Back to it…

First week back at school complete after a nice, much needed winter break! It’s been a minute so here we go…

Winter break was lovely. Seeing my parents and having a South Africa vacation was awesome. And then the rest of my time was spent at my village when I wasn’t traveling in Lesotho or at Peace Corps conferences. I got to see all my friends and a few more peoples sites and villages which was so so fun!

school break = kiddos visiting me to color on my host sister’s porch!

The conferences were long, but all in all productive. First conference was all about project development and management. My coteacher for grade 4 came to this one with me and we got to brainstorm projects for our school and dive into the logistics of grant writing and project planning and implementation. I’ve got some project ideas I’m pretty excited to start working on, so am looking forward to really putting some of those ideas in place. I’ve already been working on some mural painting at my school, but am hoping to do some more upscale work there with an official project, as well as start looking for book donations and building shelves in classrooms to instill classroom libraries where kids can have more access to books, reading, and English practice.

Our second one was on Grassroots Soccer, a program Peace Corps partners with to use soccer clubs to teach kids life skills (emotional and physical well-being, relationships, empowerment, sexual health, and HIV/AIDS awareness) I brought a few teachers from my school to also become certified coaches and am excited to start this club up at school this quarter!

official Grassroots Soccer look with the Peace Corps bucket hats.

Last but not least, we had our student friendly schools workshop where we all brought our coteachers and principals. Corporal punishment runs rampant in Lesotho and it is not uncommon for students at the school to come tell me their teachers were beating them that day. Unfortunately, this is a practice of discipline that has been culturally acceptable for a long time. Educators don’t see much wrong with these forms of punishment and aren’t a huge fan of changing their minds. Thankfully, this workshop was received positively by many of our coteachers and principals, so I’m hoping some genuine change can be made in the schools all of us volunteers are serving in. The emotional toll knowing that my learners are being hit in their classrooms most days has taken on me is large. I would really love if my presence here could even make the slightest impact on changing discipline culture and practices at my school.

Being back teaching this week has been great and it’s been really nice to get back into a routine at site. I’m hoping this half of the school year goes swimmingly!

All this said, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed lately by the amount of things I am equipped to do after these workshops and the incredible load of work that needs to be taken on at the school. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s just one step at a time! I’m meeting with all the teachers next week to discuss what our priorities are for projects and hopefully after that my role will shift a little bit to be more project heavy while also getting to be in the classroom a few times a week - cause as you all know I do love my learners dearly!

Other things to note:

Winter has been chilly but I have made it through without a heater! It’s snowed twice here and adjusting to chilly laundry days hasn’t been my favorite. Spring is right around the corner! Winter is also dry season so my pump is currently not in use. It was on this morning and all of the women (myself included) were rushing to fill up as many buckets as possible before it turned off again. My morning was spent hauling buckets of water on my head and that was enough workout for me for the day. When this pump isn’t working I have to use the one by my school which means a quarter mile walk up and down a hill or two with 20L of water balanced on the noggin. Not ideal.

Traveling around the country to see new sites, go to trainings, and visit volunteers has been fun besides the amount of time I’ve spent on taxis lately! The Lesotho taxis are at minimum 20 year old 15 passenger vans. The rides are bumpy and music is blasting, always. You might have a chicken or sheep sitting next to you. The other day I held a baby for the duration of the 3 hour ride. If you open a window, someone will immediately yell at you. The taxis will not leave to their destination until they are full. Which means at least 20 people in the 15 person vehicle. Which also means you could be leaving immediately or sitting on there for a few hours waiting for more people to hop in. You’ve got to carry all your belongings on your lap unless you want to pay extra. Oh and there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll pop a tire or need to stop and restart the battery. Needless to say, it is quite the experience. I’m gonna avoid traveling much in the next month cause I’ve had all the taxi excitement I need for a while.

snow in Lesotho!

Y’all I did it. I skied in Africa. I spent a day with a few friends at Afriski, which is pretty close to my site and the only ski hill in Africa. It consists of a single T-bar lift that takes 5 minutes to drag you up a rectangle of snow. At the top you find a lovely little green run that will take maybe 2 minutes to get down. You can find little bumps to jump off of here and there to add some excitement. The lodge and restaurant are quaint and have good pizza and draft beer, so in Lesotho terms that means a 5 star experience. Even though it felt a little silly to ski down the same “run” over and over, it felt good just to have skis on and made me miss Colorado. I’m going again next weekend and my goal is to try and cop a ski patrol jacket cause how sick would an Afriski ski patrol jacket be when I’m back skiing my trees at Mary Jane and my back bowls at Copper?

Anywho… Life is simple and sweet here. It’s funny how normal it all feels now, I mean I’ve been here for almost a year! Wild! As always, high highs and low lows. I’ve been challenged and broken down in ways I never expected and witnessed incredible joy and happiness that have blown my mind. Let’s just say I’m liking my sweet little life in this hidden corner of the world! Until next time!

DISCLAIMER: all OG thoughts over here! This post doesn’t reflect the views or options of Peace Corps or the US Government.