picncs, party's and other stories...

Last Saturday the I went on an outing for the teachers of Bokoro High school. The outing had been promised for the teachers to reward the good results of last term and to acknowledge their hard work. Graham and I were included in the festivities and were told to be ready to leave the school at 8:30am on Sat. morning. I was ready, Graham was not, as he has lost faith in the concept of "on time", not that I can blame him. We set out shortly before nine for town, where we picked up the rest of the staff.

A short aside about the working conditions: With the exception of Francis, all of the other teachers live a fair distance from school. Tranport is difficult and those who live in town get up around 430 or 5 in order to catch a taxi to get to school on time. Many, even in town, do not have electicity, and use a common water tap. The two female teachers (both 24 years old) are both married and have little girls. Their daughters live with their parents in other towns as it is not possible for them to work and to care for their children at the same time. They visit them every few weeks or so. Francis has a wife and three children and they live in another district and he visits them every month or so. The unemployment rate is so high in Lesotho that people move anywhere that there is work, at great cost to their family life. One teacher, Robert, has an hour and a half walk each to and from the place where he catches the taxi each day. It makes me very thankful to live on site!

Anyway- we arrived in town where we picked up food and drinks. This seems easy enough but in true Basotho time it took three hours and we didn't leave for the park until after 12 noon. By this time everyone was hungry, so we waited again while people bought some take-away for eating in the truck. There were 11 of us in total in the pick up truck and we were a merry crew, singing and laughing our way to the park. I can't pronounce, or spell the name of this Nature Reserve, but it was in the Leribe District and about an hours drive from town. When we arrived we drove up to a picnic area where there were thatched structures for sitting and cooking. We made a fire and set about cooking chicken and sausage which we ate with papa and a spicy carrot salad called Chakalaka. We had no plates or eating utencils and so ate with our hands, which is quite natural here. I really enjoyed spending some down time with the teachers. They are a fun and wonderful group of people and you could tell that many of them had not had a day off like this in a long time. Before we ate, we had a short period of reflection where we prayed and a few teachers reflected on how this time together was in recognition of hard work and how after this day together they hoped to feel refreshed in their work and to continue to committ to the education of the students at Bokoro. It was touching and sincer and I felt equally inspired.

We had the park to ourselves for a while but soon mini buses full of people began to arrive and take up the neighbouring cooking areas. The buses would drive right up onto the grass and their doors would open and young people would pour out of them dancing to the heavy beat of music. They danced and cooked and most came over to say hello. Graham and I attracted a fair amount of attention, and had our picture taken many times with various groups of people. One group had a traditional Basotho blanket made from animal skins and one lady put it on and had her picture taken with us. "Yes my sister!!" she cried as her friend snapped the photo. It was quite a riotous time.

We went for a short walk after we had eaten to a water hole where Graham entertained us by jumping and flipping in tp the water. It was the first larger body of water that I had seen since arriving as there is a drought and the rivers are all quite dried up. We left of home and arrived quite late after dropping everyone off.

I am actually in Hlotse today, even thought it is Thursday. Carolyn, Bruce and Penny are leaving for Canada this weekend so I have come down to say goodbye. I will also be going to Maseru with them so that I can finally visit the passport office and get my visa ! I have an exention until the end of the month, but would then have to make the trip to Maseru anayway. This seemed like a good time to do it. The bonus of this trip is that I was able to have a shower last night for the fisrt time in three weeks. Carolyn doesn't have hot water, but even so it was nice to stand under a tap! I usually have what I can only describe as a sort of bird bath in one of the basins that I have. I don't mind this too much, but I won't say that I didn't enjoy the shower very much!

I was meant to get a ride into town with the school truck yesterday but I had been asked by Carolyn to take a few pictures at the primary school. 40 girls had been given new uniforms through a fund with Help Lesotho. What I hoped would take only a few minutes took over an hour, and so the truck went on without me. I don't reget this one bit as it really touching to see the girls change from their torn and ragged unifirms into new ones. The older girls changed in a back room but the younger ones , and I mean these kids were TINY, were stipped down into the office and were helped into their new shirts and tunics. There was one little urchin whose shirt was as long as her tunic, and her sleeves had to be rolled up several times. She was very pleased with her new clothes. As they changed I couldn't help but notice the condition of their old clothes. One child's shirt was completely worn away in the back that her entire back was exposed, and another's skirt was worn completely away and her shirt came right through. Most had been patched and patched and stitched back together it was a wonder they stayed together at all. It was a priviledge to see how good will donotations from Canada are being used to help these children in Lesotho. I can assure you that there is great need. Many of our students at the high school are also receiving new uniforms through the Granny's Child fund. New sweaters were given out last week, which was a good thing as it has started to become cooler in the mornings and the sweater is much needed for the walk to school. After the uniforms had been given out to the primary girls, I went into the other classroom where these girls were assembled and took their picture. They were shy, but smiled and waved at the camera as I arranged them into a group, most fingered the new fabric of their uniforms and smoothed the folds of their skirts.

Because I has missed my ride I walked into Khukhune with the tailors who had brought the uniforms to the school. We walked all the way before we met a taxi and went into town. I was shown to a taxi to take me to Hlotse and on this taxi I bought a woven grass hat from a lady on the taxi who had a great pile of them on her lap. When I put it on there was a collective mumur of approval from the rest of the passengers.

I will try and post on Saturday before I head back to Bokoro. Thank you for your messages! It is a great lift to hear from each of you.