Today is a very special day for me; it’s the day, two years ago, when I arrived in the Mountain kingdom of Lesotho. It is also Tsoene Mathata’s second birthday…and he’s still as feisty as ever! My life is so much richer because of this day…thank you, Universe.
Addendum…it is the morning of November 13th…I have just come from outside where there was a great hu-bub of chaotic sounds and movements…people in my Basotho family, all chasing Tsoene and yelling. It seems that one of Ntate’s baby chicks escaped from its cage and right into the waiting mouth of Tsoene!! He helped himself to his own after-birthday dinner. He is such a mathata!
Ah, things are deteriorating rapidly. Ntate wants me to get rid of Tsoene; he says he’s a wild cat who will eat all the baby chicks. I have said that I cannot get rid of him…he is like my son. The Basotho do not understand this. I have offered to buy better caging to keep the chickens in, but Ntate says, “NO, they should be free; they are only fenced because of your wild cat!” I have offered to move to another place, but Ntate says,”No, the Peace Corps will think that we don’t like you.”
My supervisor, ‘M’e Mathabo is coming by after church, to see if she can help resolve this problem. My cat is truly named Tsoene Mathata. The expression, “Ha ho na mathata” (no problem) is sometimes misleading; in life there ARE problems. Our strength of character lies in how well we handle/solve them. Wish me luck.
Addendum #2
‘M’e Mathabo came and talked with the Ramoabis. Tomorrow after school we will go to the market and buy materials to make a better cage for the wild chickens and their babies.
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