Living in Lesotho: Doing Stuff!

Up until the beginning of this quarter, my time in Lesotho was marked by stretches of feeling clear and focused about what I was doing here and how to go about fulfilling my goals, peppered with moments (or weeks) of feeling lost, unsure or overwhelmed. I think this pattern is something that people experience intermittently throughout their lives, whether it’s about their jobs or relationships or hobbies. This pattern has felt more intense, though, because of the finite nature of Peace Corps service. Two years (unless we extend) is all we got, and it takes about this long (10+ months) to get comfortable in our communities and align what we want to do here with what we can do here. Now that I’m feeling clear and capable (on most days) of doing my job, time is of the essence.

So here’s what I’m doing and/or figuring out how to do.

Getting electrified: My school, that is. Right before going to Mozambique I attended a week long workshop with my counterpart about doing secondary projects and building capacity to better support people in our communities affected by and infected with HIV and AIDS. We presented what we did at the workshop to the other teachers the first week back from break, and had a meeting the following day to decide what secondary project they all want and can be done within a year (ideally, 3 months before I leave). They figured out that they want electricity, which will pretty much just require connecting the electricity that the clinic, which is next door, just got, to our buildings. Next steps are forming a project committee and fundraising. I’m really just here to offer my support and ideas, if need be, and to assist them with doing a grant if we end up doing that. This (or, if something changes, a different project) will be a consistent presence right up until I leave. I’ll keep ya’ll informed.

Spelling Bee! A really great, literacy promoting organization here called Ba Re E Ne Re (loosely translated as Once Upon a time) is sponsoring a national spelling competition in November, and to prepare I’m getting the students who want to participate ready for a school competition at the end of September. The lucky winner will come with me to the competition in Maseru, which is a big deal. Yay for literacy!

Youth Club: At that same workshop, I learned that until a few years ago there was a youth club at my school that was run by the grade 1 and 2 teacher, which focused on education and activities surrounding HIV/AIDS, particularly where stigma is concerned. She stopped doing it when we lost teachers and she had to fill in, but now that I’m here (and, god willing, new teachers sooner rather than later), I’ll be working with her to start that back up again, probably on a weekly basis.

And in the wonderful world of teaching English…

PSLE test prep: We all know that such a heavy emphasis placed on standardized test outcomes do nothing for a deep comprehension of subjects, but since I can’t do anything to change the system I can be a resource to the standard 7’s. So I poured over a bunch of old PSLE tests and will be working with them once or twice weekly for the rest of the year on the English material as well as on test-taking skills. Oddly, no one teaches the kiddos how to take a test, they just say read your notes and let that be that. We’ll see how it goes.

Consistency in my classes: Things that I’ve struggled with since I started teaching are creating consistent measures of success (e.g. regular quizzes and compositions), classroom management issues, balancing the amount of things they have to learn with teaching for comprehension AND making my co-teachers (when available) a part of the classroom more actively so the good stuff continues when I leave (say all of that 5 times fast). The last two are pretty challenging and will probably ebb and flow until I leave, but I feel like I’ve got a good handle on the first two, largely because I base nearly all of my lessons on group work and peer education. Never underestimate the power of positive reinforcement. Or stickers.

And when I’m not at school….

Meditating: I started doing in every night a couple months ago, and it feels like an empty day if I go to bed without it.

Running! I’m running one half-marathon at the beginning of October and one some time in December. That one will be in Makhotlong, the northernmost district in Lesotho, and the route is basically straight up a mountain. I’m only running the first one so I don’t keel over and die during the second. Luckily a bunch of other PCV’s are as crazy as me, so I won’t be alone.

Yoga. Throughout the dark and cold winter this was my only consistent exercise, and it has become another one of those things that I feel sort of empty without, as opposed to simply enjoying it like I did pre-Lesotho. Also, I can do a headstand now.

…Making an effort to BE here in every moment, both physically and mentally…but also…

Vacation dreamin’. I’m visiting the Eastern Cape with mama Jude when she visits at the end of September, and heading to Cape Town for New Years and meeting mama Lib there. Planning on Swaziland for the Bushfire music festival next year and Namibia during next years winter break. Re tla bona (we will see).

and, ya know, hangin' out.

Sending love and peace. Winter’s coming to a close here, and the sun’s shining bright.