October 26th, 2007 (written by Jason)
Hey all! How cool is it that I have been able to post a blog twice this week? I mean man this is the cat’s pajamas. I really appreciate all the well wishers that sent me their stories telling me about their experiences with being sick. I am currently asking them if I can post them because they are super funny. Not to make fun of their pain but so that you can feel their pain as I did and put perspective on how I felt this week.
I am fine today, finally. I missed 3 days of work this week; 2 because of my sickness and today because the weather is getting nasty. So I am making the most of it by posting another blog and sending out a message of love and inspiration to you. You guys are all so good to us. The people that have sent care packages, and you know who you are and those many of you who have sent e-mails and letters, have really blessed our hearts.
Many of you have heard that we have a few students staying with us because of their mothers lack of funds to pay for housing for them. We have decided that because of the shear size of our house that we would open our doors to them and give them a free place to stay.
This has been one of the most rewarding parts of our service thus far. I see in a personal way the way I am able to influence these kids to make good decisions and teach them discipline in their lives. We are also able to provide them with new foods and experiences that they would not normally have (pizza, lentil burgers, stir-fry, etc.). It is really a neat little family we have founded here. In many ways I feel that we get more out of them than they get from us.
Peace Corps service is filled with all sorts of highs and lows. This year we have been stuck in the monotonous routine of daily schedules like many of you back home and have experienced all sorts of interesting and strange cultural interaction that is far from the normative. I want to share a letter that a friend and colleague wrote some time ago. She is far more insightful and reflective on life here, than I have been in the numerous blogs I have written. I hope you enjoy her letter and that it gives you a small picture as to life here.
Just so you know you can write us anytime regarding any questions you have and I would love to expound on them in detail. Love you all
Jason
Taken from http://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/outside_do.html
Knowledge is like a baobab tree -- no two hands can encompass it." (Ghanaian proverb)
March 24, 2007
Public Letter #7:
"What Can I Send You?"
This letter is tough to write and maybe tough to read. It's my answer to your question, "What can I send you? What do you need?" Maybe you've asked it and maybe I've answered, "Soccer balls for children. Sports bras for teen girls on the track team. Easy-to-read books for students and 2007 calendars for schools. Hands-on activity books for teachers."
But these are not things that people in my village truly need. They are short-gap answers – things that you can send and I can give that make both of us, as Americans, feel good, feel like we've addressed, in some small way, the poverty that is Africa.
But poverty is huge, grinding, complex, layered. It has no easy solution. The soccer balls get confiscated by older kids or punctured on barbed wire fences. The girls' running team disbands because the teacher is "sick." Books are locked away in the principal's office. A teacher decides she has no time to do hands-on learning activities because she's pressured to keep up with the syllabus.
It's like giving a child candy – the pleasure is momentary, for the child and the giver. The candy solves no major problem, perhaps even creates one.
What Kids Need is Education
What the children need is education – school fees and school texts for secondary school, school shoes and school uniforms for standards (grades) 1-12. School uniforms cost $10 - $30; shoes cost $10-$30 and feet keep growing; a year of high school texts costs $35; high school fees range from $150 to $800/year, depending on the school. These are huge amounts for a country whose people live on $1 or $2/day = just $400-$1000/year. I remember the Tibetan community trying to get us Madisonians each to support one child in Daramsala, northern India, for $245/year. While it was an attractive idea for me, I never did it. I figured I was putting out thousands of dollars a year for "my own" Tibetan refugee family, and that was enough.
Like you, I also saw the "Adopt a Child" ads in the back of magazines. Now I'm at the other side of those glossy photos, and I see that "adopting a child" truly makes a difference in a child's life. Education is one answer. If you want to help one child, send money to Friends of Lesotho. They are helping us Peace Corps Volunteers provide high school scholarships – we can each nominate five village children, and I've already located my five. Each will receive 500 Rand ($90) toward school fees – a great program. ( www.friendsoflesotho.org) Mention my name. Maybe we can get 100 drop-outs and orphans back in school.
What Adults Need Are Jobs
But Lesotho doesn't need to save one child – it needs to support 100,000 orphans, and to give education to ALL its children. To do this, yes, it needs help from outside Lesotho. But the country needs jobs. Parents want to support and educate their OWN children and the nieces and nephews of their sisters and brothers who've died, who've they promised, on deathbeds, in tears, that yes, they'd look after the children. So it's jobs we need, if we're to educate children.
And where are the jobs? For Basotho people, jobs are not in Lesotho. Just a few government jobs, which are shabby, which lack the infrastructure that makes government effective, and which invite "dipping into the till." Oh, one can be a driver of taxi's, or a farmer, or a shop keeper, but here we're talking about eeking by – taking the small, sweating coins of one's neighbors.
There are jobs in South Africa – grueling jobs in the diamond or copper mines or in textile factories owned by the Chinese. There are jobs in America – for doctors, scientists, professors. So Lesotho sends its strong and able men, its educated men and women, far away. Do they come back? Do they better Lesotho? They do, but it's not a viable solution. The men in South Africa come back shells of men, and they bring HIV/AIDS. The sisters and brothers in America help younger siblings come to America, leaving elderly mothers in the village, without help for everyday chores, without daughters and sons for everyday laughter.
The World Steals from Africa
Lesotho is a country / Africa is a continent stripped of resources, from its diamonds and spices and endangered species to its doctors and nurses and writers. The world has taken from Africa, but not given back. It's a continent of 52 countries, unconnected by highways, airports, trains or train tracks, ships or shipping companies. A company from China or Germany opens a factory here, creates "jobs" (cheap labor). The company does not build an Interstate highway. It builds a little highway or water way that is unashamedly direct – from the factory to the port, or from the factory to the airport. It must make a profit; it cannot afford to build a road for the "people."
It's easy for Americans to think of Africa being poor, a wasteland, a pit of problems. It's harder for us to acknowledge or research how much of our greatness, how much of our wealth came and continues to come from African mines, mountains, veldts. It's harder to count how many nurses and doctors in our hospitals and HMO's come from countries with African names, how many professors in our in our universities represent the best and brightest of their own countries. It's harder yet to see how inter-locking directorates of global corporations (South African Airlines / Shell Oil / KFC / banks) skim the cream off the continent. Africa staffs and supplies not just North America, but also South America, China, Europe.
So, yes, please keep sending the soccer balls and children's books. But know they are not really what my village needs.
What My Village Needs
It is hard for you to send initiative and problem solving skills. That's what my village needs. When you think how you yourself learned "initiative" and "problem solving", you'll think of a long line of experiences, tiny successes that came from kindergarten (which we don't have here), summer camp (which we don't have here), sports teams (which we don't have here), singing in a musical or acting in a play (no after-school activities here), or the attention of a gifted teacher or doting relative (which hardly exist in this adult-impoverished society).
The hardest time of day for me here is 4 pm in the afternoon. I usually need to walk uptown to buy some tomatoes or to go to the post office. Schools are out, and the road is lined with kids, still in their school uniforms, with NOTHING to do. They just "hang." Well, teens everywhere like to hang, talk to best friends, call out and tease classmates, flirt with the older boys (taxi drivers), smoke their first cigarettes. But teens in many other countries have options – they can work on a computer; play on a soccer team; do homework using charts, graphs, calculators, magic markers, glitter; go to a mall; read a magazine in a library. They can take ballet or piano lessons or play in a garage band. They might own or be able to use a camera, an i-pod, a CD player, a camera phone. All these create early experiences with initiative and problem solving.
My high school teacher Volunteer friend Sara up the hill says that when she gives her kids an assignment to compose, "How I'd solve Lesotho's problems if I were Prime Minister," they all write, "I'd ask America for more money."
In Lesotho, problem solving and funding and new projects come from the Outside. Someone like me turns up (virtually unsolicited), in a village so people ask, "What can you give us?" That was what I encountered my first day here (Public Letter #4 – One Day Down, 724 to Go). It's what I meet daily, in various forms. Kids say, "Give me money?" "Give me candy?" Adults say, "When are you going to invite me to dinner?" "When are you going to do a workshop at my school?"
What White People Are Good For
White people arepeople who are here briefly, who go away, who somehow have access to resources that the village doesn't. Get what you can, while you can.
Peace Corps asks us to create SUSTAINABLE projects. The country is a skeleton of past projects brought by various NGO's (non-governmental organizations like Red Cross or World Vision, etc.) Clinics unstaffed; empty teacher resource centers used as a place to urinate; shells of buildings with peeling signs in front of them, like "GDZ Germany Seedling Center" or "Community Sewing School." The volunteer leaves, the project collapses.
It's not because people are lazy – it's because they are not skilled, not confident, not persistent, don't have telephone networks and acquaintance networks and computer networks to put them in touch with real help. Volunteers can start a project; we can seldom stick around to maintain it.
What I call "initiative" and "problem solving skills" are in reality skills built on huge, interlinked infrastructure systems. Infrastructure – it's a boring word – but it's what my village needs. Roads that lead somewhere; a public official who can get you a service you need; a service that is hooked to other services.
The idea that a Peace Corps Volunteer can do anything more than be friendly to neighborhood kids and teach a few people a few things is pretty ridiculous. Do we need 10,000 computers – which I might write a grant for? No – we need 10,000,000 computers. Do we need 2,000 trees planted – which I might help with? No – we need 2,000,000,000 trees planted. Do we need South Africa to complete Phase II of the Katze Dam and pay us $2.65 million Rand a year for the water? No – we need South Africa to help us train a generation of hydro-engineers, so we can manage our own damn dam, and by the way, the price should be $2.65 million Rand per day, not per year.
That's what we need. Some hard negotiators who quit giving away the continent.
And Now for The Good News
To end on a positive note – two items:I recently sent a set of 90 slides on a CD for a PowerPoint presentation for the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies conference. We did a "live by telephone" interconnect, with me yakking in the background on a speaker phone, while the slides cycled through. What I tried to show in the slides was the absolute, stark beauty of this country, and the joy and resourcefulness of children. Children here, without "options" or "infrastructure" and with few adults in their lives, create volumes of laughter, joy, fun, games. They are strong, lovely, imaginative. The slides show them building clay animals with mud from the river, playing games with old wheel rims, playing dolls and house with scraps from the trash heap. They are merry and strong. I think many American kids would love their freedom to roam, and their dawn-to-dusk days outdoors amidst majestic mountains and bleating baby goats and meandering river gullies.
With a bit of inquiry (initiative, problem solving), I think you can get your hands on a copy of the CD, if you'd like to see it or to show it to your kids.
The second positive thought I have about what you can "do" for Africa is what you are already doing – loving children and giving them genuine attention, building stronger local communities with community planning and recycling, teaching problem solving and initiative, being empathetic, working to end the wars in Iraq and in the Sudan, writing me letters to reflect on our shared lives on this planet. These are the things that matter, that in the long run help Africa and help America. Africa's problems will be solved by a world of educated and empathetic people, by a planet not racked by global warming, by governments not at war, by a sense that we are a global community and must reprioritize resources for "people."
What can I send YOU?
I send you love from Lesotho. Autumn is on its way. The mornings are now often chilly. Inside my rondavel the candle is burning; the two teen boys who live with 'M'e Mabokang in the big(ger) house are laughing, bringing buckets of water. Our rooster is crowing. A new day dawns.
Madeline / Sesotho name "M'e Lerato" (Lerato = Love)
NOTE ADDRESS**:1/2007 – 11/30/08
Madeline Uraneck / ('M'e Lerato)
PO Box 172Mt. Morosi, 750 LESOTHO AFRICA
E-mail – for best results e-mail it AND air mail it. 90 cents to air mail a letter from USA to Lesothoglobalmaddy@gmail.com (I get to Internet sites only rarely)
After 1/2009:C/o Marilee Sushoreba1818 Adams StreetMadison WI 53711 *** USA(608) 255-0772 E-mail: msushore@facstaff.wisc.edu**
(Any mail previously sent to Maseru will reach me, don't worry)
PREVIOUS PUBLIC LETTERS
Request them (one or two – not all) from my sister Susan in Oregon: s_uraneck@yahoo.com
1. First Impressions (November 11, 2006) – via e-mail
2. First Impressions, Continued: A Mountain Village (November 16, 2006) - hand-written
3. HIV/AIDS in Lesotho (December 4, 2006) – via e-mailPublished in WorldView Magazine
4. What's Your Name? 4 Weeks in a Basotho Village (December 31, 2006) – via e-mail
5. One Day Down: 724 to go (January 3, 2007) – via e-mail
6. Collecting Best Days (February 26, 2007) – via e-mail
7. What Can I Send You? (March 24, 2007) – via e-mail
Friday, October 26, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Why I hate being sick...
October 22, 2007 (written by Jason)
So today I am sick. Yeah I know we all get sick it is just part of life. But this is the annoying sick. Not the debilitating sick that some of us get from time to time. This is the swollen throat, itchy eyes, achy muscles sick that could go one of two ways. It could be done and over with tomorrow, to where I feel good enough to return to work. Or I could slide farther down into the hole that is sick and not get out of bed. Now if I had my choice I would rather go to work tomorrow. Sure there might not be a lot to do there (I mean there is tons to do but very little that gets done), but it sure beats sitting around the house all day. Even if I did get the internet back up!
That does rock by the way! Now I can hear from you. Tell me about the worst time you got sick. Where were you? Did you have anybody to take care of you? Give me the gory details. I hope that this at least makes you laugh!
And I hope too that tomorrow finds me on my way to school and not stuck trying to stay warm eating soup and lying around.
All the best
Jason
So today I am sick. Yeah I know we all get sick it is just part of life. But this is the annoying sick. Not the debilitating sick that some of us get from time to time. This is the swollen throat, itchy eyes, achy muscles sick that could go one of two ways. It could be done and over with tomorrow, to where I feel good enough to return to work. Or I could slide farther down into the hole that is sick and not get out of bed. Now if I had my choice I would rather go to work tomorrow. Sure there might not be a lot to do there (I mean there is tons to do but very little that gets done), but it sure beats sitting around the house all day. Even if I did get the internet back up!
That does rock by the way! Now I can hear from you. Tell me about the worst time you got sick. Where were you? Did you have anybody to take care of you? Give me the gory details. I hope that this at least makes you laugh!
And I hope too that tomorrow finds me on my way to school and not stuck trying to stay warm eating soup and lying around.
All the best
Jason
Sunday, October 21, 2007
October 21, 2007 (written by Janeen)
Well I am in Maseru and will be here all week! If you want to send an email, I'll be likely to respond! Yes, we are still alive despite the absence of a new blog post! :) Here is what we've written recently (one from Jason and a boring one from me).
October 20, 2007(written by Jason)
Hello to all my peeps out there in cyberland! This is Jason coming at you for the first time in 2 months or so. What is up with that? I promised that I would do my best to be on top of blogging so that I would make sure that you weren’t left out in the cold as to what is going on with us. I have failed you all and for that I am deeply sorry.
But now I have the chance to make up for lost time. I am going to come to you with a super long special edition (that most of you will probably just ignore anyway! he he he). As you can tell I am in kind of a giddy mood this morning. I made pancakes and coffee and that just puts in me in a good mood I guess. This is also the first blog that I am writing from the laptop that my parents lugged to Lesotho on their vacation, but I am getting way ahead of myself.
These last few months flew by with my birthday, my family coming to visit and lots of other little activities thrown in to keep us exceedingly busy. Way back in the beginning of September, the Education group of 2005-2007 had their COS (close of service) conference. I got a chance to be there as I am part of the group known as PSN (peer support network) to do a session on grief and loss. It sounds like a crappy topic to talk about but it is really important as Peace Corps volunteers we are thrown in the midst of a hectic life and have very few opportunities to actually reflect about what we are going through and what that means to us a people in the great big world. It was a great session and I cried (if you know me you know that is really not that strange. I cry at Kodak commercials like Lloyd and Harry in Dumb and Dumber).
After that, we had my birthday party. I can’t believe that I am already 28 years old. I know that for some of you out there that 28 seems very young and that you would give your right ear (or maybe a finger nail) to be 28 again. However to me, 28 is getting up there. Most of my friends, from what I hear are already having their second or third child, while Janeen and I are still globe trotting, playing development worker and what not. It is not that I am not happy about that but I definitely won’t be a millionaire before 30, unless something drastic happens in the year when I get home. But that is ok too. Too much pressure sometimes is put on making money and not enough is put on living life and that is definitely what Janeen and I are doing. We are making the most of our crazy lives and are having a blast doing it.
Lesotho as we have said has had a rather large drought for some time. Well the day after my family arrived for their vacation with us, the heavens decided that it was time for a thorough soaking of this parched country. My brother claims that he has a direct line to God and that his prayers made the difference. We seem to think that God was just impressed to hear from Mike and decided to show him what was up. The funny part is since it started raining, it hasn’t really let up. I mean some rain is good; a lot of rain is better but flooding rains, come on already. My buddy up the hill or mountain lives in a village that you have to cross a river by boat to get there and he said that 2 people have drowned in the last month. So thanks a lot Mike!! Way to go!
More about my family's visit. What can I tell you? They came, they saw, they cried…The story behind this is that my school that I work for wanted to do something nice for my family. So, they put the whole school in the large building and had songs and speeches, a traditional way to honor people in this culture. Then at the end of the celebration, they brought out some gifts for my mom and my brothers fiancé. This was when the water works turned on. I mean they went for it too. It was at this time that my teachers began to worry that they had insulted my family or something. You see, crying is not that common amongst adults here except at funerals or if your football team loses. So when they saw them crying when they brought out the gifts, they got a very frightened looks on their faces. I had to explain that they were crying out of happiness and that they should not be worried. This seemed to amuse them, but I don’t think that they really fully believed me.
We had a great time traveling around in our little car, seeing many parts of the Southern Africa region before they had to head back home. It was really a great time to be together even if my parents did think that they were going into the middle of the bush. In case I haven’t said this in the past, Lesotho is not the bush. It is sparsely vegetated and even less so after a long drought. So if you think that I have to hack my way through the jungle to get to school, readjust your radar to think of something like New Mexico or Arizona.
Now we are back into somewhat normal life here. I am clocking the KM away on my bike as I have ridden it 9 times in the last 14 days. School is also winding down for us and I am trying to get my teachers to start preparing for next year and the years after that by encouraging small changes to the way they teach. This week for example, I taught my class 1/2 teacher to do a morning introduction activity that involved the date, the weather, the alphabet and some songs. It sounds rather basic but this was a huge improvement for this teacher. She loves it, the kids love it and I am just glad to see them doing something that I recommend. All in all a pretty big success in a land with few success to be had.
Just so you know, my family is thinking about putting together a project to help my school. I will be writing more about that including putting the proposal up in the following weeks. If you are interested in helping, shoot me an e-mail and I can give you more details. Until then please don’t forget to write (e-mail, snail mail, carrier pigeon, whatever). We love getting little notes hearing what you are up to. Also make sure to pass these sites on to your friends and let them know that some people are somewhere doing something… I think
All the best, Jason
October 11, 2007(written by Janeen)
Well we have been back in Lesotho for four days. It was great to see Mom & Dad Sam as well as Mike and his fiancée Heidi (we really like her by the way). We did some site-seeing in Lesotho and then headed to South Africa, where we went to Durban, followed by St. Lucia where we went on some game drives. Unfortunately we only saw 2 (buffalo and rhino) out of the “Big 5” animals. The elephants, lions, and leopards were hiding that day. We saw A LOT of deer, different types too. We also saw some baboons, monkeys, zebra, and giraffe. It was pretty impressive to just be driving along and seeing these animals right next to the car. The last stop was Swaziland. We were all impressed with Swaziland. I thought that it would be a lot like Lesotho, and there were many similarities, but overall I would say that Swaziland is more developed. We stayed at Mvubu Falls Hotel, went craft shopping, and also hiked to the falls.
The trip of course had to come to an end. Last Sunday we made the ever so pleasant 6 hour trip from Johannesburg to Maseru cramped in a 15 passenger taxi with our bags (and all the other passenger’s bags). Fortunately Jason and I packed VERY light. We each only brought a small backpack. We’ve gotten quite used to wearing our clothes more than once. It was hard saying good-bye knowing that it will be over a year before we see them again AND knowing that Mike & Heidi will be married by the time we come home. It’s been a challenge getting back into the swing of things.
I only have one month left of the school year. We went 2 weeks longer over the winter and now we will have an extra long summer break! I still have a lot I want to cover before school is out, but the break will be VERY nice because Kelly is coming for a visit at the end of November and my family is coming in December. Plus I have some activities I want to develop for next year that I just don’t have the energy to complete after school.
I will be in Maseru for an entire week beginning Oct. 21st through the 26th (that means I’ll have internet access all week if you want to email). I will be working on developing some lesson plans and helping prepare for the next group of education volunteers who will arrive in November, which means that we have almost been here a year. It’s crazy because it feels like it has gone so quickly, but yet we are only about ½ way done. We still REALLY miss family and friends too. I do have to mention that our mail has been trickling down. There are only about 3 or 4 people who still mail on a somewhat regular basis, and just so you know my letter writing policy states that “I will only write to those who write to us! AND I’ll send birthday cards if I know when your birthday is.” So if you haven’t gotten a letter from us, (or pretty much, me…Jason MIGHT tag a short note at the end) it’s because you haven’t written us!
OK enough of the guilt trip. We hope all is going well in your half of the hemisphere. By the way we finally got rain! It had been dry for quite some time. We had a lake at the bottom of our mountain that had completely dried up, animals had started to die of dehydration, but the rains have finally blessed us. In fact we had a short shower today. We hope it keeps up!Love you and miss you all!
October 20, 2007(written by Jason)
Hello to all my peeps out there in cyberland! This is Jason coming at you for the first time in 2 months or so. What is up with that? I promised that I would do my best to be on top of blogging so that I would make sure that you weren’t left out in the cold as to what is going on with us. I have failed you all and for that I am deeply sorry.
But now I have the chance to make up for lost time. I am going to come to you with a super long special edition (that most of you will probably just ignore anyway! he he he). As you can tell I am in kind of a giddy mood this morning. I made pancakes and coffee and that just puts in me in a good mood I guess. This is also the first blog that I am writing from the laptop that my parents lugged to Lesotho on their vacation, but I am getting way ahead of myself.
These last few months flew by with my birthday, my family coming to visit and lots of other little activities thrown in to keep us exceedingly busy. Way back in the beginning of September, the Education group of 2005-2007 had their COS (close of service) conference. I got a chance to be there as I am part of the group known as PSN (peer support network) to do a session on grief and loss. It sounds like a crappy topic to talk about but it is really important as Peace Corps volunteers we are thrown in the midst of a hectic life and have very few opportunities to actually reflect about what we are going through and what that means to us a people in the great big world. It was a great session and I cried (if you know me you know that is really not that strange. I cry at Kodak commercials like Lloyd and Harry in Dumb and Dumber).
After that, we had my birthday party. I can’t believe that I am already 28 years old. I know that for some of you out there that 28 seems very young and that you would give your right ear (or maybe a finger nail) to be 28 again. However to me, 28 is getting up there. Most of my friends, from what I hear are already having their second or third child, while Janeen and I are still globe trotting, playing development worker and what not. It is not that I am not happy about that but I definitely won’t be a millionaire before 30, unless something drastic happens in the year when I get home. But that is ok too. Too much pressure sometimes is put on making money and not enough is put on living life and that is definitely what Janeen and I are doing. We are making the most of our crazy lives and are having a blast doing it.
Lesotho as we have said has had a rather large drought for some time. Well the day after my family arrived for their vacation with us, the heavens decided that it was time for a thorough soaking of this parched country. My brother claims that he has a direct line to God and that his prayers made the difference. We seem to think that God was just impressed to hear from Mike and decided to show him what was up. The funny part is since it started raining, it hasn’t really let up. I mean some rain is good; a lot of rain is better but flooding rains, come on already. My buddy up the hill or mountain lives in a village that you have to cross a river by boat to get there and he said that 2 people have drowned in the last month. So thanks a lot Mike!! Way to go!
More about my family's visit. What can I tell you? They came, they saw, they cried…The story behind this is that my school that I work for wanted to do something nice for my family. So, they put the whole school in the large building and had songs and speeches, a traditional way to honor people in this culture. Then at the end of the celebration, they brought out some gifts for my mom and my brothers fiancé. This was when the water works turned on. I mean they went for it too. It was at this time that my teachers began to worry that they had insulted my family or something. You see, crying is not that common amongst adults here except at funerals or if your football team loses. So when they saw them crying when they brought out the gifts, they got a very frightened looks on their faces. I had to explain that they were crying out of happiness and that they should not be worried. This seemed to amuse them, but I don’t think that they really fully believed me.
We had a great time traveling around in our little car, seeing many parts of the Southern Africa region before they had to head back home. It was really a great time to be together even if my parents did think that they were going into the middle of the bush. In case I haven’t said this in the past, Lesotho is not the bush. It is sparsely vegetated and even less so after a long drought. So if you think that I have to hack my way through the jungle to get to school, readjust your radar to think of something like New Mexico or Arizona.
Now we are back into somewhat normal life here. I am clocking the KM away on my bike as I have ridden it 9 times in the last 14 days. School is also winding down for us and I am trying to get my teachers to start preparing for next year and the years after that by encouraging small changes to the way they teach. This week for example, I taught my class 1/2 teacher to do a morning introduction activity that involved the date, the weather, the alphabet and some songs. It sounds rather basic but this was a huge improvement for this teacher. She loves it, the kids love it and I am just glad to see them doing something that I recommend. All in all a pretty big success in a land with few success to be had.
Just so you know, my family is thinking about putting together a project to help my school. I will be writing more about that including putting the proposal up in the following weeks. If you are interested in helping, shoot me an e-mail and I can give you more details. Until then please don’t forget to write (e-mail, snail mail, carrier pigeon, whatever). We love getting little notes hearing what you are up to. Also make sure to pass these sites on to your friends and let them know that some people are somewhere doing something… I think
All the best, Jason
October 11, 2007(written by Janeen)
Well we have been back in Lesotho for four days. It was great to see Mom & Dad Sam as well as Mike and his fiancée Heidi (we really like her by the way). We did some site-seeing in Lesotho and then headed to South Africa, where we went to Durban, followed by St. Lucia where we went on some game drives. Unfortunately we only saw 2 (buffalo and rhino) out of the “Big 5” animals. The elephants, lions, and leopards were hiding that day. We saw A LOT of deer, different types too. We also saw some baboons, monkeys, zebra, and giraffe. It was pretty impressive to just be driving along and seeing these animals right next to the car. The last stop was Swaziland. We were all impressed with Swaziland. I thought that it would be a lot like Lesotho, and there were many similarities, but overall I would say that Swaziland is more developed. We stayed at Mvubu Falls Hotel, went craft shopping, and also hiked to the falls.
The trip of course had to come to an end. Last Sunday we made the ever so pleasant 6 hour trip from Johannesburg to Maseru cramped in a 15 passenger taxi with our bags (and all the other passenger’s bags). Fortunately Jason and I packed VERY light. We each only brought a small backpack. We’ve gotten quite used to wearing our clothes more than once. It was hard saying good-bye knowing that it will be over a year before we see them again AND knowing that Mike & Heidi will be married by the time we come home. It’s been a challenge getting back into the swing of things.
I only have one month left of the school year. We went 2 weeks longer over the winter and now we will have an extra long summer break! I still have a lot I want to cover before school is out, but the break will be VERY nice because Kelly is coming for a visit at the end of November and my family is coming in December. Plus I have some activities I want to develop for next year that I just don’t have the energy to complete after school.
I will be in Maseru for an entire week beginning Oct. 21st through the 26th (that means I’ll have internet access all week if you want to email). I will be working on developing some lesson plans and helping prepare for the next group of education volunteers who will arrive in November, which means that we have almost been here a year. It’s crazy because it feels like it has gone so quickly, but yet we are only about ½ way done. We still REALLY miss family and friends too. I do have to mention that our mail has been trickling down. There are only about 3 or 4 people who still mail on a somewhat regular basis, and just so you know my letter writing policy states that “I will only write to those who write to us! AND I’ll send birthday cards if I know when your birthday is.” So if you haven’t gotten a letter from us, (or pretty much, me…Jason MIGHT tag a short note at the end) it’s because you haven’t written us!
OK enough of the guilt trip. We hope all is going well in your half of the hemisphere. By the way we finally got rain! It had been dry for quite some time. We had a lake at the bottom of our mountain that had completely dried up, animals had started to die of dehydration, but the rains have finally blessed us. In fact we had a short shower today. We hope it keeps up!Love you and miss you all!
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