Last night we had the chance to attend an African drumming gathering. Kennedy (mentioned in a previous post) invited us to his property for a bonfire where he showed us the basics of drumming. After he showed us the three basic beats - the bass, snare, and slap -  he left us to our own devices. Many of us tried our hand at the drums and enjoyed our time despite the crisp, cool Lesotho evening. Kennedy also had a friend of his join us by singing and playing guitar. He told us his story of how he became blind and how he studies at the University here in Lesotho. After he played us some songs, we all began a riotious sing-along. No, not your traditional hymns or Patriotic tunes, American Pop music. Although I, Coach J, could not contribute in the slightest during the recreation of hits by the Backstreet Boys and R Kelly, I was happy to scream out the lyrics to the “classic” tunes (as the students refer to them as) such as Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ “. We all had a great time even if we will STILL smell like camp fire when you pick us up in the airport on June 17th (it was pretty smoky!)

Today the community members hosted Mokaete, a special celebration, to honor our time here as this is our last full weekend day in Roma. The members of the village came together to perform for us and to thank us for the efforts we have brought to those in need. Many people from the community spoke including the Chief and a member of Parliament. Once we had time to enjoy the dancing and singing we had a big feast (sounds like the way to have a party, huh?!). After lunch many of the students stayed to enjoy dancing with the children and watch more entertainment (see photos). We have a big week upcoming as we only have five days remaining in Roma before we head to South Africa for the final leg of our trip. We will be doing many things within a number of villages surrounding Roma. We will be sure to send at least one more update before heading to Kruger.

Also, to answer some of the questions from the comments: we don’t walk around with tool belts, we have very basic tools to do our work and not many tools to share, so we are creative with how we get the work done. It is a six hour difference in time from EST and it didn’t take us long to get acclimated to the difference. Most of the students talk about what their first meal will be when they get back to the United States of America (with Chipotle as the front-runner, and ice cream as a close second), so I would say that cuisine is what most of us miss from our “everyday” American lifestyle. Most of us appreciate a lot of how the Basotho live even though we like our i-Pods, Direct TV and PCs.Thanks for the comments and keeping up-to-date with our journey - it has been incredible!

Some of our entertainment during the Mokete

Erin McIlvaine, '12, Kristen Miller, '10 and Elyse Adams, '12 enjoy the entertainment with their special friends during the Mokete

Hey everyone!  Thanks for all the posts and well wishes to the blog, we’ll try to keep the posts coming.  We are heading into our last week here in Roma before heading off to Kruger National Park in South Africa for a Safari!

We spent Thursday and Friday at LCCU, which is a place for mentally and physically abused children as well as orphaned children.  We spent the time painting the boy’s and girl’s rooms as well as their bathroom.  You would be suprised how creative we got!  In the boy’s room some of us painted cars, trucks, and animals native to Lesotho.  In the girl’s room they painted flowers, trees, butterflies as well as a rondavel (traditional Lesotho house).  The bathrooms consisted of an under the sea theme complete with bubbles, fish, and a mermaid.  One of the more personal touches we were able to help with was painting their therapy room with a tree of life and other techniques used in their sessions.  The other half of us constructed a playground for all the kids to play on as well.

The best part about the past 2 days was having a dance party with the kids, staff, and volunteers at the LCCU.  We all danced together showing off our moves and interacting with each other.  We danced to Lesotho music as well as some American favorites!

This morning we traveled to the holiest sight in all of Lesotho, Thaba Bosiu.  This mountain is where King Moshoeshoe I founded Lesotho.  He held his ground atop the mountain from invaders and started the country.  As we scaled the mountain we each had to carry a rock with us to place on the pile at the top.  This is considered a peace offering that everyone does upon entering.  Even when Moshoeshoe was defending the territory, enemey visitors would put down their weapons and “come in peace.”  On top of the mountain we explored Moshoeshoe’s house, took many group photos (it’s great all the different groups and organizations represented on the trip), and visited the cemetary of the royal family.  Overall it was a great experience.

Sorry this is short, but we have a lecture in 5 minutes about Lesotho culture!

To answer some of the questions posted:

The Baylor clinic sees 2,000 kids with free service and drugs.  It is backed by Baylor Medical College as well as Bristol Myers Squib (spelling?)

The food is mostly normal, no real suprises,  a lot of soup and vegetables!!

Thanks for reading!  Any alums of the trip feel free to share memories or stories!

Hey!  We all just got back from our little vacation to Ramabanta (an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise up in the mountains).  The trip was incredible, you will not believe the view (pictures do not do it justice).  We spent Saturday and Sunday at liesure hiking, fly fishing, and relaxing around campfires.  As part of the trip, it was arranged for a 2-3 hour horse back ride through the mountains.  This was one of the coolest things I have done.  First, the views were great, traveling higher and higher into the mountains we saw tiny villages and shepards (I don’t want to think about how they got up there).  Then, on the way down, we crossed a river and even got our horses to run and gallop through Ramabanta (mine however decided to run up a cliff….).  When we weren’t horse back riding we took to the mountains, getting village kids to be our tour guides (who knew you could climb a mountain barefoot).

On Monday and Tuesday we spent our time at work sites in the town.  One project was converting an abandoned building into a community center and the other was constructing a playground at the Primary School.  Both were great experiences (see the picture of the finished playground).

We returned to Roma and spent Wednesday in the capital city of Maseru.  In the morning we went to the Baylor Pediatric AIDS Clinic where we hosted a carnival for the 100-150 waiting HIV+ kids and their parents and family members.  It was a very emotional experience for all of us as we saw firsthand the effects this epidemic has on youth.

In the afternoon we were able to take a full tour of a textile factory.  In this factory they were making jeans for stores throughout the U.S. such as Wal-Mart, GAP, Levi, and Calvin Klein, among many others.  We traveled through the sewing room floor seeing hundreds of workers at tables making pockets or pant legs.  Another room had hundreds more cutting fabric, and still another had even more people getting the proper wash and look of the jean.  Many of us left with mixed emotions and ended in a very deep discussion when we returned to Thorn’s.

If you have questions feel free to leave them and we’ll try to answer!

Hey!  On Wednesday we were set loose in the town of Roma, Lesotho.  Here we went on a scavenger hunt throughout the city collecting items, interacting with locals, and getting to know each other.  We were split into 6 teams, with the winning team getting a prize (do NOT put competition in front of Witt students….things get a little crazy).  My team took off in a dead sprint for the 1km or so trek into town (we only ran for a little bit of it though….especially when we started up the HUGE hill).  In town, we explored the National University of Lesotho, the supermarket, police station, and post office among other things.  My team thought we would surely win if we took a taxi back to Thorns.  However, a police break check point stalled us and we lost.

We have spent the past two days at Little Angels Day Care.  This is a center for young children, mostly orphans, started by a Sesotho named Kennedy.  He shared his thoughts about life and living with us as we all worked together on various projects.  One project was constructing a chicken coop so the center can sell eggs to make money as well as for food for the 44 kids.  We also painted the various walls and classrooms of the building.  One of the students on the trip did a dental hygiene clinic for all the kids and staff, and they all showed off their gleaming smiles once they got a flouride treatment.

Some of us showed off our artistic side by painting 3 different murals.  Coach J was able to  show us another one of her passions in the enormous mural she painted over 2 days (she now reeks of turpentine!).  It was great playing with all the kids as they taught us their English numbers and alphabet as well as some of their favorite songs and prayers.  It was a fulfilling past 2 days.

Tomorrow we will be taking off on a little vacation to Ramabanta for the next 4 days.  We will be taking the weekend to hike, horseback ride, fly-fish, and star gaze.  On Monday and Tuesday we will be doing various projects in the area (including building our first playground).  We will have plenty of updates when we get back from the trip.

Thanks for all the updates and comments (keep em’coming) and Happy Birthday Grandma Collins!

We finished spending two days in Nazareth (about 30 km from Roma) to work on the Habitat site. We helped work on building two homes that will be used to house orphans. We worked on two lots, one where the students were moving, via a congo line, and laying cinder blocks as walls of the house; the other group digging 3 meter trenches as the perimeter of the foundation. At this site we worked with ‘Work Crew’ who were college age plus adults from the capital city Maseru, volunteering their time to help their country. We met a man who called himself President Bushy and loved playing the song ‘Red, Red, Wine’ by UB 40 (I still only know the main verse though…). The children in this village were clearly more skeptical of spending time with us than the ones who hollered and barraged us when we arrived in Roma. By the second day on the site, they were more receptive to us and many of us were able to get them to smile and laugh with us through simple patty-cake games and song and dance. We ended the second day with a dance party in the kids’ future home in order to pack down the dirt so the floor can be layed. Both groups had a strong sense of accomplishment after two complete days as there was clear progress made on both plots. The biggest accomplishment was getting the children to interact with us. And, yes, once again, we did get them to sing and dance to American Pop music!

The work we do during the days have been rigorous; however, we do entertain free time the remainder of the day. The evenings are times when we get a chance to speak about our daily experiences within a large group setting. In the later evenings, we have more time to get to know one another, usually around a fire pit with our hilarious drivers from South Africa, Dewayne, Jan and Owen. Our cultural knowledge has grown tenfold being around these characters – each a decade apart in age and having been with the Witt trip numerous times. Beginning from South Africa, they have been able to give us insight on the language of Afrikans – now we are leaning TWO new languages – and how the lifestyle and culture differs between Lesotho and South Africa.

After traveling for 3 straight days (18 hour flight, night in Jo-burg, and a 10 hour drive to Lesotho with long stops at the border) we finally arrived at Thorns Guest House in Roma, Lesotho.  As we pulled up the drive, we were greeted by all the kids in the village who wanted to play with us.  The next morning was spent interacting with kids of all ages, from toddlers to teenagers.

Later we went up to the Community Center that was built by the group from last year.  It was great to see all the hard work they put into this structure that is a vital part of the community.  It is a place where 40+ orphans from the village can go to learn and spend time when they are not in school.  We dug fence post holes, an 8 ft deep latrine, and cultivated land for a garden.  During this time, all the village kids were there to play with us.  I (Duraj) made 2 friends, Metsoka and Tsepo.  We all played football and other yard games.  Some of us just held a kid and others danced and sang (they taught us traditional Basotho dance and song….we taught them Soulja Boy…).  It was great to talk with them and see their joy for us being there, as well as learn about their culture and to find out how much they know about American Culture (they know more about Chris Brown and Rihanna than we do).

Yesterday we spent the day in Morija seeing people in the town and hiking all afternoon to see Lesothosaurus footprints.  The view from the top of the mountain was incredible.  We returned that evening to find the village kids waiting at the Thorns entrance with letters and notes, ready to play.

Some of the traditional foods we have been eating (Don’t worry Moms, we are eating well):

-Pappa (starch-corn meal substance)

-Morojo (traditional greens)

-Lots of soup (made with no less than 10 vegetables)

-Pumpkin in everything

We will be doing work with Habitat for Humanity building homes for orphans this week.  Make sure you keep checking in, and let us know how the Cavs are doing (we have some die hards over here), as well as the French Open….we are a little disconnected over here!

Jon and Sarah

Hey! We are in the Atlanta airport waiting to board the plane that will take us to Johannesburg and then Lesotho. All 44 of us are anxiously waiting to board (and also hoping the beautiful screaming child we hear isn’t sitting next to us, and that there are some good in-flight movies showing).
Our flight is 18 hours long and then we will be staying the night in Jo-burg before taking an 8 hour bus ride to Lesotho!

Everyone is making last minute calls and texts, grabbing some food, and waiting to board.

Alright, signing off for now, see you in Lesotho!

–
Sarah and Jon

Greetings!  We are Jon Duraj ‘09 and Sarah Jurewicz ‘98 and we will be bringing you along on our trip to Lesotho, Africa this summer.  This trip, started by Professor Scott Rosenberg 6 years ago, takes Wittenberg students and faculty to the small landlocked country of Lesotho to assist communities in

the area through personal interaction and expansion of community resources.  Throughout the next month we will be sharing our adventures with you and encourage your thoughts and comments along the way.

Last Thursday we finished our Typhoid vaccination, which along with a Hep-A shot, physically prepared us to go.  The vaccination consisted of a series of 4 pills over an 8 day period and contained many side effects…..the nausea and dizziness was not appreciated…..but that’s in the past.

We also have been gathering donations ranging from clothes, shoes, stuffed animals, and soccer equipment to pass out along the trip.  One of the things I’m looking forward to is the soccer clinic we will be helping with in a few weeks.  Before and after that we will be doing other projects such as building a community center, chicken coop, green house, and a library.  

Going on the trip will be Wittenberg students ranging from first-year to graduated seniors from all areas of campus: athletics, greek life, student senate, and various other groups.

So we will be leaving in appx. 36 hours and here is my status update:  I just graduated, all my friends are leaving, I have not moved out of my room, and have just started packing…Later I will be updating my iPod…. Any suggestions for an 18 hour plane ride????  just let me know and I’ll grab them.

Check back for regular posts from Sarah and me…our next one should be from Lesotho!  See you in the Southern hemisphere!