September 8, 2012

Spring has FINALLY come to Lesotho! We’re not quite in short sleeves yet, but the long underwear, double sock layers, scarves and gloves can be packed away for a while. Peach blossoms are dotting the countryside and young animals are being born wherever I travel! It’s wonderful! In two weeks I shall travel with some Peace Corps friends to Tanzania. Terry wants to try his luck climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro so his wife, Barbara, and I shall do some sight seeing and “safari-ing” during his climb. We’re all excited with the prospect of seeing Zanzibar and the ancient city of Stonetown. Sometimes the planning is just as exciting as the actual trip! After such a cold winter, I am confident that we’ll relish the heat of Tanzania! It seems strange that all of you have just enjoyed the Labor Day weekend and are settling down to fall activities while the summer is just beginning for us in Lesotho. Oh how I’m looking forward to the hot hot days of summer!

Sunday, August 12, 2012 - Windy & Cold

Well, it’s still very cold. The snow has finally stopped, but now we’re dealing with incredibly strong winds! I have to stick a blanket in my door at night to keep out the cold and the dust. We’ve been without Internet service for about a week now…since the last snowstorm. I am not sure if the storm has done something or if my computer is on the blink. Tomorrow I’ll head to Maputsoe to see if they can figure out what’s going on with my email; I am really quite spoiled…one week without hearing from my U.S.A. family and I’m lonely, a bit frantic and almost ready to come home! But I know that there’s still a lot to accomplish in the next four months, so on I’ll go on!

August 7, 2012 - Snow in Lesotho

Today there is snow in Lesotho again…it’s VERY VERY COLD! The people in my village are not used to dealing with the snow; it happens rarely here. Mariha (winter) is playing its usual tricks on us…a few days of pleasant weather, allowing us to believe that Selemo (spring) is just around the corner…then boom! When I came to school this morning, I saw children walking in the cornfields with their uniforms and blankets tightly wrapped around their little bodies. Many of them were not wearing socks…a few were barefooted! How the Basotho are able to survive is amazing! Most of the young ones laughed and sang as they “shivered” their ways to their schools. Since I was the first teacher to arrive at Renekeng Primary School; I slipped into the warm little room where lunch was being prepared for the children; I wanted to see if I might thaw my toes a little bit. Three fires were going so that beans and papa could be cooked. The children will eat as soon as the food is ready and then go right back home to climb into their warm beds and blankets. It’s the only way to stay warm on days like today because most families cannot afford heaters in their huts. As the tiny ones entered the school grounds, they were ushered into the cooking room to warm themselves! It was good to see the cooks so concerned about them! Eventually, those who had managed to make it to school gathered in one classroom. That was wonderful because all the bodies made the room almost comfortable! Now we are all in our respective areas, waiting for the completion of the food preparation. As soon as we eat, we’ll all go home and climb into bed!!! I MUST find a new novel…maybe I’ll just work in my crossword puzzle book. My friend, Andrea, who works at a high school in Buthe Buthe, said she was called this morning and told that her school had been cancelled. We cannot do this at the government primary schools because the lunchtime meal we serve is often the only meal our students get! So, we’ll feed them and then head home…luckily, I shall have the warmth of my little gas heater today (so long as it doesn’t run out of gas!) The roof of my mokhoro is wonderful…it’s been keeping out all the rain and snow that ole Mariha has been throwing at us! However, the windows and door of my little place do NOT keep out the wind and the constant dust of this season; today’s snows should do a lot to lessen the dust in my house tomorrow! Ah, another day in wonderful Lesotho! Radio South Africa claims that this latest storm and cold spell will end on Thursday…but no one really believes that. We shall see what dear old Mother Nature has planned for us. My beloved Basotho continue to sing and smile through all of this; they are truly a blessed people!

July/August - Pictures

The attached pictures are of Karabo, 'M'e's granddaughter and "m"e wearing my blanket; she borrowed it to attend a wedding, and one of me holding the infant Sekonjela.

Article for the Peace Corps Journal - July 2012

This is a story I wrote last month for a Peace Corps newspaper article.

I love cooking…have always loved to cook and shall probably never lose that passion! It does come, however, with some challenges. I remember cooking huge wonderful Sunday dinners for the immediate and extended family while my three children were growing. As they grew and “spread their wings” across our wonderful country, I faced the challenge of paring down my meals to accommodate only one or two people…a challenge I was able to meet successfully. And so, my enjoyment of this art continued. In 2010 I was invited to join the Peace Corps in the tiny country of Lesotho, where papa and moroho are the basic foods…day and night! I am still in Lesotho and still enjoying cooking! My biggest challenge here was first learning to cook my meals on an open flame or a two-burner gas stove. Both were easy challenges to meet. Ah, but my love of baking! How was I ever going to bake my cakes, scones, cookies and pies? The Peace Corps supplied all volunteers with a HUGE cooking pot which I quickly converted to a Dutch oven; I did this by lining the bottom of the pot with empty tuna fish cans…one layer of cans for a certain temperature and a second or even third level for items which tended to cook faster on the bottom, so as not to burn those bottoms. It worked and I was able to bake again! I am a volunteer at three different primary schools in the district of Leribe. In these schools, I have met the most wonderful, dedicated and fun-loving young people I could ever hope to meet. All of them remind me, daily of my three children and three grand children at home. To help them celebrate themselves, I have begun the tradition of baking cakes, cupcakes or biscuits (cookies) for them on each of their respective birthdays! For the past two and a half years, I have managed to bake something for each and every teacher and principal at all three schools and for my host families. What fun it’s been to watch their surprised faces as they’re called into the principal’s office for a meeting, only to find a cake filled with burning candles and a group of fellow staff members singing “Happy Birthday” to them! It thrills me to know that in all three schools, not only is “their day” something that is looked forward to with anticipation, but I have seen how, during these gatherings, the teachers have learned to communicate with one another on a more personal and warm level. One of the schools has already decided that this is a tradition that will not be dropped when my tour is finished in Lesotho! In fact, that very same school had a birthday cake for me for my seventieth birthday this year!!

Winter in Tabola: July 12, 2012

This is typical Maria (winter) weather in Tabola...very cold and sunny. The tjale (small waist blanket) I am wearing was a gift from Sekonyelo's parents. You can see that although I am freezing (notice the wrists), I am also sunburned!!! I wear sunblock daily, but the sun is so strong.

Photo Contest June, 14, 2012

P.C. is running an HIV photo contest. One of the categories is Education and Prevention. I want to submit a photo showing my little ones reading all the wonderful HIV books we have. My favorite photo is this...what do you think?