This and That

More signs of spring are appearing. A mother hen and her brood of chicks scurried across my path earlier this week. A cow grazing just off the road was heavy with calf, and on the walk to work there was a new calf is its little kraal. The peach blossoms are nearly over and amazingly, despite the desperate dryness, the grass is pushing up a few green shoots.

Work - I chuckle. I am so doing the same things I did at home - meetings, planning, writing job descriptions, developing policy, coaching and even holding a disciplinary hearing. Coming here I did not envision reading the local labour legislation to ensure that Beautiful Gate followed proper steps in the disciplinary process.

Dylan will be coming down next weekend, September 21. We are looking forward to his visit. Our plans include a hike, and taking in a polo match. Through Wendy’s school contacts I met a fellow from South Africa who trains polo horses. So, if I can follow his directions to some little out of the way place we will enjoy another experience I hadn’t anticipated when planning to come to Africa.

The windows of heaven opened. The pre-school teachers have been growing increasingly concerned about the lack of nutrition some of the children experience. They know some of the children arrive at school without having had breakfast and likely return home to nothing for lunch. The teachers want to start some kind of hot lunch program. Well today the windows of heaven opened. Quite some time ago, Beautiful Gate had submitted a proposal to World Vision. Staff forgot about the proposal, having received no response, until Monday, when we received a call that “our” rice was ready. Yesterday we picked it up, 800 kgs worth. As a faith based NGO we were rejoicing - “For your Father knows what you need before you ask him,” Matthew 6:8.

Our Dutch room-mate is moving out. She will be heading back to the Netherlands for a five week visit, and then will be returning to Lesotho but to serve with Youth With a Mission. So Wendy and I will have the house to ourselves (though still no double bed), but only for a week. In late September a volunteer from Australia will be coming for a short stint.

Last Sunday we had a good-bye for our roommate at our house. Wendy put together a wonderful lunch. It was a fun time that included some great singing in Sesotho. I got some pictures of the beautiful hair of some of the Basotho staff from Beautiful Gate who were over for the good-bye.


Hair this long is always extentions. Her natural hair is about 3 inches long. This turned into a bit of a hair party as two other gals were helping with completeing some of the braids. Long hair is a fashion desire for many young women, but the natural frizziness of their hair precludes long natural hair, so extensions are the way to go.





Short natural hair braided tight to the skin. Women seldom keep their natural hair more than a couple of centimeters in length unless braided tight like this woman's, or unless treated with a hair relaxant so that it is straight. Even when straightened it is seldom kept longer than a few inches.








More extensions, and this time to add lots of volume as well as length. Hair here can really be a work of art.











Sunday football (soccer), complete with referee, linesman and spectators. The human fans on my side of the field took a bit more interest than the ponies seemed to be. The lines on the playing field were just shallow gouges in the packed earth.


Children everywhere play house. These pictures were taken along my walking route to work. I was again reminded of the broken toys among the donations I was sorting through, the toys that I wanted to throw out. What looks a bit like a radio is just the broken front off of a discarded cassette deck.

~ Benno ~