I’m a slacker

Sorry, I haven’t written a blog in about a month, and I really can’t remember a lot of the past month. I fail at life. So, update as far as I can remember:
October ended up being relatively busy. Been teaching still. Finished up with the standard 7 kids and they’ve taken their exit exams for primary school. They’ll find out their results in December I think. So now I’m just teaching a few classes in secondary school. I also am really trying to get the library going in my area. I’d kinda found someone to work the library, but I wasn’t too sure about her, and it turns out that she’s not going to work out, so now I have to find someone else. In the mean time, I’d had a library appreciation day. A couple other volunteers helped me. Basically we went to the library and invited village kids to join us along the way. Then we acted out the three little pigs. I’d made noses and tails out of construction paper, and some fake bricks. I was the wolf. It was cute. Then we went over how to properly remove and replace books on the bookshelves. We turned it into a game. We explained everything (put book back gently, spine out, in the proper place, etc.), asked a couple questions, and then made two teams and had a relay race to see which team could properly replace the books first. Then we made noisemakers out of toilet paper rolls. The kids collected small pebbles which we put into the toilet paper rolls. Then we closed the toilet paper rolls with tape. Then I read a book and every time that they heard the word “cat” they had to shake the noisemakers. Then we went over general rules of the library. Then I read a really simple book to them. While I was reading it I had the other volunteers hide easter eggs which contained different parts of the story. The kids had to find the eggs and then put the story in the correct order.
And then the woman who had been chosen to run the library never showed up to the library. So I decided to have a pitso, a community gathering, to discuss the library and its importance to the education of the children in the village. I called the meeting and held it, and at that time realized that no one seemed to know what a library was. I should have thought of this before, but it just never occurred to me. So on November 28th I’m holding a library education day for the adults in the village, to show them the library and explain to them the importance of a library to their children, to try to convince them that it is important to find someone to work the library, and that it is worth it to pay a small amount of money for access to the library, which will go to the librarian who will hopefully be hired. No one wants to run the library without being paid. And why we could go to the library immediately, as we were holding the pitso, I don’t know. We were maybe 50 yards from the library and I could’ve showed them everything then, but we had to plan another meeting. Maybe this will be a good thing, though. It’ll give me a chance to organize some information on the benefits of a library. We did decide, though, that my support group is going to be the library committee as well. Actually, I had no say in this decision and I’m not exactly sure what that means. Maybe that they will be in charge of finding someone to run the library, and in charge of keeping the library clean? Not sure.
So that’s one project that I have in the works. Another is my trash cans. The project I proposed months ago to paint the trash cans in mohale’s hoek camptown with hiv/aids facts has finally gone through. Kind of. The national aids commission agreed to pay for half the cost, and they never gave me a list of approved phrases. Since I’m going through them I have to use their approved phrases. I’d requested a list three weeks ago because I wanted to check over the phrases and decide for myself which I wanted to have painted. This would ensure that no phrases would be painted which would announce silly things like, “sharing toothbrushes will give you hiv”. This is actually posted in maseru. And yes, it’s probably a good idea not to share a toothbrush, but not because it will give you hiv. For other sanitary reasons. Anyways, I never got the list. I did however get the rest of the funding. This is amazing. I went to a german organization, ded, and talked with a guy that I’ve met around mohale’s hoek. Less than 24 hours later I got the rest of the money. Seriously, it took me five months to hear back from nac and I heard back from ded in less than 24 hours. Sometimes I really love western organization. Problem now is that the money is supposed to go to the guy who’s painting the trash cans, and I have to get rid of the money by the end of the month. I really can’t give him the money though until I give him the job, and I can’t give him the job until I get the approved phrases. And my contact at nac is never in her office and I’m beginning to think that she’s avoiding me on the phone. Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. Hopefully I’ll get up with her soon.
I’m also trying to start planning an hiv/aids day in my village in december. Actually I’d love to make it a general health day. I want to have some of my older kids put on a play about making good choices. I wouldn’t mind starting a kind of acting club for my kids, actually. Might give them something to do in the afternoons other than have sex. Anyways, there’s a set of comic books created by unicef that are all about this girl living in Africa who’s name is sara. Some of them are about her staying in school, and the importance of educating females, some are about hiv and aids, and others are about making good decisions. I want to have my kids act out one of them in December, and then maybe work on another one for next year. My host sister also apparently has some good songs about making choices, self-confidence, etc., so we could have a choir singing some songs. And I want to get an organization out called new start, which does hiv/aids education and testing. I want to cover not just methods of transmission, but also care for people with hiv or aids. And I would love to get a nurse out for the pre-schoolers just to talk about general health issues like washing hands after using the toilet and before eating, and looking both ways before crossing the street. I was supposed to meet with the support group this past week but they canceled, so hopefully we’ll meet this week, and this will work out.
And I’m working on a couple things for school. One is trying to get help for my students with disabilities. There is nominally a special education department in the ministry of education to help kids with either physical or mental disabilities, but it includes one woman for the entire southern region of Lesotho. So getting up with her is pretty difficult. But the ministry is also supposed to help children by providing them with glasses or hearing aids if they are double orphans, or children with parents who are too poor to help. And I have a couple of students with vision problems who come from very poor families. They sit in the front of class and still can’t see the board, which makes it a little difficult to learn. And I have one student who is mentally challenged. The teachers pass her every year because they don’t know what else to do with her. There is a school for the disabled in butha-buthe, in northern Lesotho, which teaches the students not only a general education but also crafts so that they might be able to earn money for themselves one day. I’m trying to get this girl at my school an interview with the woman from the special education department of the ministry to see if I can get her into the school. Another problem with this is that the girl in a double orphan living with her grandmother who is convinced that the girl is not mentally challenged but that she is the victim of witchcraft. And I really want to help this girl and get her somewhere safe because mentally challenged girls tend to be targets of sexual assault. Even more so than other girls, who are also targets. It’s really sad. Sam, a volunteer near me, actually got into a fight (verbal) with some of her male students over whether kidnapping a girl and forcing her to marry was rape. sigh.
I’m also trying to put together a book of information on job opportunities available to different levels of education. If you pass standard 7 you’re qualified for this job, if you pass your jc’s your qualified for these jobs, cosc, university, etc. I’m also finding information on different further education opportunities: university, teacher’s college, trade school, etc. I’m doing this because very few students seem to have any thought for their futures. I know that a lot of students in the states don’t know when they’re fifteen what they want to do with their lives, but most have at least thought about it. We grow up reading books and dreaming about becoming astronauts or veterinarians or the president or whatever. Few kids here think about that. Few people here seem to be able to plan for the future. I want to get my kids thinking about what their options are, about what they might be interested in doing with their lives, and about what they need to do to get there. Hopefully this will motivate a couple students to work harder in school.
Lastly, I’m going to start working some at an orphanage nearby (kind of). Mantsase is maybe about 25 – 30 km away and is run by sentebale, which incidentally also funds the school for the disabled in butha-buthe. The orphanage just got a new director and I ran into her in town a few weeks ago, talked with her for about 5 minutes, and told her I would be interested in doing some work with her as a seem to have a lot of extra time on my hands. I went out to the orphanage to meet with her yesterday and we talked for a while. I said I would be interested in helping her get the library there functional – organized, decorated, educate the kids on how to use a library. I would be doing this at the same time I would be working with the library at ha thaba bosiu, so I could bounce different ideas between the 2 places. The difference it that the library at mantsase as it seems will be more mine and will be better funded. The library at ha thaba bosiu was developed by the volunteer before me, and so I came in with it already there. I came in in the middle of the project and it’s difficult to continue another person’s project when you don’t have a clear understanding of what was being done before you left. With the library at the orphanage I will have more free reign to decorate it and to organize it as I want. I might also have more funding because the orphanage gets money from foreign organizations, and I might be able to use some of that. Sam and I were talking this morning about the potential for this library if we can get some money for specific projects, and even for some specific books. For example, a Velcro wall. Then we could put up temporary games like sodoku, which could be continually changed. Or weekly projects: post up everything you can find out about volcanoes. There a lot of potential there. I’m meeting with the director, Barbara, again on Monday to discuss when I can come out, how often, etc. I might be working some with the eccd (preschool) there, too, but we’ll see what happens with that.
I think that’s about it as far as work is concerned. I’ve also actually been a bit busy socially, too. I think I’ve had something going on every weekend since early October. First was a quarterly peace corps district meeting. We have those to discuss projects, concerns, etc, and we tend to make them overnight at nicole’s place because she’s got electricity and we can cook good food. The next weekend was nicole’s birthday, so she got a few of her closer friends together to celebrate. Sam and I made a pumpkin pie, and it was awesome. Another volunteer brought a can of whipped cream from maseru, and we went through the entire thing (there were six of us) between the desert that night and the pancakes the next morning. It was great. The next weekend I had my library day, and so sam and Jessica came out to my house to help me. They stayed overnight. I made some pretty great lentil burgers if I do say so myself. I also made pumpkin bread. I had bought a pumpkin for nicole’s pumpkin pie for her birthday, and pumpkin apparently lasts a long time. With that pumpkin we made, over the course of three weeks, pumpkin pie, pumpkin scones (they’re amazing) pumpkin bread, and pumpkin cookies. And we still had a decent amount of pumpkin left over that we sadly had to trash because it was beginning to look a little sketchy. A 7 rand pumpkin goes a long way. Anyways, the next week after library day I had to go into maseru and so I spent the night with sam because she actually lives in mohale’s hoek and so if I stay with her I can take the earliest possible bus into maseru and have more time to work. That’s when we made pumpkin cookies. I actually ended up in maseru over Halloween and so went to a party at the ambassador’s house Friday night.
I was starbuck/cara thrace from battlestar galactica, which by the way I’ve been obsessing over of late. A friend here introduced me to the show, and I watched the entire first season in three days (nights here are a little lonely, and ipods are great). The second season I just finished. It took me 2 days. And I’m really angry about the season finale. Seriously. It was a horrible, disjointed way to end things. And the amount that I’m obsessing over this show is proof that I’m getting loopier the longer that I’m here. But at least I’m not the only one. I’ve found quite a few more bsg fans in country. W00t. one of them is getting season three. It’s currently in the mail. I’m inviting myself over as soon as he gets it. Or at least that’s what I told him. So he’ll probably avoid letting me know when it’s in.
Anywho, tangent over. So, Halloween was cool. I ripped my pants, though. Straight up the inner right thigh. Stupid low-quality pants. I bought them here. Some of it could’ve also been that I didn’t bother trying them on before buying them so they were slightly tight. Stupid weight gain. i got to wear a borrowed sweatshirt around my waist the rest of the night.
And I went to another party the next night, at a volunteer’s house. That was fun, too. Low-key, which is great.
And elections were this past week!!!! So, sam, Nicole, and I planned an all-night vigil at nicole’s place because she’s got electricity and a satellite radio. I made French bread (yes – made, and in a dutch oven not less. I was really proud of myself), hummus, and bruschetta. Nicole made spring rolls and sam made bran bread. These are my two closest neighbors and closest friends here. Sam’s leaving next month. We’ve been hanging out a lot together of late, doing a lot of cooking together at sam’s place. Anyways, we listened to npr and bbc all night, which was probably a little silly as results were going to start coming in until about 1:30 am here. But it was still good. And one of the guys they had talking on npr was pretty funny. The results started rolling in, though, and we got really intense. We were keeping tally, and I was getting really impatient for the results, and really emotional. And then about 5:30 in the morning enough votes had come in : OBAMA WON!!!! Oh my gosh, we were really excited, and we could hear all the cheering over the radio, all the emotion, and obama’s speech, and it was the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve every really wanted to be back in America. There’ve been times where I haven’t wanted to be in Lesotho, and times where I’ve missed my family, but I’ve never really wanted to be back in the states. I really wish that I’d been there, though, to experience what was happening. It was exciting even from here, but there wasn’t the same emotion, the same feel. And I am so proud to be an American right now. It’s been a while. And I’m even proud to be a north Carolinian. It took a day and a half to decide, and there was only a 13,000 vote spread, but WE WENT BLUE!!! This hasn’t happened in my lifetime. And my vote counted! And that feels really good. And I’m really hopeful and really nervous for the future at the same time.
So, I don’t really want to get too much into politics right now, so I’ll move on with my life. And just writing that put me in a much better mood. Helped me get over the season 2 finale of battlestar galactica.
Oh, sam and I have started great alcohol experiments this past month. Nicole doesn’t drink so she didn’t join in. we made sangria a couple weeks ago and had it the night sam and Jessica came to my place for library day. And, even more exciting, we made kahlua. We made it a couple weeks ago, but we had to let it sit a while, and we’ve both been busy, so we planned nov. 7 for kahlua night. What I think is really great is that we found the recipe in the peace corps cookbook. Anyways, it was really sweet. Not too much my thing, and there was a lot left over since it was too sweet to drink much. It was nice to hang out, though. We made dinner with Nicole and Jessica, and then Nicole left since she doesn’t drink, and the rest of use ate brownies and ice cream and drank kahlua. Fun times.
I’m also trying to figure out what’s next in my life, too. I’m thinking of trying to stay abroad if I can – to find a job at an ngo, take my gre’s overseas, and apply for grad school for 2010. so I’ve been updating my resume, looking at options online, and I had a discussion with the head of catholic social services (crs) when I was last in maseru. I’m looking at all options, both moving to another country and staying here. Staying here might be a little more realistic since I have more connections here, but we’ll see what happens. I might not be able to find a job, in which case I’ll be back in the states next may/june. We’ll see.
Hope all is well with everyone
ann