Dumela (and other words in Sesotho): the adventures continue...

Kadi, Alex, and I have been wanting to volunteer at the SOS children’s home across from the clinic. We talked to Dr. Pii (head clinic administrator) and he called their director. We met him on Friday and he told us about a camp they were having in Malealea (mountainous district about two hours north of Maseru) for eighty of their high schoolers. He arranged to have a car pick us up on Saturday morning and we ended up spending all day with them.

We were used to working with kids a lot younger than us (at Ensured Salvation Orphanage and the Baylor Clinic), so it was a much different experience working with teenagers my age and older. About half the kids were double orphans and lived full time at SOS, while the other half were single orphans (or double orphans staying with relatives) that live outside of the orphanage, but that the center still supports.

They arranged for us to go pony trekking in the morning and then meet the kids in the afternoon.

pony trekking:

typical basotho hut

me riding

kadi riding

we took victory jumps when we reached the top of the mountain!

kadi

pony-horse

more pony-horses

alex, our very own hose whisperer

pretty scenery

ntate tour guide

more pretty landscape shots

pondering the meaning of life

alex (kind of new girl who goes to UNC) and me

okay, mom, don't have a heart attack. if i had fallen, i'm sure the thicket of bushes and trees hundreds of feet below me would have cushioned the fall.

basotho woman

after we finished our pony trek, the camp coordinator picked us up and took us to the work site. we had heard that the kids were helping build a road and paint a school and assumed that we'd meet up with the girls. buuut, change of plans, he ended up dropping us off at the boys work site.

we road in the pick up truck down rocky, bumpy roads on the mountain side. we finally reached the worksite and jumped out of the truck. as soon as we did, we looked up the hill to see forty high school (ages 15-20) boys staring down at us. they all stopped working, leaned against their shovels and pick axes that they'd stuck into the ground, and gave us cold, "we are judging you and you obviously don't belong here" looks. i didn't know what to do, so in a moment of desperation, i decided to rely on the usually successful "smile widely and wave frantically to seem friendly" approach. it wasn't really reciprocated, but i continued anyways. the coordinator then gave us a brief introduction in sesotho and left us to work.
my feminist desire to prove that i wasn't some weak, pampered, white, American girl drove me to take a few leaping steps up the hill, grab a shovel lying on the ground, and, with every ounce of strength and determination i had, drive it deep into the soil and fill the wheelbarrow with my overwhelmingly impressive strength.

and, while that was how i saw things happening in my mind, in real life my shovel smashed into stone and my entire body bounced back with the reverberating energy waves. as my ears filled with chuckles around me, i became even more determined and tried once more. i actually ended up getting a good handful of dirt on it this time and proudly placed it in the barrow. the guys shrugged and continued about their work.
and, just when i was beginning to get almost-two-handfuls of dirt worth on my shovel with every swing, a boy walked over, gave me a "you are incompetent" look and reached his hand out. i reluctantly handed over my shovel.
but, i was still determined to prove myself! as soon as they filled the wheelbarrow i snatched the handles before anyone else could and twisted my face with sheer pig-headed tenacity. i gripped the handles tightly and slowly lifted the load that under normal circumstances would have been to heavy for me to even attempt to push. then i took baby step by baby step down the hill until i reached the dirt mound and emptied it. i heard whistles instead of laughs this time and beamed with pride.

i continued with this job and, even though a boy took it upon himself to assist me with the future loads, i knew that i'd proven somewhat proven myself. eventually the guys even began making small conversation and i saw the potential forming for us all to become friends.