It's the little things

Written on Tuesday 1/13/15 5:00 PM

My life here in Lesotho is largely mundane. I wake up, squat over the basin on the floor to wash the dirty dishes from the night before, fetch water, water my plants and weed a little, sometimes exercise, eat breakfast and then spend the rest of the day reading, journaling, talking with people or cooking. Sometimes I’m very bored and downright restless. Sometimes I'm lonely. But there is always at least one thing that happens every day that puts a smile on my face and makes me say, truthfully, “ke phela hantle” (I am well), when asked. 

Today was one of those restless days. I rose at five after another itchy, sleepless night and took a long run, my sneakers smacking the pavement and keeping time as the sun rose over the green mountains beyond. After bathing and eating and washing dishes and all that it was only 9 or 10:00. So I read for awhile and ate lunch at some point, attempting to eat and read on my porch (where I spend a lot of my time) but the combination of the flies and bees buzzing soon pushed me back inside. I was scheduled to meet the chief of my area for the first time in the afternoon and was waiting around for my IL to pick me up, doing bits and pieces of various things. However, at some point around 2 a woman knocks on my door that my IL must have sent, who I learn is ‘M’e Grasansia. She’s a tall middle-aged woman, wearing a blanket wrapped around her waist, a straw hat, brown Chuck Taylor’s and a youthful smile. She informs me that I am instead going to meet the chief tomorrow morning. “Okay, kea leboha (thank you)”, I say cheerfully. But as soon as she leaves I feel a small deflation in my chest. “Rats”, I think. It’s only two in the afternoon and I have no idea what to do with myself. My attempts at studying Sesotho earlier in the day didn’t last long, and I’m feeling kind of sleepy and lethargic.

But then, I remember a piece of advice I was given before I left from a lovely RPCV I used to live next door to: “Whenever you feel down or sad or whatever, just take a walk. Whatever it is, just take a walk. You’ll see something or talk to someone or laugh at something and you’ll feel better.” So I did. I walked up the hill and saw a family sitting outside one of the huts on the grassy embankment on my right side, took a deep breath and walked up to meet them.

Community integration is a funny thing. It’s a slow process, and it’s pretty much completely the job of the volunteer rather than the community, obviously, to put ourselves out there and meet people. This a little daunting at first, because I’ve never before spur of the moment gone up to a new neighbors yard with whom I had never spoken to before and sat down with them for over an hour, shooting the shit. But here, that’s how you make friends. And I’m very much wanting friends in my community right now. So I went up to them, asked if I could sit down, and plopped down on the grass. It was a good opportunity to practice my Sesotho anyway, so I learned all of their names and all of the children’s names that were situated around the two women, rolling around, chewing on grass and staring at me. I made friends with the women, the teenage son and the little ones (peek-a-boo is a brilliant game) AND I saw the baby, Rethabile, poop on herself twice, the second time getting on her mother’s foot. No big deal though- each time afterward her mother just stood up, shoveled the poop up and situated her baby at her breast to get fed. As far as I’m concerned, if there’s poop and breastfeeding involved, it’s a successful social interaction.

Then I continued walking for a bit and sat on a rock and just thought for half an hour about nothing in particular, the pre-rain wind brushing past my face as fast as the flies buzzed around my head. “When was the last time I just sat down somewhere and thought?”, I asked myself. Without my phone or a book or a journal or even a camera, just my thoughts? Maybe never. I’m really into it.

So, this day was a much-needed reminder of the fact that we all have the power to change a situation, or at the very least how we feel. I could have sat inside and felt sorry for myself until dinnertime, but I didn’t. It doesn’t take much to change a day around. All it takes is a short walk, a rock, a bodily function or two and some peek-a-boo.

Khotso.

Also......

Here are some changes:

Cat Stevens is in Lesotho, above my stove. 

Had a lot of time on my hands recently, so my wrist became a rainbow. And yes, those are all bug bites.

And, things seen in the past few weeks:

Sunset through my window

This gorgeous (newly) 25 year old. Check out her blog https://mackenzierotherham.wordpress.com/ to see how we celebrated her birthday. 

"was this stream here before?"

The heaven that is Maliba Lodge. 

I guess the shortcut from Konkotia (the town half an hour walk from me) to Ha Khabo (further down the road) has a name. 

Seen on said shortcut. Must inspect in the future. 

'M'e Thekane, my beautiful IL, on the walk back from meeting the area chief, which did eventually happen. 

Cactus trees, they bloom. 

To whoever used this condom, I'm glad you're being safe. Even if you have to hike up into the mountains to get it on. 

Elections are right around the corner. Here's the ABC, the ruling party, gettin' hype. 

And that's one ugly duck, seen in Brittany's yard. 

 P.S. After a failed attempt at getting a full bucket of water into my house (I got it up the cliff and then I dropped it all over my porch while taking it off my head. Very disappointing), I have now successfully carried a full bucket on my head up the cliff and into my house. Quite pleased.