18 Feb 2010

18 Feb 2010

First of all, I’ve received several emails asking about sharing this site -- please feel free to pass this blog on to anyone who may be interested. I’m happy to share my experiences with all who care to read about them!

It’s been a crazy week.

Monday and Tuesday I was frantically scrambling to get all the Peace Corps homework finished (writing about my meeting community members, as well as what I’ve learned about transportation, shopping, etc) so I could bring it with me on Wednesday when I went to Maseru for the H1N1 vaccination.

I had planned to go and come back to Sekameng in the same day, understanding that taxis can be pretty unreliable here. I figured I would leave when I finished classes around 1, walk to the junction, catch a bus to Maseru and arrive there in plenty of time. When I shared this plan with the other teachers, they insisted I go earlier. “Leave at 11 when the rest of us go to Church, and be sure to come home plenty early because once it gets dark, things are not safe.” They didn’t have to tell me twice. Though I was a little disappointed to be missing Ash Wednesday, I walked past the Church and saw people waiting around. Knowing Lesotho, it wouldn’t start for another hour, and even then the service was bound to last for at least an hour and a half. I set off to the junction, incredibly pleased with myself for choosing the right day to journey to Maseru. I reached the junction around noon and waited as several private vehicles and several taxis passed, none going to Maseru. Finally, around 12:30, one stopped with a sign in the window for Maseru. It had a grand total of two other passengers, so I figured business was just slow. Along the way, we picked up a couple more women, and I thought we were just making a routine stop when the driver and conductor hopped out and bolted into the shop across the street. The older women also got out, hopped into the back of a pickup truck and were off along some other road while one woman and I waited for nearly an hour for the driver and conductor to eat, smoke, digest and excrete food. I was absolutely furious but naturally, there’s nothing that I could have done. Lucky for me, I had a book because boy, did I read.

The two men emerged from the shop (and latrine) looking rather pleased with themselves, and lazily sauntered over to the car. A few more greetings and we were finally on the way again. He drove for only half an hour (very slowly, mind you) before stopping again. This time, the conductor had to come back to the car to turn the engine off so he and the driver could socialize with anyone and everyone they found. I’m not sure how long we waited there, but I was starting to worry that Dr. J might not even be in the office by the time I reached Maseru. After a while, we were on our way, yet again, and not too much later, we turned down the most random dirt road, honking and trying to gather customers for them. It was all I could do to bite my tongue, breathe deeply and roll my eyes.

All in all, it took almost five hours to travel a relatively short distance that should have only taken an hour and a half, tops. I made it to Maseru, got my shot, spent some time on the internet, charged my computer (hence this post – hooray for electricity!) and was on my way again. Unfortunately, time was really not on my side. I reached the taxi for Kolo just after the previous one had left, which meant I would have to wait for it to fill up before we would leave. By this time, it was after 6 in the evening, and it does start to get dark here around then (sunset is usually at 7 and it’s generally dark-dark by 8:30). I sent a text to my principal, warning him that I was on a taxi but probably wouldn’t make it home before dark, so could he please meet me where the taxi would let me off? He responded with a phone call to let me know he was actually on his way to Maseru. Drat! How would I make it from the junction home? It’s a minimum of a 45 minute walk (in broad daylight and good conditions) and there are absolutely no lights anywhere to guide the way. He told me he would try to work something out and let me know, meanwhile I should wait on the taxi and hope it fills quickly. Maybe fifteen minutes later, he called back and instructed me to get off the taxi (not a very common thing to do here, the driver wasn’t too pleased with me) and wait, and that his wife would come and pick me up. My first thought was “how in the world will she recognize me?!” but I remembered I stick out like a sore thumb in this place, so I thanked him profusely and hung up. Sure enough, moments later, ‘M’e Kolobe was introducing herself and shaking my hand, walking me back to her vehicle. She said we would be meeting up with Ntate Kolobe somewhere along the way and he would bring me back to Sekameng. Wow. I felt absolutely terrible at the prospect of making him drive so much, especially at night, and especially when I know how rarely he sees his family (only on the weekends!). They both assured me it was no problem; the taxi rank in Maseru is hard to anticipate and that public transport here is notoriously terrible in general, but I still felt pretty bad.

We had a nice chat on the way and finally arrived back to Sekameng around 9 in complete darkness.

It’s absolutely fascinating driving in this country at night because you can tell where there is electricity and where there is none. In villages that have electricity, lights are on in homes and shops, but where there is none, you can barely tell where the houses are. If you look closely, you can see the faint glow of candles or paraffin lamps, but there’s really not much more than that to indicate any sort of civilization… Oh, and the stars are incredible, especially when there’s only a little sliver of a moon.

Major thanks go to Ntate Kolobe and his family for putting up with me and my naive assumption that I could master the Maseru taxi rank, and for making sure I made it home safely. Looks like I have a really delicious cake to bake.

Today (Thursday) has been pretty tame. I’ve just been sleeping and reading and running and teaching and looking forward to the weekend!

All my love from Africa,

-Katie