Top Five Experiences of 2018 (so far...)

My girl Tizzy and I pose after camp ends. 

5: Easter Camp

My current position does not put me in direct contact with kids nearly often enough anymore. As a result, doing Community Camp over Easter weekend was one of my favorite moments of the whole year. We had nearly one hundred children for four days and it was so much fun to interact with and observe them as they participated in ropes course, life skills sessions, and a talent show. Equally inspiring was getting to work with such incredible camp staff and volunteers. I love getting to watch these amazing professionals model incredible youth development skills and I love building strong friendships with them. 

Kayaking in Mozambique

4: Mozambique

In February, my friend Katie and I went on my last big Peace Corps vacation: Tofo, Mozambique. Our prime reason for picking this spot was that it is one of the best places to see whale sharks. It took us three days of travel to get there from Lesotho and we unfortunately did not get to see any whale sharks, however, the trip was still wonderful.

While Katie got scuba certified, I spent my days relaxing and walking on the beach, writing, wandering through the small beach town, and reading. It was the most peaceful and least demanding vacation I have ever enjoyed. Tofo Beach is truly stunning. I also took some time to bird nerd on a mangrove kayaking trip.

3: Herdboy Health Outreaches

My host organization has partnered with the District Health Management Teams in three districts in Lesotho to bring health services to herdboys in rural areas. Herdboys or balisana are a unique population in Lesotho.

They are marginalized from typical communities and social interactions through a lot of unfounded stereotypes. In my experience, most herders are wonderfully caring and friendly men-some young, some old. Due to stigma and discrimination, however, they also often live isolated lives and therefore do not get access to most government services including health care.

At the health outreach in Ha Popa, Thaba Tseka: beautiful views, a crazy bumpy ride in the truck with my colleagues,
the "road" we traveled, and a group of balisana that insisted we take pictures together. 

So far this year, we have done a handful of health outreaches to encourage balisana to get health care in the future. By bringing the services outside of the clinical setting, we have seen larger numbers of herders accessing medical tests including BMI, tuberculosis, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and HIV testing services. Those that need additional follow up are being referred for additional medical care and the local clinics are following up to ensure that these services are received.

For me, these outreaches have also allowed me to get into more rural parts of Lesotho than I had previously visited. Our first outreach in Thaba Tseka involved a bumpy three-hour drive on something almost resembling a road to reach the village of Ha Popa. It was quite the adventure. The balisana there were so welcoming and fun to hang out with as they waited in line for their various health tests.

Grabbing a late lunch with my friend Pontso on a holiday.

2. Moments with Friends

This may sound like a generic cop out, but it is still true. Whether working or playing, I have had some of my favorite adventures with friends. The longer I live in Lesotho, the stronger my local friendships become and the more I cherish these relationships. The opportunities to catch up with friends over a meal or a football game is something I took for granted in the US. The reality is that making it happen between transportation challenges and rules that require I be home before dark make these moments much fewer and more precious.

With Rets'elisitsoe and his brother,
Ralethola (one of my best friends), after the
wedding. 

1. Weddings!!!

2018 has been the year for weddings. Every year I have been in Lesotho, I have attended a wedding or two. This year, however, I seem to be attending almost one per month!

First, there was my friend Rets’elisitsoe’s wedding in January. Here in Lesotho, the groom must be escorted into the church by a female family member. Due to some travel delays, Rets’elisitsoe’s cousin was running late and so he decided that I would  be his official escort and sit in the front row for the ceremony. It was an incredible honor to be quickly adopted into the family of two of my closest friends in country and to then participate in the wedding activities at his house the next day as well.

Then, a few weeks later, my friends Tori and Mpho-who married in America-returned to Lesotho for the traditional wedding ceremony that takes place with the groom’s family following a wedding. Tori completed her Peace Corps service in 2015, so the opportunity to catch up with her after more than 18 months and to be a part of this special day was truly wonderful. 

With Mpho and Tori at their wedding celebration in March

The third wedding I attended was in my community, but for the sister of someone I have known, respected, and adored for the entire time I have been in Lesotho. It was fun to hang out with the bridesmaids before the wedding, join the convoy of BMWs for the trip to and from the church, and help out with logistics and serving during the reception. 

With my dear friend Ototo at her sister's wedding in April

To keep up the wedding theme, I just returned from another friend's wedding. This one brought me out to Quthing, a district I hadn't visited before that is about three hours south of Maseru. Even better, I traveled and spent the day with some of my favorite guys in Lesotho. For once, I already knew both the bride and groom and am so glad that I was able to be there for their special day.

In Quthing with some of my favorite guys; Tlebele, Moseli, Ralethola, and Matseli. 

All smiles with the groom. 

Dino Printing

Dinosaur footprints in Morija, Lesotho

200 million years ago Lesotho, like much of the world, was home to dinosaurs. There is even a dinosaur named after Lesotho: the Lesothosaurus. This dinosaur was a small, agile, herbivore, traveled on two legs, and would have been about thigh high on an adult human.

Thanks to a geography that includes a lot of visible rock formations, fossilized footprints are scattered throughout the country today.

Over the last six months, I have finally had the opportunity to visit two of these sites.

Morija Prints

Somewhere up there are some dinosaur footprints...

The first of these adventures was in Morija, a village in Maseru district. Along with three fellow PCVs, we set out early on a Saturday morning in April, mostly to beat the sunny heat. From my friends' house, it was a vertical climb to reach the prints. As it was late autumn, we were under constant attack by my least favorite thing about Lesotho--a weed called Blackjack that clings to clothing.

Easter Reunions

Family Photo-Mme Masekila, Abuti Mokhesuoe, Abuti
Thabo, Abuti Polau, and me. We are only missing
Abuti Sekila and my replacement, Ausi Mosa.

People often say you can’t go home again. In December, I stared at the familiar Boston skyline as my plane landed and agreed. After being gone for the last two and half years, people felt like home, but America did not.

Friday, however, I disagreed profoundly. The moment I got out of a car in Botha Bothe, a man greeted me by name. As I shopped for food, people did double-takes, exclaiming when they realized it was, in fact, me.

Once I finally made it to my village—after a three-hour wait for a taxi—the homecoming really began. Within twenty minutes, I had seen my supervisor and another woman I worked with, two of my best friends and my mother. Everyone greeted me with joy, hugs (These are not typical, which only made them even better), and celebration. As my mother and I walked home, people stopped us to comment on my return and to be sure I remembered them after my four and half months away.

Chicken Coop Construction: COMPLETION!!!

Chicken house completion has finally happened...although two months became more than four, the house is completed and ready for the arrival of MCCC's 200 egg-laying chickens!!

The burglar bar completion finally happened a week after the third business owner gave me a quote. His staff was incredibly professional and efficient when they came to do the installation. They even helped fix a burglar bar on our hall while they were there! 

Burglar Bar installation-I had to see it to believe it!

The next week I had a momentary panic when the man we bought the chickens from called. When I ordered the chickens, he said the delivery would be happening in September. We were into the second week of October and still needed to finish the cages and buy chicken food. Before I answered, I was sure he was calling to tell me the chickens had arrived. Instead-to my great relief-I learned they would be arriving at the beginning of November! 

Ntate Tau adding drinkers to the chicken cages.

Over the next three weeks, every moment that I was not away to assist with Pre-Service Training for the newest members of Peace Corps Lesotho, I was working with Bo-'M'e to ensure we were ready. Ntate Tau, our chicken cage designer, returned a few times to install the chicken cages. His workdays were some of the most fun as we chatted extensively about numerous topics while he worked.

Three Photo Thursday-3 November

Burglar Bars Make a Happy Beth!

After I wrote about the Burglar Bar Busts, I began to wonder if the chicken coop would ever be completed. Thanks to the help of the wonderful Peace Corps staff, we got connected with a true professional. Within a week of giving us our quote, the burglar bars were finally in place.

Now we are finished up a few things-like buying food and cage installation-before the chickens arrive. Then my work is done and the women in MCCC will really need to get to work!!!

You can make anything out of plastic bags-even jump ropes!

 I love walking through the village in the late afternoons when all the kids are out playing. On this day, I bumped into some of my favorite girls jumping rope using plastic bags they had re-purposed. I love the ingenuity of kids when pre-designed toys are not readily available!

Three Photo Thursday: 22 September

Teaching life skills at the local primary school is always one of the best mornings of each week. Typically, grade six is the most challenging, as it is more than double the size of the other three classes and the students are more shy about participating. 

This week, however, we learned about the physical changes that happen to men and women during puberty. Split into gender groups, the students were more engaged than I have ever seen them. 

Here the girls are determining whether specific changes happen for males, females, or both. It was a competition between the boys and the girls to see which group could get more answers correct. The girls won by four points!

I spent my Monday morning preparing for the life skills class above and also making a model RUMP: Reusable Menstrual Pad. This fabric is from the Ugandan team at the LGL Summit I attended back in June. I have been eagerly waiting the chance to sew it and use it to help women in my community make their own RUMPS. Over the weekend, my patience will be rewarded and we will get sewing!

PCV Jacob and the all-female PCVL team
following the delicious discovery of the
Coffee Frappe!

My role as a PCVL has kept me incredibly busy lately, with regular trips from site to Maseru to meet with staff and other PCVLs in preparation of the upcoming training for new volunteers.

My background in training and program development has me loving the process of writing new and adjusting old session plans to ensure that the upcoming training is as practical and hands-on as possible.

Another highlight of all this hard work is moments like this: discovering Coffee Frappes only a walk away from our work in the office. These things are dangerously good and may be replacing food on my future trips to town!

Bonus Fourth Photo:

I couldn't resist sharing this beautiful young lady and her empowering sweatshirt! It seemed appropriate that she wore this over her school uniform on the same day we were discussing strengths and weaknesses in her Life Skills class. 

U motenya!

I leave my house for work and get called over by two village women awaiting their chance to do business with the chief. The first smiles and asks how my work is going. The second smiles and says “Ke bona u ja hamonate,” (I see you eat well) while gesturing at her hips with her hands about a foot away from each side to denote my large hips.

I draw a deep breath and expel a fake laugh before agreeing and noting that I have also have lost 30 kilograms since arriving in the village. The first woman agrees with me. I wish them well and head off to work stewing over being told, yet again, that I am fat.

***

I am in pre-service training on the night before our first community meeting. My host mother explains to me in broken English that I will be wearing her kobo or blanket. She then says she wanted me to wear one of her dresses, “but, you are too fat!”

***

I walk into a store and get a big grin from a female clerk. “Ausi, u motenya!” (Sister, you’re fat!). As my grin fades, a male customer next to her enthusiastically agrees, “E, u motle!” (Yes, you’re beautiful).

***

A taxi conductor attempts to overload my row of the taxi, where is sit alongside two other larger women. We fit comfortably, until he tries to put a fourth person in our row. The woman next to me starts laughing and says, “Ntate, re batenya kau fela!” (Father, we are all fat!) She then looks at me and points first to the woman on her left, then herself, and finally to me repeating the word motenya while smiling.

***

I am at the Peace Corps Medical Office standing on the scale. The doctor glances at it as I point out I have lost over forty pounds since arriving in Lesotho. She smiles at me and says, "Don't worry, it doesn't show." I am crushed for hours until I realize she was reassuring me

***

Living as a fat woman in America is not easy. People write blogs and posts about this everyday. Other people make horrible disparaging comments about how terrible said writers are. American women are bombarded by images convincing them they need to lose weight and look a specific way to be considered pretty or beautiful or even just average. Clothing models are many sizes smaller than the average women and many stores only carry sizes up to twelve or fourteen despite the fact that the average American woman is a size 16 to 18. 

In Lesotho, women spend their energy worrying
about whether their body can do things, not if
it compares to a supermodel on TV.

After a lifetime of internalizing the buying of extended sizes, the struggling to find active clothing without buying men's clothes, the doctor's running routine vitals or lab work and being shocked at my healthy levels, and the strangers assuming I am a binging, inactive, and unhealthy human simply because I am obese (despite my career choices and personal hobbies proving otherwise), it has been a huge adjustment to live in a place where comments about size are constant and are...

...compliments.

In Basotho culture, a country where most rural people struggle to maintain a healthy and substantial diet year-round, being fat is a sign of good health.  When people are stopping me on the street to tell me I am fat, they are stopping to tell me I look healthy or beautiful. 

Knowing this, however, does not undo three decades of insults and microaggressions. More than two years living in this culture, however, does not stop my American brain from being crushed when someone says "U motenya." The American inside me still translates this to 

You're ugly...

You're lazy...

You're unworthy...

The person delivering the complement smiles and is oblivious to my inability to accept their compliment. Meanwhile, my fake smiles, fake laughter, and forced thank you work their way out as I negatively internalize their complement and proceed to spend the next two days trying to remind myself that they are celebrating my looks and my body, not demeaning them. 

The longer I am away from American standards, culture, and media, the more accepting I find myself being of other people's bodies. I look around me and see women of many sizes and shapes. Instead of seeing wrinkles, big booties, or small boobies, I see beauty. I marvel at the differences between the people I encounter and the uniqueness of them all. I celebrate it. 

I am nervous to return to an America that is incapable of doing the same. More than two years away from the stinging judgement of American culture, it still invades my brain with its negativity and self-doubt. I desperately want to keep my ability to celebrate others' diverse beauty. I desperately want to continue learning to accept compliments on my shape, size, and self without tearing myself down. I am just not convinced that is possible in the United States. 

Meanwhile, I joyfully continue to live in a culture where a villager stops me to voice concern that I'm unhappy as he can tell I have lost weight.

If you like this post, also consider reading Five Lessons From Basotho Women  and Top Ten Surprises After a Year as a PCV.

Three Photo Thursday: 15 September

My host mother, grandfather, grandmother, and me after
church on Sunday. 

Church in Lesotho is no one-hour commitment. Although not Roman Catholic, when I attend church, I attend with my villagers, which typically means attending the small church at our local Catholic primary school.

This Sunday, however, took more initiative. Instead of attending church a ten minute walk away, we were headed to the large church an hour's taxi ride away...and the priest would be there. We were attending because my host mother was joining a group in the church named for St. Cecilia; the patron Saint of music.

Instead of the usual two to three hours of church, it lasted nearly five hours. After church, I learned most people bring lunch. Thankfully I had coffee and water to share as my grandparents shared their packed lunch with me.

A pamphlet given out
by police at a traffic stop

Police checkpoints are a regular part of car travel in Lesotho. The police check out the vehicle safety, the driver's license, the vehicle registration, or confirm that a taxi is not overloaded.

This week, as we pulled up to the usual checkpoint in Botha Bothe, a policewoman handed a pile of papers to the driver. After the last one made it to me in the back of the taxi, I was impressed to see this double-sided pamphlet about human trafficking. With the opposite side in Sesotho, the handout told people where to get help and how to avoid becoming a victim of trafficking. I had previously seen similar posters , but giving the information out to captive audiences in cars is brilliant.

It reminded how seriously the Lesotho Police take human trafficking. Last year as we were finalizing things for Camp GLOW, the police requested to come to the camp specifically to talk about human trafficking and how to avoid becoming a victim.

Peach Blossoms

After last week's Plum Blossoms, I almost did not share these beautiful pink flowers. They are simply too beautiful to not share.

Right now in Lesotho, peach blossoms are a bright and colorful sign that summer is coming. Since the rains have not yet begun, the rest of our landscape is still mostly shades of brown and sepia; which only makes the thousands of trees bursting with pink stand out that much more.

They are like our reward for wearing long underwear inside and out for most of July and August. Now, we get to complain that the sun is too hot while absorbing this beauty. 

Two Years and Sixteen Volunteers

Fresh off the plane: June 5, 2014

Last week I highlighted the accomplishments of my Peace Corps training group in light of our work as defined by and reported to Peace Corps. Numbers of people reached in specific topics, however, only shares a small portion of our story.

One of my favorite things about the Healthy Youth program in Lesotho, is that each volunteer’s job responsibilities and activities are unique to their site. As a result, we worked in a number of areas, some overlapping and some unique to only one or two of us. Here is a sampling of the work that filled our days:

Health

• Worked in a clinic to increase ARV adherence and infant wellness checks 
• Weighed infants and worked with Village Health Workers in an outreach clinic
• Started a growth monitoring and intervention program at an orphanage
• Worked with three HIV+ Teen Clubs

Youth Development

• Directed 6 overnight camps serving more than 425 girls and boys in six of Lesotho’s ten districts
• Completed more than 20 Grassroot Soccer Interventions to educate on HIV prevention
• Tutored herdboys in computer skills
• Started and led Youth Clubs in Athletics, Gender Empowerment, Drawing, Games, English, and English Reading

PCV Stephanie and colleagues show off the produce at
the orphanage she worked with.
Photo provided by Stephanie Sales.

Income Generation to Support Families and OVCs

• Two community-based sewing businesses
• A farm including water accessibility for an orphanage
• Started three chicken projects
• An achaar project
• Fenced a farm and orchard to protect product from cattle
• Advised five agricultural co-operatives
• Helped a women’s and girl’s weaving group with marketing and market development

Community Engagement

• Planned  and led four World AIDS Day events including talent shows, voluntary HIV testing, 
• Built a multi-purpose athletic court for one of Lesotho’s largest towns
• Planned and led a Spread the Love, Not the Disease Valentine’s Day event with over 100 youth participants enjoying face painting, nutrition and fitness info, yoga, HIV testing, and Planned Parenthood
• Hosted a large HIV awareness, testing, and education day for youth
• Built a Community Building with a children’s library
• Worked with Caregiver and OVC Support groups in four communities; building the capacity of caregivers 
• Led a father’s support group through the Red Cross
• Built small greenhouses with families and provided nutrition and gardening lessons to build food security

Education

PCV Eloise's students at the Khotsong Skills Training
Center, a tertiary school.
Photo provided by Eloise Williams

• Started computer labs at 2 tertiary schools
• Worked with a school to help it get internet access for students and teachers
• Taught primary school classes in Life Skills, English & Creative Writing, and Dance
• Taught Life Skills in secondary schools
• Taught at 3 tertiary institutions

Lesotho 82 Peace Corps Volunteers and their counterparts at a workshop.

Three Photo Thursday: September 8

Saturday is funeral day in Lesotho. This Saturday brought the funeral of my neighbor and extended family member: ‘M’e ‘Maletsitsi. This funeral brought hundreds of people and more tears than I have seen at a funeral yet. Hundreds turned out to mourn the loss of an incredible woman and mother. Although she had been sick for a long time, ‘M’e ‘Maletsitsi had always drawn respect by working hard despite her illness.

As a mother to a dozen children, an entire generation of youth had grown up in her presence and none were unaffected by her passing, including me. 

As I passed my friend 'M'e 'Mamookho's house, I saw my favorite garden in Lesotho had been torn apart. Later that day, as I returned home, I was delighted to see 'M'e 'Mamookho sitting nearby as another villager rebuilt her small raised bed garden. 

I like to call this garden serapa sa naleli, which translates to star garden. Prior to being pulled apart one bottle at a time by small children, it was a perfectly shaped star with small green vegetables and a few flowers growing in it. With most gardens in Lesotho being either a raised bed keyhole garden or a ground level plot, this star shape has always stood out as a symbol of the pride and creativity on the part of 'M'e 'Mamookho.

I am so excited to see it being rebuilt!

My Life Skills classes at the local primary school started again this week. These weekly classes are always a highlight as the children and my co-teachers are so excited to have me and to engage with the topics.

In this photo, students in Class Five are taking their pre-test to establish a baseline on their knowledge before we start in on our topics.

My plan for this, my final semester with these kids, is a combination of decision making and youth sexual reproductive health. The students will be learning about making choices between needs and wants, the biological changes of puberty, HIV transmission, and how to say no until they are ready for sex. It is going to be a great semester! 

Three Photo Thursday: 1 September

Spring is coming! The first recognition of this is already blooming beautifully in our yard: plum blossoms. The plum tree is always ahead of the peaches. It blooms weeks before them, with delicate and beautiful white blossoms. It also produces a month or two ahead of our peach trees. While Lesotho will soon be filled with bursts of pink color on the brown landscape, these white flowers are the first indication that winter is ending.

Considering how cold the weeks preceding these little flowers have been, I am really excited to see them bringing in warmer days!

I tried to pick the least gruesome photo to show this moment.

The week started out with our “pet” pig being slaughtered. This pig had been free range since winter began and there were no gardens to be destroyed. He had reached the point of trying to heel whenever we wandered around the yard or started out from the house. I am still not sure he realized he was a pig and not a dog, especially as he had a tendency to come running to kiss my leg every time I left the house.

This Sunday morning activity was not my first pig slaughter, however, it was the first time we slaughtered something larger than a chicken at our house. The boys and their uncle spent much of the morning working with the pig and later the meat. I then spent much of the later afternoon cutting up my portion of pork to make Five Spice Pork Tacos! Since I never cook meat at home, this was quite the treat!

Chatting it up with the amazing Lebo Mashile after her
inspiring poetry reading in Maseru. 

Throughout my 27 months in Lesotho, my cultural moments have been restricted to the local culture found in rural villages. Celebrating and learning traditional culture through Cultural Days or incredible moments like being thrust into the Litolobonya hut has been amazing. This week while in Maseru to help with preparations for the upcoming Pre-Service Training, a good friend invited me to attend a Poetry Festival.

Although excited, I was ill prepared for just how much I would love the experience. It was like coming home while still living in Lesotho! The night began with some young women performing their own poetry, switching comfortably between English and Sesotho while blowing me away with their stage presence. The headliner, Lebo Mashile from South Africa, really astounded me.

The month of August is women’s month and as such, Lebo performed a number of her poems centered around the realities of being a women. With lines like “Tell your story until your past stops destroying your future” and “There is a me that I could be, if I just let her breathe outside,” I found myself hanging on her every word. My friend and I had the chance to meet her after the show, where she admitted that this was the longest reading she had ever done. We very truthfully assured her we would have happily listened to her for another hour or two as she signed the book of poetry I had quickly purchased. The long forgotten English major in me ecstatic to delve further into the way that Lebo plays with words, meaning, and rhythm. 

Chicken Coop Construction: Weeks 5 and 6

Construction Completed!!

Week Five: We have completion! Well, construction completion anyway. Although the house is not yet ready for chickens to arrive, the roof is completed and well secured for its windy locale. Although I missed watching the team finish the house, I learned of their accomplishment before boarding my taxi to come home. Multiple people in town stopped me in my tracks; thrilled me to tell me that the chicken house was done and beautiful.

As my taxi crested the hill before our building site, I caught me breath eager to see the completed project. It looks wonderful!

Week Six: When week five started, a friend helped me schedule someone to install burglar bars in the house on Sunday of week six. In my head, with burglar proofing happening Sunday, the cages would also get installed this week.

Clearly I should not develop expectations, even when things are scheduled and we have asked a million clarifying questions in two languages.

When the man building and installing our burglar proofing arrived, we were all stunned. He was shocked to learn we do not have electricity in our village. Bo-‘M’e and I were equally blown away that he never mentioned needing electricity to complete his work.

As PCVs, we are supposed to work with host country nationals in all things. This is to build their capacity to do the work after we return home. In this case, I am grateful to have worked alongside women in my organization as otherwise I would have feared my language skills caused the confusion and delay.

Still waiting for burglar bars on these windows, but wow,
that roof is pretty!

One of the leaders in my organization and I had spoken to this man twice in person. The first time was when we were getting a quote for building supplies and pricing. He looked at the printed list of supplies and said we had everything we needed listed and priced his work. The second time we spoke was on the day that we bought the building supplies. Again, we checked to ensure we had everything as we did not want to have to hire a vehicle for later deliveries of building supplies. Again, he confirmed we had everything and he gave us his contact information.

I have an incredibly hard time understanding this man’s Sesotho, so it is possible that I would have missed any mention of electricity despite knowing the word. I was, however, working alongside ‘M’e ‘Majustice and a woman from the building supply store. ‘M’e ‘Majustice knows that we do not have electricity in our villages. She would have quickly jumped in had he suggested anything connected to moltakasa or use of a generator. I do understand her Sesotho. The woman from the store translated many of his words into English for me and I am certain this important fact would not have been ignored as much of our district does not have electricity.

As a result of this miscommunication, we spent two hours trying to find a generator for the following week. His job at the building supply store makes him only available to do the work on Sundays. He made it clear that we needed a large generator. When he looked at the first one we found, it was too small. We went to another family’s home to see their larger generator. Although larger than the first, it too was too small. Then he clarified the power of the generator we needed-double the first one we had looked at. As we walked back to my supervisor’s, I expressed concern that we may be unable to find one that large as our village does not have people rich enough to have such large generators and we do not have the money to rent one from somewhere else.

Before he departed for the day, I asked him to take a look at our supplies again, just to be sure that if and when he returns we actually have everything needed to do the job in one day. It turns out that we are missing square “tubing” to serve as the outside of the burglar door frame. We need to buy two sections. Apparently, checking the list when we were at the building supply store on two separate occasions did not highlight this important missing piece. Buying these now will require hiring a truck as they are too long to strap to the top of our taxis.

One of the women in my organization poses with the
completed chicken house before our meeting.

So now we have to figure out how to find a huge generator, buy oil and petrol for it, buy the two sections of square tubing, and hire a vehicle to deliver the tubing or we have to find a new person to do the work; one who can arrive with and by his own power. This lack of clarity looks to more than double the anticipated cost of burglar proofing the chicken house in addition to slowing us down.

Despite my frustrations with the man who was to do the work, I am surprisingly unfazed by the situation. Obviously, my expectations are shifting and I am becoming more accepting of the twists and turns in the project.

Bo-‘M’e and I visit numerous houses in multiple villages trying to secure a generator large enough for the project. We are unsuccessful, however, my visit to town to get new quotes from people with larger shops gets us a few reasonable quotes that come complete with transport, installation (including bringing their own generator), and the supplies. As predicted things will be twice what we estimated, but a careful look over the budget and remaining funds reassures me we can still afford this vital step in our project. 

MCCC’s Egg Laying Chicken Project has been in development since March 2015. After many delays, MCCC and I were able to write a successful grant proposal for a VAST grant through Peace Corps. VAST grants are funded by PEPFAR to help with HIV-related work and OVC (Orphan and Vulnerable Children) care. It is due to MCCC’s work with OCVs that qualified us for the VAST grant. Otherwise, we would have applied for a PCPP [Peace Corps Partnership Program] grant and would have been asking for assistance in funding this grant proposal. I encourage you to consider supporting other PCPP projects.

Posts about this project include:

 Workshop Woe, Busiest of Birthdays, Checking Out Chickens, A Day with Bo-’M’e, Chicken Coop Construction Day One, Day Two, Day, Three, Day Four, Day Five, Weeks 2 to 4

Chicken Coop Construction: Weeks 2-4

Week Two:

The view from the door includes a...floor!

Although I was away from site for the second week of construction, the building team was eager to move forward. Unfortunately, as they prepared to begin putting on the roof, they discovered we did not have enough cement bricks remaining to elevate the high side of the roof.

They send me a message letting me know and attempted to get the women in my organization to come up with a solution. Bricks and other building supplies are, apparently, an exception to the Basotho tradition of borrowing things that are needed. As a result, no bricks could even be ordered until the morning I returned, five days after it was determined we needed fifty more bricks.

The guys did break with building tradition though, pouring the concrete floor even though the roof was not yet in place. They even created a step up to the door, which was a pleasant surprise for me.

Week Three:

Week Three started with me buying more bricks. When asked, the brick-makers assured me that they would deliver within the week, but probably on Monday. This would mean that the work could be completed on either Monday or Tuesday. My host brother and I stressed the importance of receiving the bricks as soon as possible so we could finish work before he and other students had to return to school.

Constructing the beams for the roof

Mother Nature decided to surprise Lesotho with precipitation on both Monday and Tuesday, so the bricks never materialized. Throughout the week, we kept an eye out for them. Finally, on Saturday afternoon, they arrived.

Week Four:

Although I was at (another) Peace Corps workshop in anticipation of the upcoming Pre-Service Training, the team got to work after the bricks arrived. When I returned home on Friday, I hopped out at the building site to check in and see their progress.

Surprisingly, the fifty bricks I bought two weeks earlier were not actually enough to finish things up. I learned that we would need 32 more bricks! Anticipating another long walk to the brickyard and a lengthy delay waiting for delivery, I was a disappointed.

Our need for only these 35 bricks had the potential to slow
the project down by another week or two!

I stopped by my supervisor’s house and spoke with the MCCC members there. We started brainstorming people in the village who might have some extra bricks we could buy instead. By the time I left, my supervisor had agreed to ask her son if we could buy his. Saturday morning, I headed over to learn if I needed to hoof it to the brickyard before they closed at one.

Thankfully, my supervisor’s son was thrilled to sell us 35 bricks he had leftover from a previous project. He kept telling me that I was actually helping him more than he was helping us (lies!). As a result, Week Five will dawn with a Sunday workday and the guys anticipate being done by Tuesday afternoon. 

MCCC’s Egg Laying Chicken Project has been in development since March 2015. After many delays, MCCC and I were able to write a successful grant proposal for a VAST grant through Peace Corps. VAST grants are funded by PEPFAR to help with HIV-related work and OVC (Orphan and Vulnerable Children) care. It is due to MCCC’s work with OCVs that qualified us for the VAST grant. Otherwise, we would have applied for a PCPP [Peace Corps Partnership Program] grant and would have been asking for assistance in funding this grant proposal. I encourage you to consider supporting other PCPP projects.

Posts about this project include:

Workshop Woe, Busiest of Birthdays, Checking Out Chickens, A Day with Bo-’M’e, Chicken Coop Construction Day One, Day Two, Day, Three, Day Four, Day Five

Learning Language

Attempting to look confused, I stared at the woman in front of me. “Huh?” I said before turning to the two people sitting next to me for help.

The woman in front of me repeated her question, “U roabetse joang?” I continued to look perplexed as I slowly repeated after her, as if trying to remember what the words meant.

Finally, the person to my left whispered to me, “She wants to know how you slept.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Good, um, hantle ‘M’e!”

Although I have known and regularly used these common Sesotho words for over two years, as the American “student” at the LCF [Language and Culture Facilitator] Training last week, my job was to be a new arrival to Lesotho.

Each new LCF took a turn teaching three of us for twenty minutes on topics ranging from simple sentence construction, vocabulary in the kitchen or at the shop, and the future tense. Most of the brand new LCFs were surprisingly good at teaching their topic; however, almost all struggled to not include longer complex sentences in rapid Sesotho as filler in their sessions. I found this entertaining, as I usually understood them, but needed to don a blank, perplexed, or dejected face the way a new trainee would. Obviously, when one is just learning to introduce oneself in Sesotho, complex sentences are too advanced!

After two years living and working in predominantly Sesotho, acting like a new trainee was like time travel. Much the way we forget there was a point we did not know how to read or write, I had forgotten how overwhelming the process of learning the language had been during the early stages of Pre-Service Training.

As new trainees, we had not even been in the country for a single meal before we walked away from our peers and LCFs, following a new host mother to her home. My host mother and sister tried to explain some things to me, but neither spoke English. A short afternoon session may have taught me to say hello and goodbye, but mostly explained, in English, some critical safety information.

That night, I ate dinner surrounded by my new family. Although my host father and the older sister both spoke English, they had been trained to speak mostly Sesotho to me. As I had my first meal of papa and greens, I listened to them talk around me wondering how I would possibly be able to understand them.

The next day, we began our routine of language classes every morning. Despite the skill of our LCFs, I remember many times when they would say something and we trainees would look at each other confused and lost.  

Today, I am confident enough in the language, that even when I do not understand someone, I am able to get clarification in Sesotho instead of English. I credit a huge part of this to my LCFs. Their slow, intentional repetition and immersion-based teaching gave me experience with being uncomfortable or uncertain while still using the language. They gave me a solid base of comprehension that allowed me to walk into a workplace where only one person spoke English and still find ways to accomplish things without relying on translations. Although I continued to study independently and with a tutor, it was the success of the language program during Pre-Service Training that allowed me to do so.

In this video, 'M'e 'Mampho, who was actually my LCF during PST, demonstrates how to teach trainees using no English and very few extra Sesotho words while teaching a lesson on public transportation. How much are you able to understand?

Chicken Coop Construction: Day Two

The walls are growing, albeit more slowly than any of us anticipated. Building started “on time” at nine, but the first few hours were a methodical exercise in precision as the two lead builders checked angles and levels repeatedly.

Once the base layer was in place, the pace picked up dramatically. The next three layers of bricks taking the same amount of time as the first one.

Abuti Sama cuts the plastic to
the correct size.

The glitch of the day was minor. I was asked for the roll of black plastic that acts as a moisture barrier. I proudly pulled out the giant 3m by 30m plastic we bought…only to learn the hundreds I spent was for naught; I should have purchased a roll of 15cm-wide black plastic for less than fifty Maloti.

The miscommunication showed itself as my friend and I discussed what he told me before I went to the supply store. When he described the plastic, he said it was “for the floor” so I bought enough to cover the entire floor. What was actually needed was to go around the edge of the floor. Out came a hacksaw and we cut the edge of my giant roll to achieve the needed dimensions. Internally I lamented the waste of money until my friend told me we would use the plastic on the floor too, since we have it.

At lunch time, the man building out chicken cages delivered. They do not look like much yet, but he will return in a few weeks to install them with feeders, drinkers, and tubing to fill the drinkers.

Watching the precision and craft that went into making everything level and strong, I feel much better about paying the builders today.

I spent the day trying to help. Women do not typically help in construction, so my efforts were not always encouraged. The guys, most of whom are my friends and one is my brother, would tease me until I jumped in to load, unload, or carry the bricks. Then, they would stop me, telling me I am strong my hands are too soft.

Sometimes I wish these guys could have seen me sail. 

The chicken coop at the end of day two.

MCCC’s Egg Laying Chicken Project has been in development since March 2015. After many delays, MCCC and I were able to write a successful grant proposal for a VAST grant through Peace Corps. VAST grants are funded by PEPFAR to help with HIV-related work and OVC (Orphan and Vulnerable Children) care. It is due to MCCC’s work with OCVs that qualified us for the VAST grant. Otherwise, we would have applied for a PCPP [Peace Corps Partnership Program] grant and would have been asking for assistance in funding this grant proposal. I encourage you to consider supporting other PCPP projects.

Posts about this project include:

Workshop Woe, Busiest of Birthdays, Checking Out Chickens, A Day with Bo-’M’e, Chicken Coop Construction Day One, Day Two, Day, Three, Day Four, Day Five