Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Drama at the Funeral


Funerals are a part of Basotho life.  I’ve lived here for just about two years and I have already attended four funerals.  The first was for a friend in the village, the second for a Minister who’s home was across the mountain from me and a prominent member of my tribe (it was a state funeral and open to the public), the third was my colleague’s husband’s funeral, and the fourth was for the acting principle chief of the area I live in which I went to last week.
The reason I say that funerals are a part of life here is that Saturdays are always reserved for funerals.  Every Saturday, as I head in to town I pass by a few tents signifying a funeral in that village.  And every Saturday morning when I ask my host mother if she’s heading to a funeral that day she is more likely to say “Yes” than “No.”  In fact there are many weekends where my host family has to attend many funerals and my host mother decides to go to one and my host father decides to go to the other.
There are many reasons why people attend so many funerals in this country.  Many will say it’s because the death rate is much higher here with diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB rampant (and lightening strikes and car accidents).  Others say its because Basotho go to funerals that we as Americans would not attend.  Every person that can trace some sort of blood line to you, no matter how distant, is your family.  So many times my host mother will try to explain how she is related to the person’s funeral she is going to and it often times sounds like “My brother’s wife’s sister’s husband’s brother’s child’s funeral.”  And not to mention that the villagers here are so close (and all somehow related) that if anyone dies in the village, everyone in the village attends.
For the four funerals I have attended here there are many more that I have avoided going to but to be honest funerals are a great way of learning about Basotho culture.  There is a saying that Basotho do not give praise unless they are at that person’s funeral.  The funerals here consists of three parts, stories and praises, church, and the burial (remember Lesotho is a Christian country).  The funeral starts with people associated with the deceased speaking about them.  For example, at my friend’s funeral her teachers at the college she was attending spoke about her and her co-workers at the school she was student teaching said some words.  At my colleague’s husband’s funeral the teachers at my school spoke a little bit.  At the acting principle chief’s funeral there were representatives from the royal crown, chiefs in the region he presided in, and government people speaking about him.  From what I have observed/been told, the family will never say anything.  At some of the funerals I have noticed an MC, or someone introducing each speaker and in between each person a hymn is sung lead by anyone who is in attendance.
After the testimonials is the church section, a mass.  Interestingly a member from each church is asked to speak or say something whether the person was a member of that church.  For example, the acting principal chief was Catholic but a member of the Evangelical church (my host father) and a member of the Anglican church both said some words.  But the main service was done by a Catholic priest.
After the mass the casket is carried to the burial ground in a car with the rest of us following behind it.  Once at the burial ground the members of the family take turns pouring dirt on to the casket in the ground.  But this is not done in any random order but by one’s place in the family, usually by age with the eldest pouring dirt first (depending on the tribe the women may or may not take place in this).  My friends tell me that this portion of the funeral is often fraught with drama.  Many men may have illegitimate children who they were close with but since that woman was never married to the father you are not considered part of the family and cannot take part in burying your father.  Another example is that if you are not related to the deceased on your father’s side you are not part of the family and cannot take part in the burial.
There are also specific traditions that take place with the widow.  During the funeral the widow sits on a mattress with her mother (or acting mother) and mother in-law.  They are not allowed to sit on chairs.  They wear seshoeshoe (traditional dress) during the funeral and once the funeral is over they shave their heads (along with the rest of the family).  At this point the widow wears a dress of mourning, either a new seshoeshoe or a new black dress, and is only allowed to wear this dress until her mourning is over.  The rest of the family stops mourning after one month but the widow must mourn until it is harvesting season.  While she is mourning she is not allowed to stay with her own family but must stay with her husband’s family.  Some of these details probably vary tribe to tribe.
At the end of the funeral, after the burial, you wash your hands and you’re given food to eat.  The meals are often elaborate with meat, vegetable, and something made of maize and to wash it down a ginger drink.  While I hope I don’t have to attend another funeral during my last few months here I have also realized that funerals are a time for people in a community to come together.  Basotho know that there's a time to mourn and after that you enjoy life.

Friday, September 6, 2013

COS: Completion of Service or Continuation of Service


This last weekend my training group got together for the last time.  It was our COS conference and it was bitter sweet.  When we first came to this country we started off as a group of 23.  Now there were 17 of us left with an 18th who joined us earlier this year.  For some it has been a constant struggle, for others less so but it wasn’t easy for anyone.
I have been looking forward to this conference for some time now.  This was the weekend where I would finally get the actual date I was to leave Lesotho and I couldn’t wait to make my post-PC plans.  Now that I have the date I feel stressed and excited for the first time.  I’m excited to see my family and friends again who I’ve missed so much.  And to be in a first world country again, that’s going to be interesting.  I’m excited for the rest of my life.  But it’s stressful getting rid of everything you’ve complied in two years; clothing, household goods, souvenirs.  And saying good bye to all the friends I’ve made here knowing that I may never see them again.  I’ll miss the way I’ve lived the past two years and simply being in Africa.  The next three months are going to be hard.
A lot of RPCVs say that Peace Corps is the best two years of your life, and while it’s been amazing, I just want it to get better.  I don’t want this adventure to end even once I get home.
So here’s to December 4th, my last day as a PCV.  I can’t wait for what comes after and for the next adventure.  For if Peace Corps taught me anything it’s that "life's calling" and it's up to me to answer the call.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

And This is How We Do It



Teaching about bacteria and viruses and comparing them to cells (April 8, 2013)
Best way to learn about insects is to find them
Being a teacher is hard, and doing it in a country where the whole school system is different from the one you grew up with makes it even harder.  For example, punishments that work in the US just don’t work here.  My students are experts in doing absolutely nothing (it’s a cultural thing). So punishing students with detention just wouldn’t work.  Students are already expected to keep their classrooms clean so that is not a punishment.  You can’t take points away from their grades because grades are based purely on tests.
My 2013 Form A (8th grade) class
Another challenge is the lack of teaching materials.  I went to school where teachers used projectors, computers, worksheets, and posters designed for teaching.  While these materials may be available here they are not available where I stay or extremely expensive.  In other words, it’s not sustainable.  So I have had to learn to make my own materials.
Drawing pictures of insects
Some background: a lot of school in Lesotho have no textbooks and no electricity.  My school has some textbooks (many of my students do not pay the school rental fee), and has electricity which allows us to have a printer and a computer.  But my school is quite poor and so we use the printer limitedly.  I very rarely use to the printer to copy worksheets or to copy information for the students.  For the most part the only time our school uses the printer is when we print our June and December tests.  We do not have a science lab, but we do have a few chemicals (no lab equipment and the chemicals are not all useful) and no computer lab so the students can’t do research.  The school has a small library (which I set up).  Overall, my school is one of the better equipped schools in the country but there are quite a few schools in Lesotho with a lab, large library, computer, a printer, and electricity in all the classrooms (we only have it in the office).

Diagrams and Posters:
Learning about sexual reproduction in humans
Any high school student taking biology knows that it’s all about pictures.  Some teachers here draw the pictures on the board using up precious class time on trying to make a half way decent picture.  Others tell the students to copy the picture in the book.  I like to use visuals to explain how organs work together so I need a visual on the board.  Therefore many times I draw the picture before hand so I spend less time drawing and more time explaining.  Drawing the pictures on paper also allows me to use different colors which is helpful in certain lessons.

Kinesthetic Learners:

During training we talked about different types of learners; some learn better by hearing information,
Balancing equations is a tough topic for my Form Bs
some by seeing or through visual interpretations of the information, some by interacting with the information.  A good teacher tries to incorporate all of these in to a lesson to accommodate all the students.  The visual and auditory learners are the easiest to incorporate in to a lesson but trying to create interactive activities can be a little more difficult.  Having materials makes it much easier.


If at first you don’t succeed then try again…
March 8th 2012
The reality is that no matter how many materials I make myself nothing substitutes a fully equipped lab or a large library with books my students could look at for additional resources.  And the amount of time I spend writing things on the board when a worksheet would have made it so much easier is a lot.  All I can do with these frustrations are accept that they exist and try to work with them the best I can.  Besides, who joins Peace Corps because it’s easy?


Learning about the human skeleton, stretching, and spelling COCONUT all at the same time