16 Feb 2010

16 February 2010
What a great weekend! On Friday, the packages from home (finally!) arrived, carrying Christmas presents as well as my old cell phone from home and a flash-drive with plenty of new music (thank you so so much, everyone!). I have yet to make the phone actually work with the Lesotho SIM Card, but I have faith in Vodacom, so I’m sure things will work out.
Saturday was very hot but I made it home in the late afternoon, made some early dinner and began reading a new book: They Poured Fire On Us From The Sky. It is an autobiographical account of several of the “lost boys” from Sudan and so far is very captivating. It’s an easy read – I definitely recommend it!
As I was beginning to drift off, I heard some odd noises coming from inside my kitchen. I was pretty baffled; they didn’t sound like the mouse noises from several weeks ago. I knew my door was locked, so it couldn’t be anything too dangerous. Not even two seconds later, there was a bat, flying in circles around my bedroom. Thank goodness I had put the mosquito netting up last week! There was no way I was going to get up to try to deal with it, so I blew out the lamp, put my book down and went to sleep.
When I woke up on Sunday around 7:30, there was no sign of the bat (no surprise; they’re nocturnal after all), so I went back to sleep for several hours, postponing my run until later. When I finally got up to run, I wasn’t quite sure whether or not I’d make it to church (I had told ‘M’e Motselisi I would go again since there were visitors there from Germany, she told me), so I took off towards the road and figured I would go late (Basotho time). I had been running for maybe 15 minutes when I saw a huge caravan of vans and trucks coming down our (absolutely terrible) road. This was puzzling, since usually there are not that many vehicles, and the funeral (a village over) was long done. I was too far away to see who was actually in any of the vehicles, but I’m sure they saw me and thought me strange, just like every other Basotho.
After my run, as I was coming back towards the school, one of my students approached me and told me I should go to Church (now there’s a guilt trip for ya!) … so I hurried home (still sweating and panting) to change clothes and head back to church. ‘M’e Motselisi saw me leaving the school for church and we sat by each other. To my surprise, there were a dozen other non-Basotho sitting along the front of the church: the Germans. Service was nice again, lots of music and dancing, and with many churches visiting, we raised a huge offering. At the end of service, it was announced that the leaders of the various churches would meet with the visitors to discuss certain matters, so they should all process out first. Imagine my surprise when the Germans turned out to be Americans, from Washington state! They were visiting Lesotho for about a week in partnership with the World Vision Organization. I snuck out at the end to chat more with them… wonderful people. They invited me to lunch with them after the “quick” meeting, which, in true Basotho fashion, lasted almost two hours. They were each presented with a beautiful Basotho blanket and we made our way to the next room where the catered lunch awaited us. It was probably the best lunch I’ve had in a long time, since I’ve been eating the school lunches! We chatted for a while about what they were doing here and what I’m doing here before they were ushered along to the next village meeting.
To any of you friendly Washington-World-Vision-friends that might be reading this: thank you so much for your warmth and interest. I greatly appreciate that lunch and hope you had a great (and very safe) trip back to the States! Don’t hesitate to email or write!
I found my way home and hung out with Emily, a CHED (Community Health & Economic Development) volunteer who lives one village over for a while. She brought me basil and swiss chard seeds, so whenever the students actually show up to help me with my garden plot, I’ll be ready! I’m excited to have fresh vegetables (much cheaper than those from town) and especially the basil! I’ll be able to make pesto after all!
The rest of Sunday was a bit of a scramble as I had done no lesson planning all weekend, I still had to bathe and I had lots of clothes to wash (did I mention how much a laundry machine would come in handy?!). Amazingly enough, I got it all done, and washed dishes on top of it.
Sunday night, a huge storm rolled through Sekameng. There was some crazy wind and lightning that truly lit up the entire sky. I’m not scared of the storms, I really do like them, but sometimes the lightning can get really intense. I’ve heard that a student last year actually died when he was struck by lightning, so I have a healthy respect for it.
Sunday night, my visitor also came back. Yep, the bat. I was just sitting at my table with the lamp lit, working on my physics lesson for Monday when there was a flapping and the bat was flying around above my head. Yikes! It’s not so much that I fear the bat, I just don’t like the idea of being bit and the whole rabies procedure… yes, I’ve had vaccinations, but apparently I would still have to get more shots… no thank you.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I had no net with which to catch the visitor, so I opened my door and burglar bars (keep in mind it’s late, pitch dark and stormy – rain is coming into my house even under the porch) and tried to shoo it out. No luck. Instead, it climbed back into the ceiling where it had been. Alright, fine, I closed and locked my doors and went back to lesson-planning. Moments later, it came back for more. I opened both doors again, hoping it would sense the wide openness of outside, but no luck. Instead, a furry, wet critter brushed up against my leg and I absolutely screamed. The cat had come in, seeking shelter from the storm, and thought I was bent down to give it attention. Ha, not quite.
At this point, I decided to call it a night and wake up early to finish my lesson-planning the next morning. I ducked my head, dashed into my room and read for a while until I was sleepy enough to actually doze off. Wow, it’s an adventure here.
Yesterday (Monday) was fine, I finished my lesson-planning and taught all my crazy lessons. At the end of the school day, I was all ready to run but five minutes into my run, there was an absolute downpour, so I retreated to the staff room. This storm was complete with more massive lightning (that struck pretty close to the school in my estimation) and even some hail. Let me tell you, there is no noise quite like hailstones pummeling an uninsulated tin roof. It. Was. Loud.
The bat made no appearance last night, though I did go to bed relatively early…
Today was fine and good until after school, after my run (in the rain! it was glorious!), when I came back to find other teachers beating students for speaking Sesotho when they are supposed to be speaking English. This, five weeks in, was the first time I have actually witnessed the corporal punishment. There were several teachers all standing around a group of students. One by one, the students came forward and held out their hands as one of the teachers wound up and struck them on the hands five or more times with a long stick.
I don’t even know what to say about it. I knew it was here, and I’ve seen the sticks each teacher uses, but to actually witness it is something completely different. How a teacher can strike a student and think it is the right thing to do, or the only way to punish a child, is absolutely unbelievable to me, and it makes me so sad in my heart. If anything, it acts as incentive to find (and successfully employ) better methods of disciplining my students, for I could never, ever hit a child.
Tomorrow is Wednesday and after classes, I will go to Maseru for my H1N1 vaccination. It will be the first time in Maseru in over a month, and, honestly, I’m not really that excited. It’s almost too big and too much to handle. Plus, traveling with public transport is usually somewhat of a hassle. Who knows when the taxi will come and how full it will be or how loud the speakers will be… I guess that just reiterates how much this place is beginning to feel like home, a very reassuring thought.
I can’t think of much else to say. Life continues with its highs and lows, and for the most part, I’m really enjoying it. Teaching presents plenty of challenges, from explaining a basic concept to patience as the whole class watches a wasp fly in the window and around the room, shrieking in alarm until it leaves us in peace. Most of my students are fantastic, and I am continuing to learn names (though it is pretty hard). Water shortages are definitely a problem, but I’m lucky to have several buckets stored up. Plus, whenever we use the generator, I can charge my computer! There’s a silver lining to most things, and I’m learning to be optimistic enough to see it.
All my love from Africa,
-Katie