Well, we have arrived in Lesotho. By we I mean the 10 people sent out by Camara to teach computer literacy in schools, this is Conor, Jonas and Carla (our coordinators), Aisling, Deirdre, Helen, Jen, Dallan, Joe and Des. Cormac who is the founder and CEO of Camara has also travelled out with us but he will leave us shortly to travel to the 4 other countries that have volunteers sent out to them as part of Camara's Africa 2007 volunteer programme.
So the journey, we were flying from Dublin to Heathrow and then onto Johannesburg. Here we were being met by Jonas and Carla who have been out here for a week before us getting everything set up for our arrival. After Jo'burg we really didn't know what exactly was planned, whether we would stay overnight there or travel to Bloemfontain or head straight to Maseru the capital of Lesotho. Anyway our flight to Heathrow was delayed by about 50 minutes so a final pint of Guinness (or two) was had to say farewell to Ireland and last minute supplies bought. As we all know Heathrow is notoriously disorganised for transferring flights so the fact that our plane was delayed by nearly an hour was not good news. Luckily we were arriving into terminal one and leaving from there too but we still had to make a mad dash across the terminal only to find that the queue was so massive for our Jo'burg flight that we would be waiting around for a good half hour!
Flight was grand, flew British Airways and got absolutely no sleep on the flight which didn't help with the day of travelling we had ahead of us.
We were paranoid with the delay that our luggage would not make it and of course it didn't! There was talk of there being something like 12,000 pieces of luggage in Heathrow needing to be sent on to their rightful owners. So we don't have our bags at the moment which is slightly annoying but we have all the important stuff.
So we were met by Jonas and Carla at the airport. The plan was to get a minibus south to Ladybrand which is a town just over the S.A.-Lesotho border near to Maseru. We even had a little trailer for all our luggage which was sitting in London. The journey down was about 450km and was really nice, the views of such vast tracts of land were amazing and the sun was shining. It's winter here and the days are generally quite sunny with clear skies, although once the sun drops it gets very chilly very quickly. Carla was saying that the week before we arrived it had been snowing and with it getting so cold at night I'm not at all surprised. On the bus the mood was good despite the missing bags and typical African music was interrupted by the odd bit of Westernised music.
The drivers over here are a little bit loony on the roads, overtaking on bends, going at ridiculous speeds and so on but tucked away at the back of the bus I didn't really mind let alone notice. That was until I heard what sounded like a glass bottle smashing off the bus. We then started to swerve and slow down rapidly and it was obvious something was wrong, we all got a bit panicky until the bus finally shuddered to a halt at the side of the road. We all piled out and inspected the damage on our left rear tyre. It was only for the great driving sense of our driver Sonny, and the fact that there wasn't anyone speeding behind us that it wasn't more serious. So we relaxed at the side of the road as Sonny changed the tyre and the cows looked on.
Eventually we reached Little Rock Resort which was kind of like a camp site and had nice little thatch chalets waiting for us. It was so nice to finally arrive somewhere and relax a bit and it even had Rocky Saloon, a little bar with chilled Castle Lager for 6 Rand each which works out about 60 cents. They even had sausage dogs, three of them, and some Lassie dogs to welcome us! So after several beers and a pizza we climbed into the bunk beds to fall off to sleep.Day Two, Sunday July 1st:
So we have crossed the border and entered Lesotho. We got a taxi bus down to the Maseru border crossing with our passports ready. We had a pretty easy passage through the immigration. Once we entered Lesotho we waited for another taxi bus and our contact Malefetsane from SchoolNet, our host and local partner. He works for the National Cirriculum Development Center who do great work trying to promote education within Lesotho. The area when you cross over was quite an introduction to the poverty that is in Lesotho, all shacks with corrugated iron tops selling fruit and bread. After a short wait we met Malefetsane and headed off in our taxi bus toward the town of Butha-Buthe. We decided that, seeing as our clothes were still missing, we would stop off at Peps, which is the Lesotho version of Penny's, and get some clothes to see us through the next few days.
The place in Butha-Buthe we are staying is nice enough, four rooms and eight beds between eleven of us and one shower which gets colder as you turn it hotter. Our landlord Steven is a funny fella who keeps smiling, laughing and saying "I am happy". He's going to be attending our first teaching session too which should be funny. Well here's looking forward to getting stuck into teaching tomorrow, we all can't wait to get stuck into what we came out here do.
Day Three, Monday 2nd: First Day Teaching
Today was our first day getting cracked into the teaching. Up at six in the morning! Our first school is called St. Peter's and is well off the beaten track. The school is situated in the most amazing place, a load of small stone buildings sitting in the midst of some of the most picturesque mountain views. As we got stuck into setting up the classroom and the computers our first students arrived in dribs and drabs. Some hung around outside the doors nattering away while the braver ones sauntered in smiling brightly and shaking hands. We had 19 working computers and 26 students so we had to use our laptops for some students. After a few blank faces at the beginning (I really don't blame them that early in the morning) we got into the swing of things. The people are so friendly and happy it really was such a thrill to get in there and really interact and get to know them. We all pretty quickly formed bonds and everyone had a pet student.So thoroughly chuffed with our first days work we headed off home for more of Mamatela's cooking and a few Maluti beers. In Conor's professional opinion Maluti is much nicer than Castle Lager. We had been joking about the idea of having a fashion show with all our highly fashionable clothes we bought in Peps. Oh and our bags are still missing!!!
Day Four, 3rd:
Unfortunately Helen left us today to head off home. She will definitely be missed from the group and it's a pity she's gone but we have a job to do and so we have to get our heads down. We kind of know what to expect now after yesterday and after setting out a plan we flew through the material and the class seemed to be really responsive. There are some really advanced people and some not so advanced. The cla
ss seem to be really getting into it. Today we are covering Calc (spreadsheets) and the older ones in particular love when they put in a formula and see how the computer does all the work for them. Tonight was our last night staying in Steven's guesthouse. Where we stay is separate from his house but when we are eating dinner we eat in their dining room. We have built up a bit of a bond with Steven as we're staying with him and teaching him too. His wife Mama Tela is absolutely hilarious and always laughing. So seeing as it is our last night with them we sat down and had a few drinks with them and it turned out to be the most surreal, hilarious and interesting dinner ever! Steven was telling us how he is a descendant of a tribe of cannibals (nice one Jonas and Carla, put us in a cannibals house for three nights!) and this tribe killed and ate Moshoeshoe I's father. Moshoeshoe (pronounced Mo-Shwey-Shwey) was the first King of Lesotho and seems to be a very fair and wise leader. He united all the Basotho people and the people of Lesotho seem to all be very proud of him. He found the tribe who cannibalised his father and captured them all and when asked if he would kill or murder them all he said "No I will not because you are my father's grave and I must respect my Father's grave". It was such an interesting tale to hear. The night turned into quite a blur after that and the six o'clock morning wake up call doesn't seem too attractive!Still no bags!!
Day Five, Wednesday 4th - Finish first school, start second
So today was our final day with our first class in St. Peter's. It's been a fantastic introduction to our teaching and I think we'll be very fortunate if every class we get over the month is as motivated and as friendly as they have been. We covered a little bit of computer maintenance in the morning and then answered any questions that they might have had. While everyone else was busy teaching, Dallan and Joe went off and met some locals and got a tour of a traditional Basotho hut which was particularly memorable. It's a small round hut with just one room and a kind of thatch roof and I definitely want to see one properly. After everything was done we had some tea and got ready for our presentation of certificates. The presentation was pretty amazing, everyone in our class passed and got a certificate which we are all very proud of considering the disparity between some peoples abilities. We presented the certs and an Irish flag to cheers. It was a sad farewell and there were a few people who we want to keep in touch with but we have to move onto more classes.
So we went straight from St. Peter's to our next school, Pitseng High School. Pitseng is slightly south of Butha-Buthe and we're staying near a little town called London. Unfortunately our bags are still in a different London. The new school is less rural than St. Peter's and better equipped. In the mornings in St. Peter's it could take up to half an hour for computers to warm up but this lab is better insulated so we don't have to worry about that. Our new accommodation is lovely with warm showers which is a massive bonus over here, particularly when there's no fresh clothes to change into. After dinner everyone is way too wrecked to get up to much after the pretty hectic day of goodbyes and hellos so it was off to bed for an early start in the morning.
Day Six, Tuesday July 5th:
So we had our first full day with Pitseng H.S. today. Sister Juliet, the principal of Pitseng High and a memorable character, joined us today and was well taught by Deirdre.There is also a very intelligent man called John Tau in our class. He teaches English at the school and has a real dignified air about him that just demands respect. His name Tau is Sesotho for lion and Pitseng Ha Tau is the full name of the town we are in at the minute so I presume his family would be held in high esteem here. Pitseng's name comes from overhangs in nearby caves which were used as shelter for the Basotho and to protect them when in danger and the guest house we are in overlooks the Malutis (also the name of the beer we have been living on) which are some of the most amazing mountain ranges. This whole place is just full of stunning views no matter where you turn.
Tomorrow is Joe's 27th birthday so we are all getting ourselves ready for the celebrations!
Day Seven, Friday July 6th: Joe's Birthday
We woke up today to Joe being jumped on and sung to by the girls. We tried to get as much of a lie-in as possible and then made our way to the school. Malefetsane, our contact over here, lives around Leribe and is nearby so he picks us up every morning in his open back jeep to drive us to the school and let me tell you that shooting along with the wind battering you at seven in the morning while hanging on for dear life definitely wakes you up in the morning!
We finished up in Pitseng that day and with it our first week. After we finished teaching in the afternoon and as part of the certification ceremony we organised a cake for Joe from the convent's bakery. While we were eating the delicious birthday cake, John Tau was delivering a moving speech to thank us. We went back to our accommodation in Aloe's guesthouse.
Cormac, who had a very productive week in Maseru, came back to join us and we invited Malefetsane, his family and John Tau to come over to have dinner with us. We had a very enjoyable Braai, the African barbecue. Malefetsane was very satisfied as you can't celebrate in Lesotho without loads of meat!
After the dinner we were surprised by the staff of the guest house with a traditional singing and dancing presentation. After their performance we felt driven to add an Irish song to the programme and so we had probably one of the saddest performances of Molly Malone that night...
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