Lesotho Week 2: Becoming A Local

This week has been both frustrating and incredible, with a full immersion into the community and how development programmes are organised here. 

Day 8 (Mafeteng)

So, here we are - Week Two and the beginning of our work within the communities of Lesotho. Today's orientation has now been split over two days, so unfortunately we have spent a lot of time recapping a lot of the things our in-country training went over last week. Hopefully tomorrow we will learn more about our placements and get a real idea of how our days will be structured. When I am unaware what is going on, the homesickness can make an appearance, so as soon as I can begin planning my weeks, the more effective I feel I will be.

Despite this, the most important thing I will take from today was a sentence from our instructor: 'Everyone in Lesotho is either infected or affected by HIV'. For a country where 23.2% of the population live with HIV or AIDS, I can only see the work we do here as positive in combatting the stigma.

Life with my host family is continuing well, and the second eldest daughter is staying this week. Her name is Dimpho, and she works as a police officer in Maseru. It is great to have another local to speak to about youth-related issues in Mafeteng, as this will undoubtedly help during our placements. Tomorrow she is going to teach me how to cook pap - a traditional Lesotho food made from harvested maize. It is used in a similar way to rice or potatoes in the UK, but is far more stodgy. 

Tomorrow, hopefully I will learn more about my village (Lifelekoaneng) and be shown around by Andile, a local volunteer. I am excited to meet more of the local community and get to talk to them about what I am doing here in Lesotho. As I will be working closely with communities, this will be crucial in forming close relationships.

Day 9 (Mafeteng)

Since moving from Maseru to Mafeteng, I have experienced and learnt a lot. For example, over the last couple of days we have used taxis to get around the city. A one-way journey costs 6.5 Rand, equivalent to 35p in the UK, yet there is little order to them. Taxi drivers  argue over which taxi you get in, and will not leave until they are full of passengers. In some cases they will drive up and down the road until ready to head to your destination. I have also learnt how to cook pap, and am slowly but steadily picking up more Sesotho.

Unfortunately, however, I still have a lot to learn about my volunteering placements. The LENEPWHA orientation has only answered a few of my questions, and there are still many unknowns ahead. The best way to learn will be to throw myself into the deep end and see what happens. Tomorrow, the Mafeteng team will begin to formulate our team plans and visit the schools, clinics and support groups we will be working with. I'm looking forward to meeting the people in charge of the services and getting an understanding of the needs of the local community when it comes to our volunteering.

While we are here, we are also getting to meet some of the local public figures. Today we were introduced to the Deputy District Administrator and Deputy Chief of Police to make them aware of our presence in Mafeteng. Our welcome to the country has been incredible, and is evident from just walking down the street. The staring will take a bit of getting used to, but it is nice to be able to greet people in their language each morning.

I have written previously about homesickness, and I do still miss home, but my support network of family and friends helps me remember why I decided to do this in the first place. ICS is not meant to be easy, and is instead meant to be a challenge, and I can feel myself getting mentally stronger each day. I am learning a lot about myself and my comfort zone, which I feel will be indispensable when I return. It has also helped me realise that I do truly have a passion to further my studies and take up a postgraduate course this year.

It is hard to believe that we are only 9 days into this experience, and have so many left to go. I feel I have already learnt so much, and am hoping the rest of our time here will continue to test us.

Day 10 (Mafeteng)

Today has easily been the most positive and active day I have had since arriving in Lesotho. Instead of just sitting around, we have been visiting the schools we will be working with, which has been a great opportunity to meet the head teachers and see which social issues they feel could be addressed in their schools. In one school, myself and Mathapelo will be running a substance abuse programme over eight weeks, to increase awareness of the topic. Tomorrow, we will continue to visit the schools and then run our first session at St John's Primary School, where we will be running a programme for deaf and disabled children.

We also made an appearance today on local radio, taking part in Pheko's (a local volunteer) daily show. We answered questions from listeners on volunteering and ICS, as well as LENEPWHA and its aims in the community. Pheko has said he wants us to go back on in a few weeks to update the audience, so this could end up being a regular occurrence. 

Today was also positive because I have been accepted back to Surrey to study an MSc in International Relations. I am yet to decide what exactly I want to do when I return from Lesotho, but this is a great step towards finalising my future plans. It has been unusual not being able to call my parents to tell them the news, but Facebook has been my main method of communication with family, so that will have to suffice for now!

I am so happy that finally a plan is falling into place. At home I am quite an organised person, so the 'seeing what sticks' approach is very different to me! I am sure that something will probably change in the next few days, but right now I have an idea of where I will be working, the programmes we will be running and be outcomes we hope to see when we leave. We will start properly on Monday, which will leave us with eight weeks to get everything done!

Day 11 (Mafeteng)

The weather here is completely unpredictable. Some days it will be raining, while others we will be traipsing around in 30 degree heat, and today has been the hottest so far. It is hard to maintain energy when trekking across fields to visit schools in such heat, and luckily we only have a couple to visit tomorrow. I finally have a tentative schedule for my afternoons, which means myself and Mathapelo can being planning our sessions around the Coaching for Hope guides.

The best part of today was easily running our first session at St John's Primary School. We are running weekly sessions here as a whole team of five, working with fourteen children of varying physical and learning difficulties. Today we ran an introductory session, meeting all the children and letting them know the aim of the sessions. We ran a shirt game based around the theme of 'communication', focusing on visual cues and colours. Experiencing our first session was an incredible feeling, and at the end the children were asked to feedback what they has learnt. All of them felt that the sessions will be a great opportunity to meet new friends, especially as they are all in separate classes normally. I have a feeling this could be the most rewarding school we work with, and I am looking forward to session two!

Day 13 (Mafeteng)

Over the past couple of days, I have been perfecting my brand new look for 2014, subtlety inspired by the image of a peeling tomato. Yes, I am burnt and have therefore adopted the stereotypical look of 'Brit Abroad', something that is further compounded when paired with my bumbag. The heat here is intense, and there is rarely any shade when walking from school to school, so I have become a victim of the sun.

We have now met all the schools we will an working with, and I will start on Monday. Today we planned our first week of sessions, choosing to focus on the theme of 'communication', to gently introduce the concept of life skills and their importance within education. This concept is also a nice way to ease myself into teaching. We will begin to meet the support groups this week, and once they are finalised, our schedules should be set!

I had another 'first' today, in learning how to hand wash my clothes. Unlike the people here, I definitely do not have the skill in this, and am convinced my clothes will not truly be clean until I get back to the UK. It is nice to learn though, and I'm sure I can try and improve over the next eight weeks.  By the time we leave, I could be a pro, and horrified by the thought of a machine (not likely).

Day 14 (Thabana Morena)

I cannot think of a better way to spend a Sunday than on the side of a mountain, singing along with a guitar and eating whatever food could be found at the local supermarket. After a long, and sometimes frustrating week, it was nice to spend some time relaxing in Thabana Morena, the collective name for a series of villages around thirty minutes outside of Mafeteng Central. Paul and Laura (two other LENEPWHA volunteers) are staying out here, so we took a day trip to visit. 

Our journey began with a bus trip. Buses here are very different to the UK, and that takes a lot of getting used to. Firstly, the bus will not leave until it is full, and as we were the first three passengers on a sixteen-seat minibus, we were waiting around for thirty minutes. Secondly, it appears that children do not count as passengers, so if more people can be crammed on, they will be. Once the bus is full, off it goes, stopping only to let people off or pick people up (if there is any space). Unlike the UK, buses do not stop at 'bus stops'. Instead they just pull up at the side of the road and people hop off or jump on. 

The bus ride took us through the mountains, and the views from the roads are breathtaking. You can literally see for miles. I don't think I will ever get bored of the views here, and I don't really want to 'get used' to them either. When we go back, it will be a long time before I get to see such sights again!

After arriving, we spent the majority of the day chilling in preparation for our first week of sessions. As Paul is living by himself in a traditional Basotho hut, he gets plenty of visitors, who will just come and stand outside the front door and stare in. These are both young and old, and it must be very odd for a small Lesotho community to have a group of British young adults come and visit for the day. Overall it was a great way to see some more of the country and relax in time for tomorrow's start in the schools.

I can't believe that we have now been here for two weeks and will finally start properly tomorrow. It has felt a long time coming at times this week, but the experiences have been well worth it, and have immersed me into the way things are organised over here. I'm sure Week Three will bring plenty more hurdles my way, but there is little point in planning for them - just tackling them when they arise!