Rusty's Odyssey: November 1, 2010

I missed not celebrating Halloween; its not celebrated in Lesotho…kind of, you see, every day might be Halloween here with all the legends, superstitions and witches’ tales that the Basotho believe. For example: Last week there were two encounters with poisonous snakes here in Tabola. The first one was with a puff adder at one of my schools. The second was with a cobra at my compound. Okay, the fact that two poisonous snakes were seen in the vicinity within a week is bad enough, but the rumors that are flying around about their presence are even worse!!! It is being said, in town, that one young man followed the adder to the hole to which it was scurrying, and the adder quickly turned in the hole and stared into the eyes of the boy. After their eyes met, the boy went home not feeling well. He’s now in the hospital because he can’t seem to recover his health or strength!! I am told that he is to “be operated on” while in the hospital. Upon asking what the operation would be for, I was told, “to take care of whatever poison the snake has mysteriously administered to the boy through the eye staring!
No, I did not see either snake…wish I had! I brought up pictures of the black mamba, the puff adder and the cobra for people to see, and just looking at the photos nearly put a lot of Basotho into shock!
Keith Harrington, I hope you’re reading this!!!! (Keith is a former Peace Corps volunteer who sent me a letter back in August. He was stationed in Peka from 1986-1989.) Last week I went to visit the nursery you started when you were here! It was wonderful to visit with your former friends; they all remembered you and proudly showed me your pictures that are still hanging on the wall of the nursery building. The nursery is doing quite well. In fact, I bought a young pear tree to plant in my Ntate’s compound. The women with whom you worked remember you fondly!!
I was unable to gather much information about Peka High School; I know that it’s still in existence. A secretary at St Rose High School is a former student of your wife. She was in Form A at the time; her name is ‘Mamphiri Tsenekela…now Mathora Rathebe. I hope you received my snail mail letter asking for your email…I think that I may have forgotten to give you mine. Please just snail mail yours back to me and I’ll respond. I hope that you enjoy the pictures of my excursion to your nursery. You should feel very proud that you started a sustainable business for our Basotho friends. The picture you sent to me…standing in front of a sign, which said Peka Supermarket, was interesting. That building is now empty; there are a few small businesses in Peka, but, for the most part, Peka remains poor, with many unemployed hanging around the posong or spending their days drinking themselves into oblivion. No, the people do not use a slang version of “buy a donkey” to say thank you; they do, however, use the Afrikaans “tanki” to say thanks.
Unfortunately, Aid’s is running rampant here. Many young children are parentless, and being brought up by grandparents or other relatives. The country is still in denial about this devastating disease, but the Minister of Education is making a valiant effort to educate the young learners about abstinence and self-protection. People still do not list Aid’s as a cause of death on death certificates…anything but that. There are so many orphans and double orphans in the country now that they surpass the number of children with both parents. I’m sorry to paint such a dark picture of the state of health in Lesotho, but it’s a reality. The Basotho people are wonderful…still full of song, dance and laughter…they’re just not accepting, yet, of their grim future if they don’t do something about this epidemic.
On Friday, Mopeli Primary School took its grade seven students into Maseru for a special graduation picnic. We walked them over to a mall and WOW…THEY WERE JUST AWE STRUCK!! Most of these children have never been out of the village of Tabola…they’ve NEVER seen a city before…stoplights…elevators…escalators!!! They were so in awe of everything, that they didn’t utter a word in the mall. It was so wonderful to be a part of their discoveries! I love these children and wish I could bring every one of them home to see a bit of life in America.
And…. I was so thrilled to find out that Patti Murtha and Damian Lemak have gotten married and are living in Denver…yea!!! I realize that I have not sent pictures of the field trips to Katse Dam and Thaba Bosio; I’ll try to get them posted this week. I miss you all; stay warm and healthy! Love, Rusty

Here's a picture of one of my prize projects...gender equality...the BOYS are cooking the meat for lunch!

Here I'm riding a "horse" at the park and 'M'e Mathabo (the princiipal) is standing beside, giving the horse orders.

This is a picture of the Mopeli teachers when we took the seventh graders on a picnic in Maseru

Here's a picture of me and the teachers from Lepholisa.

This is a picture of the statue of King Meshoeshoe I, taken when we went to Maseru for the seventh grade picnic

That's a picture of Katse Dam taken from one of the winding roads.

1. This is the sign to read as you first travel up the path at Thaba Bosiu.

Thaba Bosiu (Mountain of the Night or Black Mountain) , is the famous mountain where King Meshoeshoe I protected the Basotho from all enemies...In these pictures you'll also see the famous mountain which prompted the design of the Basotho hat. Its name is Qiloane, pronounced with the famous African "click", and can be seen from Thaba Bosiu.