Can't Believe It's Over/Sorry for the Delay

Hey everyone!

I'm right about to leave for the airport (can't believe it's already over!). Just wanted to let you all know the status of my final posts. Long story short, I ended up spending the last few nights with family of a friend in Joburg. Between that and my stay in Thaba Tseka I've had almost no time to draft posts. I want to make sure that I spend plenty of time and love on my final week posts, so they'll be posted about a week after they actually occurred.

Can't wait to see you all soon!

Erika

Kadi's Last Day

kadi's last day was on tuesday. it was very bittersweet.

as she hugged everyone goodbye and had her name announced during morning prayer, i began to think about my upcoming (and dreaded) last day as well.

i never made a post describing a typical day in the clinic, so i don't think i ever mentioned much about morning prayer. and now as i think about this wonderful piece of my trip that i left out, i can't seem to understand how i forgot to write about this important part of everyday clinic life.

so, in an attempt to make up for it...

for the past two months i've started my day with morning prayer.

it happens at 7:50am, during which time the entire clinical staff (nurses, doctors, administrators, pharmacists, custodians) gather in a circle with the patients in the main waiting room. they sing well known sesotho hymns and follow them with a prayer (also in sesotho). although i can't understand what they're saying, it's my favorite part of every morning. it's the time when i become completely relaxed and have a few moments to simply meditate and feel connected with every worker and patient in the clinic.

it's the time when i feel free and at peace with myself and the world.

Salahantle for Now

Hey everyone! I'm running out the door right now, but just wanted to let you all know that I’m headed to Thaba Tseka (a more mountainous district) for a couple of days to say in a peace corp hut, so I won’t be able to post or update anything. I’ll make sure to take plenty of pictures and make about five posts when I get back!

Salahantle for now,

Erika

Days 48 and 49

on saturday we went back to see the weavers since alex and kadi hadn't gone the first time.

we ended up visiting four different weaver centers. after we'd seen them all kadi decided that she wanted to go back to the second one we'd seen to pick up a tapestry. we were a little tired from the traveling we'd already done that day, but agreed to go back.

when we got there, the woman in the gallery told us that the weavers had something they wanted to show us. kadi paid for her tapestry and we headed into the weaving room.

as soon as we walked in they begin to sing.
one woman would start and the rest would follow.
it was like the wool turning into yarn: with each voice they fed into the spinning wheel of their song, it became larger, richer, and more beautiful.
then they gathered in a circle and began to dance. we watched for a few minutes and then, when they began their second song, we joined them in their performance.

home near the weavers

after it's sheared from the goats, the wool is cleaned and untangled

next, it's dyed

finished product:

the performance:

i've mentioned to a few people that i tend to stand out when i walk around here. apparently everyone enjoys staring at the white girl who towers over the generally shorter basotho people. i think this gives a pretty good idea of how i stack up against the locals here.

look closely at this wall

notice what the wall's made of?
painted soda cans.

inside walls

on sunday, we went back to the orphanage for kadi's final service there (possibly mine too)

diligent bible reading

toddlers dancing during the church service, i seriously die of laughter every time i watch this :)

Joining Them

Kadi and I went back to the SOS camp on Monday. Kadi had to head back early to conduct interviews for a documentary she’s making, but I ended up spending the night at the high school and working with them the following day.

sign to SOS village near the clinic

we were dropped off at the work site on Monday around 10am
palesa, nalali (pronounced naw-lady), and me

working attire

leveling out the road

making it wider

itumeleng and local kid

my first time pickaxing, one of the guys helped show me proper axing form

determined to prove myself

boys piling on the pick up truck to get a ride to lunch instead of walking (school was about a fifteen minutes walk away)

pretty mountains

we headed back at 1pm for lunch and then just relaxed around the campsite for the rest of the afternoon. kadi and i ended up getting everyone in a big circle, had them say their name and age, and then gave them our back stories, so they knew who we were and why we were there. it helped break the ice between us.

picture taken from one of the classroom windows

the side of the school reads "love safely"

i snuck a picture of the boys dancing behind the school

when it became dark the cold began to set in. all the girls headed back to the classroom, huddled around the heater, and began to catch up on the latest gossip. they asked me what life in america was like from weddings to dating to weekend activities to school to funerals. the funeral question caught me the most off guard. i suppose that they happen so frequently here that they consider them a big part of every day life. they also asked me about obama and what i thought of him. i said that i supported him. when i asked them why they looked so surprised, they told me that they assumed i would have preferred bush since i was white.
then i began asking them about life here and i had major "american sleepover" deja vu as we talked about boys and who was dating who. we also talked about our hopes for our futures. i asked them to teach me some sesotho and they attempted to teach me basic words.
when i told them that i knew a fair amount of spanish, they asked me to teach them some. so, we alternated learning words in english, sesotho, and spanish.
we giggled, gossiped, and huddled close for warmth.

our conversations were lit by candle light

dinner being served in one of the classrooms

next morning, sun coming up behind the mountains

sun slowly reaching across the mountain sides

latrine

another school nearby

local farmers plowing

breakfast

breakfast was six slices of bread, margarine, and tea

another mountain shot

a woman washing clothes in the river

hut on the horizon

at the work site the next day

a man's head peeping out of the top of the roundaval as he was building up the walls

lesotho laundromat

new friends.


by the time i left, i had three more blisters to add to my collection from the pickaxing and shoveling, sore muscles, and about eighty new friends.