those hard to reach places).  They polish not only their floors inside the house but any area outside also.  They even sweep the dirt outside.  I have also been told that Basotho women will take a bath once in the morning and once at night.  Cleaning is very important in Basotho culture and while I am not as clean as a Mosotho, I can certainly appreciate that they are.

3. Basotho are genuinely kind and peaceful people
There are few people out there who can understand how hard it is to be a volunteer in a foreign country.  The language is strange, the culture goes over your head, and the food...well it's just not like home.  But through these challenges I have found that most Basotho people are genuinely good-hearted and do not hesitate to take you under their wing.  I know I can go up to anyone for help and they will stop what they are doing and help me.
On that note Basotho are also quite tolerant and peaceful.  We hear a lot of atrocious things happening in South Africa.  To name a few men raping lesbian girls to "set them straight," men raping virgins to get rid of HIV, etc.  But you don't really hear about those things in Lesotho.  Not to say that Basotho are incapable of doing such deeds but you don't hear about cases like this in mass quantities like you do in South Africa.

4. Lesotho is just beautiful
I can't describe how beautiful Lesotho is, you have to see it.  Maybe the beauty comes from the fact that most of Lesotho is still natural; no skyscrapers, and very few cities. Pollution is low since few have electricity or cars which means you can just see for kilometers in the distance.  Lesotho is also anything but flat and now that it's winter you can see the tips of the mountains covered in snow.  Lesotho le letle.

5. I have a blackberry in Lesotho
This goes back to one of my previous posts about technology so enough said.

6. Lesotho is a small country.
Lesotho is about the size of Maryland.  Because of mountainous roads and bad transportation it can take a day to go from one side to the other but when a country as small as Lesotho has about 60 volunteers you are close to a few people.  This means that it's easy to meet up with volunteers.  Another nice thing about living in a small country (especially in Africa) is that, for the most part, Basotho only speak one language and the culture is pretty consistent through out the country.

7. Most Basotho speak English
While I am working hard to improve my Sesotho there are moments that I just don't know how to say what I need to say in Sesotho.  Almost all Basotho understand at least basic English so with a mix of Sesotho and English I can usually get my point across.

8.  I can buy cheese in Lesotho
Cheese is a delicacy in Lesotho for volunteers like me.  It's pretty easy to find sliced cheese though it doesn't taste very good.  In some camp towns you can find some decent cheddar cheese and in others you may even find Gouda (slightly different from American Gouda).  But in Maseru you can get mozzarella, Parmesan, and many many more.  I am very happy for cheese.

9. Basotho know how to sing
I love music so it makes me very happy to be surrounded by a culture that sings as if they were born harmonizing to their mother's labor pangs.  Singing is an integral part of Basotho culture.  Every morning my students have morning assembly which is like a prayer session to start the day.  They sing a song and say the Lord's prayer.  This is repeated again in the afternoon assembly.  Basotho also sing in church, they sing at funerals, they sing when they cheer for sports teams, they sing in bars, they sing...well for any reason.  There are very few instruments here and I have not seen them used during these times so Basotho just harmonize and it comes very naturally to them.

10.  I love Lesotho because....well, I'm here!
When it comes down to it I love Lesotho simply because I'm here.  Of course I have my share of frustrating days, my "if I were in America" days.  But when it comes down to it I'm happy here, I feel pretty good about what I'm doing here, and I am enjoying every bumpy rock that I trip on.  Lesotho is an amazing country to be in and I am so thankful that I found my way here.

Aparna

I was Born a Farm Girl

My students find me strange for a variety of reasons.  One of the main things is that I have absolutely no exposure to raising animals.  Most Basotho (especially  in villages) have livestock.  So children grow up raising a variety of different animals.  They also grow up growing various vegetables especially maize (corn), the staple food.  In fact this is so amusing to my students that the agriculture teacher in my school joked that I should take the Form A agriculture test with them to see who does better.  This post is to not only show some of the animals I have now been exposed to but also to show off some of my new found knowledge on animals.

Chickens

One of my family's chickens and her babies.

My school had a small chicken project where the school bought a few hundred eggs, raised the chicks until they became chickens, and sold them as meat for a small profit.  I learned a few things in this project: 1) There are different breeds of chickens and each one has a specific purpose such as one is meant for laying eggs while one is bred for meat. 2) Chicks become chickens within

Another one of my family's hens.

a few weeks. 3) Chicks do not need to be raised by their mother unlike mammals (this I actually learned while teaching my Form As about classifying animals).  My family has chickens (which are the ones I took pictures of).  The chickens are free grazing.  I'm sure in America this has another meaning for in Lesotho it means that during the day the chickens wander wherever they want, all over the family's property.  No cages, no fences.  But as nightfall comes my little brother runs after each one, stuffs them in a bag, and puts them in a store room for the night.  The chicks follow the bagged mother in to the store room and they are safe from the possible dangers that roam the village at night.

One of the older chicks.

One interesting thing about watching chicks being raised from hatching is watching them grow.  I feel like when we learn about baby animals in school is almost seems like they go through a metamorphosis from cute yellow chicks to multi-coloured chickens; but there seems to be three life cycles in a chicken's life.  The yellow chick phase, the larger, in-between phase, and finally adult hood. The chicks slowly lose their fuzzy yellow feathers to get darker feathers and they slowly lose their chubiness, the necks start to get longer, and they start to look more like thier adult counter parts.

Cows and Sheep

The family's one cow.

 Many Lesotho boys grow up to become herd boys.  As the name suggests herd boys take care of the herds whether it be sheep or cows.  Therefore all animals in Lesotho are free range.  My family only has one female cow.  Apparently they used to have more but they all died of a disease and this is a new cow my host father purchased recently.  He is trying to get it pregnant which is a process unto itself.  He has to pay another owner of male cows to use the male cow to spend some time with the female cow so that it may become pregnant au natural.  So far he has not been successful.  Most male cows are castrated so male cows that are able to reproduce are not very common.  From what I understand these males are often kept separate from most of the herd to control the reproduction process.

Our sheep grazing outside the house.

I'm not sure why Basotho raise so many cows.  I don't think most Basotho drink cow's milk so I assume they raise the cows for mainly for its meat.  Basotho love meat and this itself is an understatement.  Meat is hard to come by especially since most Basotho do not have refrigeration units to keep meat cold.  This means that meat cannot simply be bought from your local super market and kept in the freezer until you are ready to eat it.  Meat is also very expensive.  And if you are raising your own animals it takes time for an animal to grow up so that it can be slaughtered.  Therefore meat is a delecacy.  I should also mention that Basotho eat every single part of the animal: feet, heads, intestines, hearts, stomachs, ovaries (my family slaughters a chicken that was just about to lay an egg so my family ate the egg too), testicles, you name it.

Sheep are very similar to cows in that they are raised for slaughtering.  My family has many sheep and because there are so many my family has hired a boy to watch over the sheep during the day.  During holidays my little brother watches the sheep too.  One funny thing I noticed about the sheep: they seem to give birth in the winter and not in the spring.  Recently I have seen a lot of lambs.  I wonder why...I should also mention that Basotho do not use the wool from sheep for anything.   Sheep are also very easy to steal especially when you have a large heard.  So it is important to keep a close watch on them.

Dogs

Family Dog.

The two puppies a little older.

The two puppies when they were very young.

Dogs have a lot of uses for Basotho.  First, they guard the house when it is night.  They act as a form of security and bark at anything (and I mean anything) that moves at night.  Therefore, all night long, I hear the sound of dogs barking.  Every house has a dog and on larger properties, the more the better (and the bigger the better).  Secondly, dogs often accompany herd boys to help them herd sheep which have an uncanny tendency to wander off.  Thirdly, dogs eat any scraps the family may have from bread that has gone bad (that's what I usually feed the dogs) to bones of any meat the family has eaten.  Unfortunately dogs are usually very skinny for they are not fed very well.  Our family dog is so skinny you can see her ribs.  Recently she gave birth to two puppies who together probably weighed more than her.

The remaining puppy.

A harsh reality you realize in Lesotho is that animals (and people) die quite often.  Veterinarians are only found in town and I would assume that they are quite expensive.  So if an animal is sick you have to find a way to get it to town and the money to spend to get treatment.  And unlike the US there is no concept of vaccinating animals for common diseases. Therefore it is quite common for animals to die unexpectedly. That happened to one of the puppies.  For some reason it stopped eating and in a few days it would not wake up from its sleep.  It's an unfortunate reality you have to deal with in a developing country.  When there are barely enough resources to get people to the local clinic (again usually in town) then animals are simply not a priority.  Most likely the female dog will become pregnant again and give the family more dogs.

Cats

The male kitten crying from his mother.

The female kitten hiding from humans.

Mother. son, and daughter eating.

The last animal I want to talk about in the post are cats.  Like dogs they have a variety of uses.  They are very handy for catching rats.  And like dogs they will also eat leftovers readily. 

The two kittens feeding.

My family currently has three cats.  The first one has been with the family for years.  It has produced many kittens which my family often sell for a small profit.  But recently this cat's age has started to show and it no longer catches rats.  It also kills small chicks.  It has therefore become a liability.  Because of these reasons my family has decided to keep its latest litter consisting of two kittens.  Unfortunately these kittens are deathly afraid of human and will run as soon as they see one.  Therefore we are trying to tame them.  They spend most of the day crying for their mother.  Also the mother has not weaned the kittens though they are more than old enough to do so (I have done a lot of online research of cats and pregnancy because I have had more than more pregnancy scare with another cat).

Nap time!

I have one more cat to speak about, definitely my favorite cat on the compound; one that has gained the love and respect of all the members of the Mokote household. She is considered to be an expect rat catcher by my host parents.  My host siblings love her for her cleverness and overall playfulness and friendlyiness which makes her a very entertaining cat to watch.  And for me she is simply my little cat who never fails to make my day.  She has grown so much since I got her.  She is a good companion who catches bugs for me (but only after playing with them first) and is very entertaining. She loves to cuddle and sleep on my lap no matter how inconvenient it may be for me.  She also loves milk and string.

I think all of this makes her the best animal on the compound.  Wouldn't you say?

Technology in the Developing World

When I started this blog I made a promise to myself: for the next two or so years I was going to keep this blog up. I would not let this blog become one of the many cyberspace cobwebs that often happens when bloggers forget or lose interest in their pages. But this promise was made in the US, before I realized how difficult this task could be.

Now, this post isn’t meant to convey that I am giving up on this blog. As I write this post I realize that the last time I updated this blog was in March and when I started this blog I thought I would be updating it more regularly and I felt this was a good time to tackle the topic of technology.

Technology is a funny thing in a developing country. For example, everyone in Lesotho has a cell phone. There are many time when I will tell Basotho, for various reasons, that I do not have a phone and therefore no phone number to give out. And when they ask me why I tell them that I am a volunteer and therefore have no money to buy a phone. I doubt most of them believe this response and usually respond by telling me that they will buy me a phone so that we can keep in touch. Phones are very cheap in Lesotho. Most Peace Corps volunteers here buy a basic phone: no QWERTY keyboard but one that is able to do email, basic Internet functions, and a camera. This phone is about R300. Now most Basotho don’t have the need for such a fancy phone so they have a phone with a basic, no-color screen, with no internet, camera, or any other fancy gadgets. This phone can cost less than R100 (about $12). On the other end of the spectrum are the smart phones such as BlackBerrys (which a lot of volunteers, such as myself, have).

And cell phone companies work very differently in Lesotho than in the US. There is almost no concept of a contract; everything is prepaid. You can buy whatever Rand of airtime (or data) you would like as often as you would like. And you can buy SIM cards anywhere for about R5. No passports required, no form of identification, nothing. In other words, getting a phone in Lesotho is really easy. And this turns out to be a really good thing because, unlike America, very few places in Lesotho have land lines. I’m not sure how people did it before cell phones (and can I also mention that I am very happy I came here after cell phones became a common commodity).

But as I said, technology in a funny thing in a developing world. When I left America, 6 months back, people were starting to talk 4G. In Lesotho the fastest speed is 3G and that is only in Maseru (the capital) and in towns. At my site I only get 2G cell phone service which is very slow. As I said, I have a blackberry, and I am able to get blackberry service at my site, but surfing the internet is extremely slow and certain applications do not work well on the 2G speed. That being said there are volunteers with little to no cell phone service at their site. These areas are usually very rural and no cell phone towers have been placed there.

I mentioned that most Basotho don’t have Internet phones. Part of the reason for this is that most Basotho have never used a computer before. Therefore they don’t really understand the concept of Internet. Trying to explain email to someone who has never used the internet is very, very hard. Most Basotho don’t own their own computer but you can find Internet cafes in town and that’s where most Basotho use computers. Many Basotho who live in town have more advanced phones that allow them to access Internet.
This doesn’t mean that it is impossible to access Internet through a computer at my site. The cell phone companies cell modems that allow you to access Internet from your computer. But, as I said, there is really no concept of cell phone contracts here which means that you pay for the Internet per a MB of data. This can get very expensive. To save money most volunteers change the settings of their Internet browsers to no longer show pictures (it also helps the pages load considerably faster). Furthermore since this service is based on the cell phone coverage, mediocre cell phone signal means mediocre Internet speed. So using the Internet on my computer is a bit of a pain at my site. Simple tasks can take a few hours simply because the pages take so long to load.

So going back to my first point, this blog. Updating this blog is not easy from my site since the 2G connection often keep this interface from loading completely. Not to mention that sites like blogger are constantly updating their sites to make them more interactive and easier to use. Unfortunately for me this means that it is harder for me to access this site without a proper internet signal. It also means uploading pictures takes not only a lot of money but an extremely long time. Therefore it is easier for me to update my blog in town. But I am only able to come to town on weekends and depending on what I want to get done that day I either stop by an Internet café or I don’t.

But I really shouldn’t be complaining. I mean, I have a blackberry in Lesotho.

Moshoeshoe's Day

Two of my teachers, ready for the big day.

March 11th in Lesotho is Moshoeshoe's Day.  Schools celebrate the day with their students and teachers and students usually get the day off (assuming it falls on a weekday; this year it was on a Sunday so no day off).  My school celebrates Moshoeshoe's Day as a sports day where there are running competitions, traditional dances and a debate.  Saturday, March 10th, our school headed to Bethesda, a more rural community than ours, to celebrate the day with two other schools.

My students

But first bit about Moshoeshoe.  King Moshoeshoe I is the founder of the Basotho nation.  Originally Lesotho was a collection of various tribes.  King Moshoeshoe I united the tribes together to create the one Basotho nation of Lesotho (which literally means land of the Basotho).  I do want to mention that people still strongly identify with these tribes and their different traditions.  I believe he also brought missionaries to the country who brought Christianity and education to the people of Lesotho.  Therefore a day is put aside to honor him.

Some of the runners

Truth be told the events of Moshoeshoe's Day has little to do with Moshoeshoe himself.  Nevertheless the day was pretty fun.  We headed out of the village around 9 am in the morning.  Since we had to pay for taxis only students who could pay were allowed to come (teachers went for free).  The taxi drivers played music at a ridiculous volume as we drove to Bethesda and the students danced in the back of the taxi.  One thing I love about the Basotho; if they hear music they dance.  I swear Basotho are born dancing to some techno beat.  So as we drove out of our village every single person/child/old woman we passed just started dancing.  It's so much fun to see.

Cheering for the runners

The first event was running.  Now instead of just watching and cheering for the runners my students sang and danced to show their school spirit.  Some of the teachers "supervised" the singing but this just translated in to carrying a stick and hitting anyone who wasn't singing.

After lunch we had dancing.  Each school performed two songs for each of the three traditional dances.  Now I had seen two of these dances before at my swearing in ceremony (videos that I am still trying to upload) but one the dances I had never seen before.

The first dance is called Mokhibo.  The kh sound in Sesotho is pronounced as a harsh h sound.  This dance revolves mostly around the movements of the shoulders.  The two pictures of the girls in brown skirts are my students.  The picture in the middle is another school that had a very impressive routine and a slightly different style of dress.  My girls wore long dresses past their ankles while the other school wore short dresses.  But schools wore a petticoat that poofed out the skirts.

The second dance is called Ndlamo. I had never seen this dance before so it was nice to see it.  There seems to be two different styles of doing this dance.  In the first style the dancers wear drums around their legs.  The other style seems to center around a pole that is manipulated for different effects.  My students are the ones in the red.  I assume that they are wearing a more traditional dress than the other school.

The last dance is called Litolobonya.  The li sound in Sesotho is pronounced di.  I also call this dance the butt dance since the dance centers around moving the butt up and down.  The outfit consists of a small top and a poofy skirt that has bottle caps to create a sound every time the dancers move.

Now I haven't talked about this in my blog but Basotho are not really known for being on time, a topic I will address on this blog another time.  I bring this up for the other events took too much time so there was no time for the debate.  I was personally disappointed for I had worked with the debaters to prepare for this day but it did not happen.  My students had quite the opposite reaction.

Now one of the nice things about being in a rural area is the view.  Bethesda was gorgeous with rolling green mountains and rocky terrain.  The truth is that I never get tired of how beautiful Lesotho is.

We headed back home around 6pm with the loud taxi music and the sound of student dancing to the music.  Overall it was a good day.

Aparna