Brent and Michelle in Lesotho

(This one’s a long one because I have 2 guest writers!)

Guess what?! My US life and Lesotho life had their first collision at the beginning of this month when my parents came to visit. After they came and saw my village, we traveled to Semonkong where Lesotho’s famous Maletsunyane Falls are and stayed there for two nights before driving across both Lesotho and South Africa to a safari in Kruger National Park. Y’all. I had the best time. I don’t even know what my favorite part was! Watching my dad try and figure out driving on the wrong side of the car and road (he did figure it out and do great)? Seeing the sweetness of my students and teachers welcoming them to Lesotho with tastes of their culture and overall joy? Taking a hot shower? Getting to sit down and have a cup of coffee with my mom again after 8 months of not seeing her? Eating brie cheese? Showing my parents little snippets of my life here? It’s hard to choose. The brie cheese is really competing for number one ;). 

It was a great trip, ask my parents and they will tell you all about it! But here is my little summary from each part of the adventure:

mom, dad, and Matseliso cooking papa!

papa cooking class!

My Village: I showed mom and dad around town and then around my village where they came to school with me, learned how to cook papa and moroho, got to experience hut life first hand with the realities of no electricity, bucket baths, hut cooking, and the works. My favorite part of this was realizing all of the things that have become so normal to me but we’re shocking/new to my parents. Funny how I don’t even hear cow/sheep bells anymore but turns out you can hear them 24/7! 

Maletsunyane Falls

Semonkong: The waterfall was gorgeous! Mom and dad got to meet some of my friends here and get the tourist view of Lesotho after their village life view. The lodge was awesome and is very tourist-oriented so they have worked hard on making it up to standard. So cozy, so nice. They had smoothies! I didn’t know those existed in this country.

game drive time!

Kruger: Real coffee everyday? Cheese? Food that I didn’t have to make myself with endless substitutions and hut cooking logistics? That was a highlight. Safari blew my mind! I’m pretty sure we saw every animal that exists. The lodge was incredible with the kindest staff. I got to have happy hour in the middle of our evening game drive every night. I had a fancy room all to myself with an outdoor shower. Did I mention I ate cheese? This was awesome and I would highly recommend safari to anyone that gets the opportunity. So cool.

Clarens: We discovered a nice little town super close to the Lesotho border that felt like the Aspen of South Africa. Breweries, shops and boutiques, restaurants, nice hotels, and tons of outdoor activities and national park access flowed freely in this little town. Fun to see that it was an easy option for a little weekend getaway for me in the future!

Honestly, and not surprisingly, my favorite part of this whole trip was just getting to see my parents and give them hugs. It had been a while and saying goodbye to them both was a teary experience all around. While not having to ride in taxis, getting fancy meals, and taking hot showers for a week was nice, I would’ve stayed in my village, a random motel, or even under a bridge just to get to have real conversations and spend time with my family! 

I asked each of them to write down their Lesotho review for me so enjoy some more perspectives on what this week looked like for each of us…

Brent’s Review:

I get to be known as the dad of five daughters.  And the pride I have in that moniker solidly rests on how I see all of them growing in their life paths.  That I got to visit one of them in Lesotho was beyond amazing. Michelle and it got to see how Alexandra has undersold the challenge she has taken and also watch how she is successfully navigating that challenge. Lesotho is a beautiful country full of amazing people.  The blessing Michelle and I received visiting “Al” and also watching her with her kids at school is something I would do every week if it wasn’t a 24+ hour trip to get to her…

I was only given one paragraph so let me deliver this as my highlights.  Alexandra thinks she has done a good job at describing the road, accessibility to her hut and how remote she is (she has not, it isn’t good).  I inadvertently taught kids how to annoy their teachers with squealing balloon gifts. We saw the natural daily way of life in the villages with the valley waking up each morning buzzing with activity. Without electricity the mountain walls allow you to hear people a mile away.  A mom yelled from a half mile away for her kids to come home and seeing them react and start running back reminded me of how I would like it to still be. Sheep and cow bells keeping you up while trying to get to bed or the fascination with the herding of those animals across the hills in a life that no longer exists in our western world. Trusting the yarn “lock” on the latrine after peaking around for spiders. Playing thumb wrestling with a cop at a random “highway” traffic stop.  Taking a bucket bath and not realizing I tossed out the soap with the gray water (rookie).  Meeting other PCVs who have taken up the similar challenge and why this is the right path for them. Meeting a guy in the middle of a field hiking on a herding trail, to go see a beautiful waterfall, who took some money in a shack in the middle of that field as the waterfall tourism director (even if it wasn’t legit I gave him an A+ for ingenuity). Seeing Alexandra take joy with hot showers, meals that you order and someone brings them to you as you can have pretty much whatever you want. Knowing now that I can adequately drive from the wrong side of a car on the wrong side of the road without lines and around other drivers who may or may not have the same desire to avoid an accident that I do. Being with our daughter and seeing that she is in a place because she is meant to be there. Trusting her and God with this challenge and seeing the amazing fruit being born. 

Michelle’s Review:



Our trip to Lesotho and South Africa was wonderful... so hard to describe, really.

The first thing that struck me was the geographic beauty of both countries. South Africa offers a wide variety of scenery and Lesotho's mountains and valleys are  never ending and awe inspiring. We had four stages of our trip. Capetown - So beautiful!, Alexandra's village - read on, Semonkong and Maletsunyane Falls - stunning, and finally safari on the Sabi Sands Reserve - no words to describe how cool this was! Best part of the trip - hugging my daughter :).

The village where Alexandra lives is absolutely beautiful and buzzing with activity. Sheep and cattle roam the hills with bells accompanied by their shepherds. The traffic on the road, which is very much a two track 4 wheel drive situation, consists of ox carts and the occasional very out of place taxi rolling through blaring club music and laying on the horn. All this goes on while laundry day is happening in the river, women are carrying bags of grain or impressive loads of firewood (which they harvested from the mountain TOP) on their heads, a neighbor is slaughtering a cow, and we have a robust game of I-don't-know-what with a soccer ball, a football and all the village children. I practiced carrying water on my head (Alexandra is a master) while being cheered on by one of the village grandmothers. Brent could not do this because apparently in Lesotho men will die if they carry water on their head (no joke). Alexandra's host sister taught us to cook papa on the fire. We learned that keeping your hut and the entrance to it immaculate is VERY important. Oh...and...we learned the art of the bucket bath :). It is harder than you might think.

The sheer curiosity about us visiting really surprised me. These dear people had a way of making us feel so anticipated, welcomed, and honored... which we did NOTHING to deserve. The kids are are pure joy wrapped up in the sweetest faces. When you strip away the means of communication we rely on every day you are reminded of the power of a smile from one human to another. These kids light up when you look them in the eye and simply smile. They are content to walk the road beside you with nothing to say. And, goodness, if you have a ball to play with you are a superhero! It was evident that they LOVE Madame Tsidi (Alexandra). As a mom missing her girl it is comforting that the sacrifice of our time with her is bringing so much joy to these dear lives. I could go on and on but I will leave you with this... smile at someone today, be thankful for your running water, thank your washing machine, and maybe turn off the electronics and go outside to play ball with the neighborhood kids... it will bless you.

Thanks for reading to the end if you made it all the way down here!

Disclaimer: All thoughts reflected in this blog post are those of my own (and parents this time!!) no US government or peace corps thoughts or opinions affiliated here!