Lumela

Welcome to our last post of this trip. It’s hard to believe that time has passed this quickly. Our last four days have been wonderful. On Monday and Tuesday we worked at the PHCL mission site: a large series of villages. We constructed yet another playground—our best yet—and did more painting and planting. Our setting this time was much different than others. We went directly into the village— walking the dirt road for about a half a mile prior to getting to our site. Everyone in the group had the opportunity to help plant fruit trees for the neediest families. We broke into groups and walked the village with volunteers who directed us to houses and families in need of help. This experience was new to most of us. Going directly into the homes of the Basotho and meeting them face‐to‐face where they live was an eye opening experience for us. The families were so grateful and confirmed for us that even though what we accomplish each day seems little to us, the impact it has is great. The group agreed that this experience was best held for the end of the trip: Our understanding of the people and the culture and the marginal increase in our facility with Sesotho made this experience very rewarding for all of us.

On the flip side of that coin, however, was the very real, abject poverty that we faced. It was so hard for us to eat our lunches with many watchful and hungry eyes staring at us. Children asked us for our water, a grown man asked for our lunch. We’ve had many discussions about our feelings of guilt and about why we are here. We are not there for handouts: we are here to build sustainable projects. Many of us have come to truly understand the old adage: if you give a man a fish he eats for a day; if you teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime. Nonetheless, it’s very difficult when it’s staring you in the eye.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we went into Maseru and did some souvenir shopping. We ate lunch at Nando’s, a Portugese chicken place (with great hot sauce that some of you will be receiving as gifts). Yesterday afternoon, we worked at the Leratong Community Center here in Roma. We finished up our work today—digging a pit latrine (it has to be 8 feet deep!), leveling an area for a patio expansion, and more decorative painting. The children were everywhere. Several of us had children braid our hair and are now convinced how beautiful Bo Derek was to pull off corn rows!!!! We taught the children Duck, Duck, Goose, which was a rousing success, and they continued to teach us their games.

This afternoon, we have to begin the process of loading the trailers for our long trip to Kruger National Park. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning. Current conversations are about which safari trip to take, and how best to get a shot at seeing the big five. We are excited about the trip and are beginning to talk more about going home.

This is the last chance we will have to blog, as there is no computer and internet access in Kruger. Thanks for reading and coming along with us. It has been a pleasure to keep you up to date and we hope you enjoyed it. We will see you soon!!!

Tori and Sarah

The next day was the 4th

of July. As those of you in America celebrated our nation’s independence we ventured out to honor the independence of Lesotho. Years ago, King Moshoeshoe led his troops up the mountain to escape enemies who were approaching. Throughout his time there, no enemy was able to conquer the mountain and attack Moshoeshoe’s troops. We set out to conquer Thaba Bosiu and we were victorious. Once up the mountain we saw some breath taking sights and the burial sight, meeting grounds, and home of the great King Moshoeshoe. After the hike we had the afternoon off, some of us ventured into Roma, others hiked to see the sunset, and the rest just relaxed at Thorns.

Today, Wednesday July 1

st, was a tough but rewarding day, like many we experience here in Lesotho. We spent the morning at the Baylor College of Medicine/Bristol Meyers-Squibb-sponsored pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic and the afternoon at a textile factory, both in the capital city of Maseru. We know the statistics about HIV here in Lesotho—anywhere from 24 to 30 percent of the population is infected with HIV. Every guest lecturer cites the statistic and virtually every time Lesotho is mentioned in the literature, the seeming tag line “with one of the highest HIV rates in the world” is mentioned along side of it. The group realizes that at least 2 out of every 5 Basotho whom we’ve met are likely infected. But those are just statistics. Spending the morning at the Baylor clinic, where we sponsored a carnival for children receiving treatment, brought us face-to-face with children with HIV/AIDS. There was no guessing—no cool, clinical statistic to hide behind. Every single child we met and played with today is living with varying states of the disease on a daily basis. The Baylor clinic serves 4,000 children with HIV/AIDS and their families. The mission is to promote compliance with the complicated dosing schedule of ARV (anti-retrovirus) medications. Children under 10 years learn that they have a “bad guy” in their bodies. Their T-cells are the soldiers and the ARVs are the super heroes, so it’s important to take the super hero medication to keep the bad guy asleep and the only way to do it is to take the medications on time. Our goal today was simple: Give these children a few hours of fun. We had soccer balls, Frisbees, sidewalk chalk, a jump rope, coloring books and crayons, temporary tattoos (very popular—even with the moms and grandmas accompanying the children!) beanbag toss and, of course, bubbles. The children loved it. So did we. We played, and played and laughed and, yes, cried a bit.

My little friend—probably about 18 months to 2 years old—didn’t speak English and laughed at my Sesotho. We drew pictures with sidewalk chalk, tried the bubbles (they scared her), and mostly sat quietly playing patty cake and making faces. She tried to catch my tongue when I stuck it out and she liked my long hair. I liked her laugh, which came easily and frequently. She tired very easily and briefly fell asleep in my arms. I looked at her sleeping and couldn’t help wondering how long she will live (most HIV infected children in Lesotho do not live past five years of age) and realized her mother must have the same thoughts. I am very privileged to have my daughter, Nora (age 16) accompanying me on this trip. As I held this little child, I watched my beautiful, healthy daughter play with a group of children. It was so sad and so beautiful at the same time, with so many conflicting emotions; guilt and gratitude are the two that come readily to mind. When she woke up, she scurried down out of my lap, and walked back into the crammed waiting room to her awaiting grandmother, who had been watching us the entire time. The grandmother hugged me and thanked me in Sesotho, scooped up her little charge and walked away. I hope that I was able to give the child some fun and a new sort of attention and the grandmother a brief break from a long day of waiting.

Shifting gears, we spent the afternoon touring a Chinese-owned textile factory, which produces denim products for Levis, Walmart and K-Mart. Our tour guide, one of the main executives at the plant, explained that fully 99% of the products made in the plant are bound for the U.S. He explained that at this time last year, the plant employed 10,000 workers, but is now down to 4,000 (up from a low of 3,000) due to the financial crisis in the U.S. and around the world. So closely bound to the U.S. economy is the textile economy in Lesotho, that he explained, “If the U.S. gets a cold, we (Lesotho) sneeze.”

It was no accident that we were allowed to tour this plant, as it is considered the “model” plant in Lesotho, with “green” initiatives such as a water reclamation project. I couldn’t help wondering what “full capacity” would look like at this plant, since it seemed very congested and busy. We were warned prior to the tour not to engage in conversation with the workers and not to let them “pose” for our pictures, because it would take away from their production. Nonetheless, they were happy to see us and asked us where we were from, as they did their piece work (they have 40 seconds to sew both inseams of a pair of jeans and it should take no longer than 16 minutes to produce a pair of jeans with a total production cost of $4 US, minus washing and drying—some in ascetic acid and lava rock for that stone washed look).

I was so proud of our students for asking tough questions of the plant executive. They asked about wages ($120 per month), maternity leaves, gender issues, worker morale and much more. When asked about worker morale, the plant executive said that he would never want to do a job like the floor jobs in the factory and that it is not good for anyone to have to do that sort of job. He closed with, “But somebody has to…” I think you can only imagine the pall that fell over our group after that comment.

It was a quiet drive back to Thorns this afternoon after a very emotional day. Sitting “shot gun,” I was required to DJ and pick selections from someone’s iPod. This is quite the pressure job for a 44-year-old woman with 16 college students in back of her, waiting for the next “good” song. I kept lamenting the fact that I didn’t recognize half of the artists on this iPod and shuffling through songs when, from the back of the bus I heard my daughter yell, “Geez, Mom! Would you just pick a song and stick with it already!!” I had tears in my eyes when I told my healthy daughter—whose only problem in the

A pair of jeans we saw through production

The most beautiful picture of the day

world at that moment was an uncool mom—to stuff it.

Sarah Kelly

One group working on the interior walls of the Community Center in Ramabanta

Hello Friends and Family!

We’ve just returned from our hour and a half getaway to beautiful Ramabanta! We really wish you all could have seen this place; it was stunning. There are pictures below (which I hope you all have been able to view better!) but they just don’t do it justice. On the way there we stopped outside for some group pictures before pulling into The Trading Post.

Getting off the vans we were ecstatic at the warm weather and the amazing scenery. The hosts, Pete and Judy, who were so accommodating it made it hard to leave four days later, soon greeted us. We were served near‐American food for the duration of our stay including favorites such as hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, three‐bean salad, and veggie burgers!

After lunch half the group went out for a horseback ride while the other half waited until the next day. Our horseback ride was quite an experience! We had everything from veteran riders to first timers. I, personally, haven’t been on a horse since I was five with my dad, so I was definitely nervous! I was so glad I did it though, as I think was everyone else. At times the trails were narrow and steep, but the view was worth it! It was like nothing I’ve ever seen. My favorite part was seeing the streams running down below from high above on the mountain, then half an hour later being down at the base and crossing that same water (twice!). The next day we were all more sore than we expected, but stilled thrilled about the ride. That night we had a bonfire to celebrate both Dr. Rosenberg’s and Megan Shubitowski’s birthdays! It was a wonderful night surrounded by the stars, booming laughter, s’mores, and even an occasional outbreak of song.

The next day was spent doing an assortment of activities: A handful of us went off to the local Church in the morning, while others set off on hiking adventures and brought back gorgeous geodes (sparkling rocks) from the mountains. The afternoon was spent lounging and doing leisure reading; it was a great day of R and R. That night we had a serious group discussion. My favorite part of the talk was when Crystal Rosenberg talked about plating a seed, figuratively and literally. Literally, we have done some of that here. But we’ve also planted seeds in our hearts to serve, to understand, and to give. Hopefully we’ve planted seeds of hope here to, hope for a future, hope that people care, and hope in the form of a hug. We all headed off to bed with a lot on our minds.

The following two days were back to service. Both started on the front lawn watching the sunrise over the mountains. After that we hiked up to our worksite, about 15 minutes away. We split up into smaller groups once we arrived. One group worked at an AIDS clinic that was trying to expand. Their mission was to bust through a cement wall. They worked their both days, making slow but steady progress. The other group did an assortment of odd jobs at the local Community Center: painting a base coat on the interior walls and using putty to put glass window panes into frames the first day and doing interior decorative painting the next. The time passed quickly and breaks were filled with handclap games with the kids.

Our time at Ramabanta was great, a perfect combination of leisure activities and service. We are now back at Thorns in Roma and preparing for a big day tomorrow including a carnival at the Baylor Clinic in Maseru and an afternoon touring a textile factory. We’ll write soon! Take care!

Crystal (Scott Rosenberg’s wife) and I sat down to enjoy a quiet cup of coffee and were having a great conversation when, much to our surprise, the first team returned in a record 38 minutes! They successfully completed the hunt, with another team on their heels, and even negotiated a taxi back to Thorns. After the race, many students chose to walk back to Roma to further explore. Many of us bought traditional Basotho blankets (which would come in handy during yesterday’s snow—but more on that later). After lunch, we had lectures on history and transportation and development from two local professors.

Wednesday evening was particularly special. We returned to Kennedy’s place and Little Angels orphanage for a bonfire and traditional drumming ceremony. The sky was so clear—literally billions of stars—and many of us were able to finally see and understand what is meant by the “Milky Way.” We had fun trying to pick out the constellations—although they are different in this hemisphere (at least that’s what we decided when we couldn’t identify any). We all took turns drumming and enjoyed the evening immensely.

A few hours in to our project

Our near finished project!

The view from our playground!

Hello friends and family!

The past few days here have been spent working with organizations aimed at bettering the youth of Lesotho. Our large group split into two and we went to separate sites. The next day we flip‐flopped and went to the other site. It was nice to mix things up a little and get to know more people in the smaller group settings. Volunteer members of the Lesotho Work Camp also joined us. Most of these workers are around our age, attend the University, and donate their time to help Lesotho. Most of them speak English very well and are very easy to talk to. Usually they ask us about members from past trips and how they’re doing. It’s really cool to see what strong bonds have been formed with past groups and we know we are in the process of forming some as well.

The first day of splitting up we had an early wake up call for 7:30 AM breakfast. My group went to Lesotho Child Counseling Unit (LCCU). LCCU is an orphanage for kids who have been reported to the authorities as victims of abuse and placed in this home. Fun fact: It’s actually Prince Harry’s favorite charity and he does a lot of work there. However, he’s very recently suspended funding due to bookkeeping discrepancies. The children are all ages and just like all the other kids we’ve met, are great: bright, happy, and smiling. Our tasks for the day included cubbie building, curtain hanging, and sketching and painting on the walls. Resident artist, Elizabeth Roby, was our creative director and lead sketch artist. Most of us spent the day painting in the sketches. The paintings really brightened up the place, not to mention the curtains! As Danny Johnson put it, “It’s amazing what curtains will do for a room.” On breaks we played with the kids. They really loved playing with all the girls’ hair so we got a little beauty parlor treatment before lunch. We ate with all the kids and Camp Workers and ended lunch by singing some TI and Kanye together. After work we had our group meeting where we got to hear about the other group’s experiences. We all definitely took away some important lessons from the day. The group lightened the mood in the evening by cuddling up to comedies and Disney movies.

Today, we had another early breakfast. After eating and a quick language lesson we split up and switched sites. It was rainy again today, so like yesterday, we were mostly confined to indoor (unheated!) work. Today we were at Lesotho Save the Children. Save the Children is a work in progress farm. Eventually, the hope is to take in later adolescent orphans who will live there and also help cultivate the farm to produce some of their own food. Yesterday’s group plastered the inside of several small rondavels (round huts) and today we painted two coats on those walls, one before and one after lunch. During our break we went to see the pigs on the farm. They had tons of little piglets that would get out and run around every now and then. The group had a lot of fun with them. We’re off now to watch Cry Freedom as a group and get ready for our scavenger hunt tomorrow! Wittenberg competition can be pretty fierce!

We have had two great days in which we accomplished a lot and really began to come together as a group.

Saturday was spent at Little Angels Orphanage finishing up our greenhouse, painting and drip irrigation projects. During our group meeting on Friday night, Scott encouraged us to slow down and not be in such a hurry to get things finished that we forget the very reason we are here. As a result, Saturday was slower-paced and more relaxed. Some of our group spent the entire day playing with the children and were far more physically tired at the end of the day than those among us who worked with hammers and saws! Our new friend Kennedy (whom you first met during Group 1’s trip) held court with several of us and seemed to enjoy his captive audience.

The group who planted ten fruit trees spent over three hours watering them. It was fascinating to hear them tell the story of finding water pales, taking them the long way to the watering hole, filling them up, wheeling them back and beginning the process again. At home what do we do? We turn on the hose and let it go. Here, it literally took half a day to accomplish what we know to be a simple task at home. It was a lesson to all of us about not only the living conditions here, but also why it is difficult to sustain some of the projects we begin.

It is particularly gratifying to watch the group begin to come together. We came to Lesotho identified by different academic majors, sports teams, Greek Houses, and interests. Slowly, those differences are slipping away and what is coming to the fore is the bond of being here and being in this experience together. Even a senior administrator and the president’s wife are now just Sarah and Lin and part of the group.

We had our first whole group campfire last night at the space that we’ve come to know as only as the “Man Cave” (the Group 2 women would really like to thank Group 1 for that!) and had a great time getting to know one another and relaxing together. The conversations ran the gamut from philosophy to cultural anthropology to biology and pop culture. For those of you worried that we were too “deep” never fear, a pretty fierce dance party erupted spontaneously and lots of laughter was present. I have taken on the role of Sarah J—“Coach J” from trip one, in that I am entering into pretty vociferous political and philosophical arguments with one of our drivers. I think I’m holding my own.

Some of our plans were rained out today, unfortunately. We went to Morija and heard a lecture about Lesotho economics and culture. After a wonderful authentic Basotho lunch we had to scrub our plans to do the dinosaur footprint hike, and instead, returned to Thorns. Most of our group opted for a short hike right here in Roma to see similar dinosaur footprints. We had about 35 tour guides with all of our Basotho friends who walked with us and led the way. Everyone in our group was holding hands with his or her friends as we walked and sang (Beyonce’s Put a Ring on It!). We now understand why there is no word for stranger in Lesotho.

It’s been two days since we left Johannesburg, and man, are they excited about the World Cup! It’s not even until next summer! The bus ride to Lesotho was 8 hours long, but we made the best of it. We even saw two rhinos on the way! Eventually we got our music working and played twenty questions to pass the time, all the while enjoying the incredible scenery. When we stopped for lunch most of us had a new experience, we had to pay to use the restrooms! We found out that this is a pretty common practice. When we were about 2 hours out of Lesotho one of the buses got a flat tire. We thought it was going to set us back for a while. Thanks to the drivers and their expertise, we were back on the road in no time.

After two full days of travel, we pulled into Thorns where we had an absolutely amazing welcoming crew! About 30 children from the village were screaming and waving, and were just ecstatic about our arrival. It’s unreal to see the poverty surrounding us, but at the same time, the utter joy and happiness of these children. We have yet to meet a child that doesn’t have a smile on their face. The kids are so eager to hug, hold hands, tell you their name, and ask you to be their friend. After a first meal of chicken, rice, and vegetables, we walked outside and were completely overwhelmed with how many stars we could see! It’s so clear and the stars are so bright; it’s honestly breathtaking.

This morning some of us went for a run and the excitement still hasn’t died down. The kids swarmed us and overtook our ipods. They knew all the latest songs better than we did! After we got back from our run some of us got our Lesotho names. After breakfast we left for our worksite. The view on the drive there was so beautiful. There are so many kids wandering around, it’s nice to see how the older kids look out for the younger ones.

When we got to Little Angels, our project for the next two days, we met Kennedy who introduced us to Little Angels and explained their mission. We took a tour and saw all the paintings the past groups have done. They really did a great job. We split up into 3 groups for the day: green house building, painting, and working on the irrigation system. While we were working on the green house we met a German man named Sven. He and his wife left Germany on their bicycles one day looking for people to help. Who knows how long later, they ended up here in Lesotho, by bike! There’s also these aloe vera plants everywhere that are about 6 feet tall. They’re huge! Later on in the day, the children performed dances for us. The girls had their own dance where they wore skirts with bottle caps attached to strings of fabric that made fun sounds as they danced around. As the boys sat around and admired the girls’ dance, they got ready for their own where they stomped to the beat of a traditional African drum. The dance was one of the cutest things ever!

After our first day of work we were all exhausted. We came back to Thorns and had a guest speaker lecture us on the politics of Lesotho. Shortly following, we had a brief meeting going over the days’ experiences, and then dinner was served. We are all so excited to return to Little Angels tomorrow where we will finish the garden and the greenhouse. We are a bit worried we will be sore tomorrow from all the hard physical labor. Thankfully, we sleep on what amounts to massive heating pads so we should be all set. We will be in touch soon and keep the comments coming!

P.S. Pictures will be coming soon!

Lumela!

We will be your bloggers from Group 2 of Lesotho 2009! My name is Tori Vogelgesang and I am a junior at Witt from Cincinnati, OH and this is my first time leaving the country. Co‐penning with me is Sarah Kelly, VP for Student Development and Dean of Students. We are both so excited to be going on this trip and all that it has in store for us.

After several rounds of headcounts, we’ve made it to Johannesburg safe and sound, all 29 of us. We landed just as the sun was setting and sky was a magnificent shade of pink. The flight was long no matter how many ways you cut it, but the movie selection was definitely impressive! We managed to see a few thunderstorms and the sunrise on our flight, which was awesome. It was also the shortest night any of us have ever experienced! The sun was up by almost midnight our time! Our trip from Atlanta was 7,800 miles and took about 15 hours. Group 1 was actually in the Johannesburg airport the same time we were, just in a different area. Several students had letters waiting for them from friends on the first trip. It was so thoughtful and much appreciated! We’re glad they had such an amazing time.

One thing that has become very apparent is how long everything takes when you’re working with a group of 30 people. Even bathroom breaks take a lot of time. So it was no surprise to us that it took almost two hours at the Johannesburg airport moving through immigration, collecting our luggage and exchanging money.

Upon leaving the airport we loaded the vans and turned on the radio. The first song we heard was Beyonce! Hah it was like we hadn’t even left America! We quickly remembered where we were when we noticed our driver Dwayne was sitting in the front right seat and driving on the left side of the road! We’ve just returned from a great dinner and everyone is looking forward to a hot shower and hitting the hay.

Tomorrow we have an 8‐hour bus ride to the Kingdom of Lesotho. After that our first real day of work will begin which we are all looking so forward to! So far it has been kind of surreal that we are actually in Africa! I think it will sink in more over the drive tomorrow. We will be in touch as soon as possible and look forward to your comments! Thanks for participating in this trip with us!

Hey everyone!  Sadly, our time here in Roma at Thorn’s is ending!  Tomorrow at 8 am we begin the 2 day drive north to Kruger National Park to go on a safari.  We will be going on morning, all day, and night game drives!  Hopefully we will be able to see the big 5!

The past couple of days we split into 2 groups.  One went to a farm run by Lesotho Save the Children.  Starting in August, the farm will be used to offer teenage orphans a place to learn technical skills that will help them later in life.  When we showed up, the place looked overgrown and in shambles.  Throughout the day we weeded beds, pathways, and houses.  By the end of the day the place looked completely different!

The other group traveled to a village just outside of the town of Morija to construct a playground and do some painting.  As we were building, the community and school kids came out to help carry pieces of the playground, help find rocks for cement, and inspect the paint job. On Thursday afternoon we had a HUGE soccer match against the local high school team.  It was a hard fought battle that ended in a 0-0 tie (the other team was offsides a lot)!  We were pretty proud of ourselves!  The village ’soccer moms’ came out and spent the entire match chanting and singing.  It was a great experience to play such a universal game and in such a beautiful setting (a field surrounded by mountains!)

Well, thanks for reading!  hope you enjoyed our adventures for this trip!  In another week a whole new adventure will start when Trip 2 arrives!  Keep reading to hear more stories and see more pictures!

– Jon and Sarah J.

We will miss these beautiful faces!

And we will miss the fascinating landscape!