What a nice ending to a stressful week! Thank you to all who sent birthday messages via facebook!! There were so many that I was overwhelmed!…and the messages are still coming today! In fact, I had a surprise birthday phone call from Michael Brumbaugh!!! It was just like we were sitting across from one another, chatting over a cup of tea…or a Bloody Mary.
For all my Peace Corps friends, Mary (Ed.10 now gone home), is now the proud mother of a little girl, Lucia Josefina Avila. I am proud to share a partial name with this new little one! .She weighed in at over nine pounds on March 30th! Mary says that Lucia smiles a lot and has a head full of hair!
Yesterday the teachers at Lepholisa helped me celebrate my 69th year with a Basotho lunch; we had papa (a kind of boiled corn meal), moroho (chopped greens), lihapo (carrots) , khoho (chicken) and motoho (sour porridge). We laughed and sang a lot and then went back to work.When I arrived back home, my family had also prepared a birthday meal for me…pretty much the same thing, with the addition of rice and beetroot (beets). They’d also traveled up to our camptown, Hlotse, to purchase a birthday cake at Shoprite!!!.. How’s that for trying to make me feel at home?
Most Basotho do not celebrate their birthdays, but I have made a point of making a cake for every family member in my compound and every teacher at my three schools for his or her special day. This has excited all of them so much! I think a new tradition is about to come about in Tabola.
No comments:
Post a Comment