The sounds of a village.

Without a doubt one of my favorite parts about living in Ha Selomo is the noise that engulfs the village around sunset every day. For me, more than any other time, this is when the village comes alive. When the heat of the day has passed, families emerge from their rondavals to savor the last few hours of daylight before the mountains finally cast their ominous shadows across the foothills. If I were ever to attempt to save of moment or memory of Lesotho, this would be it... I would bottle the sounds.

Across every hill in the distance, herd boys gather their cattle, and sheep from a day of foraging for grass in an all too dry and rocky landscape. The result of their slow passage home to the village, is a cacophony of bells that rings from every conceivable direction. It is my mothers favorite form of music, and it is quickly becoming mine.

Children pour out of rondavals everywhere... And their chatter can be heard all over the village, ever so slightly punctuated by the occasional call of a mother. And as always, where there are children, I hear my own name being beckoned, "Me' Limpho! Me' Limpho!" in the hopes of eliciting yet another smile and wave from where I sit, writing by my garden.

Now a tractor rumbles by. They are few and far between in Ha Selomo. But the maize is high in the fields this time of year, and I know that the family that owns the local Mill frequently sells out the services of their tractor to plow a fields too large to hoe by hand. For those not rich enough, however, there is the ever-present, "Thump. Thump." as a hoe meets the unwilling ground. This sound is particularly omnipresent this time of year, when villagers spend the better part of every day baking in the unrelenting sun while attempting to control their fields. It never ceases to amaze me the sheer determination and endless work required to glean some meager amount food from such rocky and mountainous terrain.

And as always with village life, there are the women. When I think of the "life force" of the village, I know it must be the women. A simple walk around Ha Selomo never fails to reveal a woman singing her way through hours of washing clothes or hauling water with a bucket balanced atop her head and a baby strapped to her back. They usher children, bargain at the shopong, cook papa and samp in large wrought iron kettles over fires in family courtyards, laugh and chat, and set off to tackle the next on a never ending list of chores that make life here in Ha Selomo possible.

I'm in love with the sounds of an African village.

Out of Training at Last!

After 9 weeks of intensive “Phase I” Training in “training villages” in Berea District, 3 months of “Phase II” preliminary integration at our new “sites” (ie. villages) across Lesotho, and one more week of follow-up “Phase III” Training in Berea… We are officially finished with Peace Corps Training!

We have been shaped, molded, and minted by the United States Peace Corps. We have been taught a surprising amount of Sesotho and lectured at for endless hours. We’ve each had TWO host families, TWO villages, and taught at THREE schools. We can tell you all about the merits of a thorough “community needs assessment,” the dangers of unsustainable development interventions, and the realities of HIV/AIDS stigmatization in Lesotho. We have been tested and tried. We’ve lived in places ranging from semi-urban to remote mountain villages. We have witnessed the challenges our students face, and been forced to use Sesotho to wiggle our way out of tough situations. We’ve been stranded in village by flooded bridges, lived in houses that are bed-bug ridden or mouse infested, and in one extreme case, had the roof blown off the house. We’ve experienced extreme joy, and desperate loneliness. And after it all, the only thing that I’m certain of is that I still have a LOT to learn. This is just the beginning of an amazing adventure! :)

Training has been an awesome ride! While I’m thankful training is finally behind me, I’m even more thankful for the amazing Peace Corps Lesotho Staff that helped prepare us for the inevitable challenges, and integrated us into their PCV family. They are truly special people. It was also wonderful to see my fellow PCV trainees during our last week of “Phase III” training. Being together again after the successes and challenges of our initial 3 months at site was obviously an emotional roller coaster of sorts… But we were all thankful for the chance to debrief, and get reenergized to face the next two years. For me, it was important, to once again be reminded, that I really do have an amazing support system here, in country. And while I may sometimes feel “alone” in Ha Selomo, a sympathetic ear or wise words of advice are never more than a frantic text, or a quick email away. This is definitely not a journey any of us are facing alone.

On our last day of training, PC took us over the border to Ladybrand, South Africa to celebrate with an AMAZING lunch! As luck would have it, the restaurant also had a playground… And for that moment, we might as well have been kids again! For most of us, our first vacation (and freedom from the travel restrictions placed on trainees) was only a few hours away… The joy and relief was evident on all our faces!

 

 

My Peace Corps Lesotho Education 2013 family!

With Love from Lesotho… –Mary E. <3

Welcome to Linokong High School!

I love my school, colleagues, and especially my students. I’m so lucky to get to come to work with such amazing people and kids every day! Here’s a quick glance around my school, Linokong High School!

My awesome, Form D (11th grade) class! I'm their class teacher (like a home-room teacher) and also teach them Physics…
They’re a great, and very smart, group of kids!

Just a few of the classroom buildings at Linokong- We have 2 Form A (8th grade) classes, 2 Form B (9th grade) classes, 2 Form C (10th grade) classes, 1 Form D (11th grade), and 1 Form E (12th grade). That’s a total of about 400 students. :)

Inside the Teachers’ Staffroom! My desk is the one in the lower photo (with the jacket draped on the chair)… It’s notably empty in these photos, but normally it’s full of my crazy, hilarious colleagues singing 90’s music and joking around. :)

 

Our Science Lab, from the outside. I’m incredibly lucky that my school has one!Inside the Science Lab… I’m currently in the process of reorganizing it, and turning it into a usable space where students can actually study and do science experiments! Horray for hands-on learning!

The Form C students with their garden plots! They were so excited to get to stand by their plants for a picture! :)

GREEEN PEPPERS! So delicious! In their Agriculture Class, the students take care of the gardens, and then the food grown in them goes to help provide food for school lunches. It’s a great program! You should have seen the kids canning peaches from the orchards a few weeks ago- I’ve never seen so many jars of peaches in my life!

   

The fun is over… And back to class they go!

With Love from Lesotho… –Mary E.