March 7, 2012 A Typical Day at Lepholisa

The first thing I did when I got to school this morning was go over to inspect the progress that had been made on the roof for the new classrooms…slow but steady goes the work.



Then I sat for a moment to catch my breath (it’s about a 45 minute walk to school). Actually, the walk to school is much more pleasant than the walk home; it takes about ten more minutes to get home because it’s slightly uphill all the way and I am usually walking it in the heat of the day!
Once sufficiently rested, I ambled down to the 2, 3 and 5 classrooms. They are about another five-minute walk away from the main building. I thoroughly enjoyed helping with a class 3-addition lesson and a class 2-subtraction lesson!

Then I headed back to the main building, where I sat in a room filled with approximately sixty kids (classes 6 and 7). We were all quietly reading when there suddenly erupted a loud, chaotic bunch of screams and everyone started scrambling out of the room. A snake had visited us! (Poor thing; he was immediately taken care of by the class 7 boys.)


Once the children had returned to the room and settled down, I went outside to visit with our principal, “M’e Masello, who was giving class 4 a lesson in Sesotho. They were working outside because they share a room with class 1, and it was just too noisy for them.


I went back inside to watch the young ones having a Sesotho lesson also!

It was a good lesson for me…yup, I’m just about at grade one level in Sesotho writing!!
After lunch we all met on the field to practice for Friday’s running competition at Fobone.
My walk home was HOT and tiring; I collapsed on my bed and just stayed motionless until my body cooled down. I am so lucky to live in a mokhoro. It’s much cooler inside during the summer days and quite warm inside at night when the temperature outside drops!
It was a good day!

February 29, 2012

Yesterday when I arrived at Lepholisa, I was happily surprised with the vision of students carrying long planks of wood from the village to the school.  Work has finally begun on the roof for the two new classrooms!! Once the roofs are up, all that’s left is the floor and panes of glass for some of the windows. Yea!!!
​Today at Mopeli I saw the beginning of the installation of the wires for electricity!  




I cannot begin to tell you how good it feels to see pipe dreams become reality.  If luck is with us, and Basotho timing with us too, there’ll be electricity at Mopeli before the dark days of winter set in, and two extra classrooms at Lepholisa so that the children do not have to be taught out in the cold!
​Sometimes I feel as though there are just too many blessings to count.  Mopeli held a fund-raiser for the electricity project today.  It was called “Funny Day”.  Children were allowed to dress up in crazy outfits for school.  It cost them fifty licente (that’s about 7 cents) to come to school in a crazy outfit.  Those who wore uniforms to school were charged M1 to enter (that’s about 14 cents).  Needless to say, teaching was a bit chaotic today…even the teachers dressed up.  

Other fundraising efforts for the Road to Mopeli Project include handmade jewelry and brooms for sale. Below are pictures of some of the jewelry the children and teachers have been creating.

Also below are images of women collecting grass to fashion into brooms. The community will try to sell both the jewelry and the brooms to raise funds for the community portion of the costs of Phase One of the project; getting electricity to Mopeli and for Phase Two; the road itself.


More to follow…

February 24, 2012 - Thank You

I should like to give a VERY BIG thanks to the following people:
 Zalka Ancely
 Xochitl Benson
Jeffrey W. Bracken
Audry de Lucia
Jedd de Lucia
Wayne Douglas
Erik & Denise Dukatz
Judea Eden
Paul Fisher
Lance Garcia
Joe Golling
Holly Gongob
Kate Goodnight
Dawn Hayes
Michelle Hironimus
Ian Hunter
Dawn Huston
Fran Herman
Marsha Herman
Karen Lindquist
Dottie Lutz
Teddie Main
Rafael Moller
Anita Noad
Andrew Poirot
Robert Roll
RPCVs of Colorado
Darlene & Bob Shadel
Kaye Thompson
Julie Trestman
 
Today, because of your generous donations, we bought the raw materials for bringing electricity to Mopeli Government Primary School!!!!  Work on the actual installation will begin next week.  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.  With this installation, we shall be one of the very few primary schools in all of Lesotho with electricity.  In fact, I believe there are fewer than three or four primary schools in the entire country right now with electricity.  
For those of you who are still interested in making a donation, please contact audry@ellaprint.com or fran@ellaprint.com.  You see, as soon as the work on this phase of my project has finished, I shall begin working on phase II, a decent road to the school so that an outreach clinic can come to us once a week to give vaccinations, well-baby check-ups, nutrition and HIV/AIDs education classes and many more things to the community!  Phase II of our project will benefit more that 10 villages in our area.
If you have been a contributor to our cause and your name is not on the list above, please accept my apologies and a great big thank you.  This is the list of donors that was given to me by the Peace Corps office.
I shall be sure to keep all of you posted on our progress.  Rusty

Friday, February 17, 2012

Here I am helping to re-thatch the roof of my home.

It's hard to believe I’ve been back in Lesotho for almost a month now!  Time does fly when one is happy and busy.  It’s still summertime here…actually, it’s a very warm autumn, and I am just relishing the sun and heat, trying to take in enough to sustain me during the cold winter months.

So much has happened since my last entry:

1 I have changed places in which I live; I now live in a lovely mokhora on the compound of Ntate and ‘M’e Monyane.  As of two days ago, electricity has been added!

2 Seventy-five percent of the project for electricity in Mopeli Government Primary School has been successfully funded, thanks to the incredible generosity of my friends in the U.S.A.  I have been trying to get your names so that you can be properly and individually thanked, but am having some trouble, so please accept this general thank you until I receive more specific information.

3 My third…and PROUDEST item…is Perry Grace de Lucia was born on January 10, 2012.  I am now grandma to three lovely children.

4 My young friend, Ausi Mathabo Nyamane, is still doing quite well in her second year of high school.  Last year she was the second in her class!

5 We are all working very hard to complete the electricity part of my Peace Corps project so that we can begin to build a decent road to the school.

6 Each day I am happier with the fact that I am working for the Peace Corps; it is a wonderful organization.  I am also more aware, each day, of the overwhelming amount of material wealth available to all Americans We are a very lucky country.

7 Tsoene Mathata has adjusted quite well to his new environs; he makes himself at home in the Monyane’s house and HAS NOT attacked any of their chickens!  He is in love with their cat, Little Kitty, and growing fat!Here are Tsoene and Little Kitty relaxing together (on MY pillow)!

8 The two additional classrooms at Lepholisa are almost completed; they now need floors and ceilings.  I was hoping they’d be ready for the new school year, but as I’ve told you before, things happen in their own time here in Lesotho.

9 Finally, my visit to Washington and California was wonderful!  I enjoyed being with my children and grandchildren and learned that I am ready to settle in a warm climate when I return to the U.S.A. 

This is a cart which passing by the back of my mokhoro.

Here some children are bringing a meal home for their 'M'e. 'M'e Mathabo has given them a bag of maize meal because they had no food.

This was when i was living in the back of the church; the rooster came out to eat some of Tsoene's food.
 
My new home is bigger than the last mokhoro, so there’s plenty of room for guests!  If you are up to a real adventure on an incredible continent, come visit!!!  I’d love to see you.  ‘Till next time, Rusty  

December 4th, 5th & 12th - The missing Entries

It’s been a hectic past few weeks!  Schools closed for summer vacation last week…there was a lot of testing, cleaning of rooms, recording of scores, collecting of texts, etc.   All three schools did well on the national final exams, and all three sets of teachers LOVED their Christmas presents of baseball caps with their schools’ names on them.
I was also able to get to Andrea’s house in Butha Buthe and celebrate Thanksgiving with her.  We both are so thankful to live in America and be independent Americans!!! After spending two years in Lesotho, observing the vast cultural differences…especially with family interactions…we are proud to be part of a culture that speaks out freely!  
I am in the process of packing my things and getting ready to move into a different rondavel. My present family needs to have this rondavel for their growing family, especially during the holidays.   There’s always a new adventure just around the corner here!  I shall be on the west coast, [of the United States], for the month of January; I am SO looking forward to coming home!!! If I don’t get a chance to write again before the new year, I wish all of you a wonderful, healthy and happy 2012!

Here are the pictures, finally:
Picture of Ausi Mathabo in her new birtrhday seshoeshoe.
Pictures of the Renekeng teachers wearing their hats.
Picture of the Mopeli teachers wearing their hats.

Picture of the Lepholisa teachers wearing their hats.

December 5th 2011:
Today a couple of the local abuti started to tear the old thatch off the roof of my new rondavel (it's actually not a rondavel...nor is the one I am living in now a rondavel. A rondavel doesn't have a porch; since these both have porches, they are actually limakharo.) Once the thatch is down, it will take about a week to re-roof it...and, of course the rains began today!!! When the roof is finished, they'll cover the dirt floor with cement and then I'll probably tile it. I hope to have the tiling done so I can move in before December 20th.
Two of the photos are not of the makharo; one is of Tsoene, who conveniently decided to fall asleep right on the back of Andrea's legs. The other is of a lovely black and white rooster who lives with the Monyanes ('M'e Mathabo's last name). It's really wonderful to see how the young ones just pitch in and help when asked...and they're working in the rain!



















December 12, 2011:
Here I am in my seshoeshoe skirt...the traditional dress of the Basotho. Most of them wear dresses, but I didn't want a dress made because all the dresses have puffy sleeves....oh, and that's Tsoene...the sunscreen bothers his eyes so he's decided to use the alternate method of sun protection.
I wore my seshoeshoe (pronounced seshwayshway) to a recent graduation party. I had a brown seshoeshoe skirt made when I first arrived but I've gotten too fat for it, so had to have another made!!!