Sights and Situations

Each day in Lesotho seems to offer yet another view of life here. Here are a few sights and situations from the last month or so.

The Cost of Dying:
A few weeks back I was confronted in a most graphic way with the cost of dying here in Lesotho. I have mentioned before the funeral tradition here that expects the grieving family to host a meal after the funeral service. All who wish may attend the funeral and it is a major embarrassment for the family if they run out of food, especially meat, for all the guests.

A family that lives along the side road leading to Beautiful Gate lost a son. He was in the army and died during exercises in the mountains, so it was going to be a large funeral. In Canada we normally bury the deceased within a few days. But when you need to plan and prepare for a feast akin to a wedding banquet that takes longer than a few days, and very often it is weeks or a month before the funeral is held.

In the case of the soldier’s family the first sign of funeral preparations was that the solitary sheep in their yard was joined by a couple of others (a months wages there). Then a week or so later, a steer appeared in the yard (two or three months wages). Then a couple days before the funeral the barbecues, tent, and chairs began to arrive. The day before the funeral the yard was a hive of activity. Woman were preparing vegetables, and on a trip into town that day I noticed the men butchering one of the sheep. On the way back from town the men had just put the steer down, and on the way home at the end of the day, they were working at breaking the carcass down to cooking sized pieces.

Until I actually saw it so graphically, I couldn’t imagine having to slaughter two sheep and a medium size steer just to feed the folks who would be attending the funeral of a family member? What a lot of work and preparation! Then there would be the costs to rent barbecues and chairs and a tent. And that does not even consider the funeral home costs.

In Lesotho people take out death insurance, not to be confused with life insurance. This insurance is basically a means of providing for the cost of dying. Families without such insurance often spend their life savings and/or go seriously into debt to bury a family member.

Using Your Head:
On a totally different note. I am continually impressed with the toughness of the people here. Who in Canada would consider carrying their empty barbecue tank a kilometer or two to have it filled, and then carry the full one back home on their shoulder? Yet I see that all the time here. Then recently another interesting sight, how to get lumber home when you haven’t a vehicle. I saw what looked like a man and a wife carrying home a number of pieces of lumber. He, up ahead, with the wood resting on his shoulder. She, walking some 8-10 feet behind, with her end of the load balanced on her head.

Chicken Wings:
I was waiting for the Beautiful Gate taxi one morning. (When it rains my walk means traversing a muddy area, so I catch the taxi instead.) It was raining lightly that morning. Here comes a mom, wearing her Basotho blanket. On either side, like little chicks with a hen, were pairs of feet, walking along huddling out of the rain under Mother’s blanket.

‘Lekhooa’ on Thaba Bosiu:
On Sunday (Nov. 18) Wendy had a trip planned to Thaba Bosiu with some of her students. Wanting another adult along she asked me to attend, which I did though I also invited along Ntate Kuena and his wife. When all arrived at Thaba Bosiu there were seventeen Basotho, none of which had ever been to this major national historic site located barely 40 kilometers from Maseru. Meanwhile it was my fourth trip to the mountain. This resulted in a bit of a surreal and awkward moment for me. The Basotho knew the history of their mountain but not the mountain, and so this lekhooa (white guy) from Canada was the tour guide, showing them parts of their mountain they had only heard about.

The trade off was that I got to learn a bit more of the history of the mountain, and Wendy had an absolutely delightful time with her students. Leisure is just not much of an option here, and it was a delight for her to see her students in a place where they were able to relax and take in the joys of the moment.

Home is 8 by 10:
I know people in Lesotho live in one room homes, one room homes that are the size of a single bedroom in most Canadian homes. But again, to actually see and be in such a situation was to bring home the reality. We visited Thabiso’s home. His family’s whole life is housed in an area about 8’ by 10’. And the roof leaks along one side when it rains. There is no table, no bed, no closet. Well, there is a bed - a spot on the floor about the size of a single mattress where some sort of padding has been pulled together. There, three adult sized family members try to find rest. Their clothing is piled, albeit neatly, on the floor to one side of the room, and a couple of little shelves pass as the kitchen. Three people live and sleep here, while the youngest sister and grandmother take most of their meals here. They have a small shelter a few homes over in which to sleep.

Home, is 8 by 10. There is no electricity and water is purchased from a home nearby where there is an outside water stand pipe.

Thabiso had indicated that a bed would be helpful. And it would. A bunk bed would offer so much. Why you could store stuff under it. Hooks screwed into the wood would provide places to hang things (unless you have a masonry drill here, hanging anything on the walls is a challenge). And for the same floor space you could actually have two beds in place of the current ‘bed’. This weekend we hope to deliver a bunk bed, as well as a shelf unit built by Ntate Kuena. When home is 8 by 10, space saving devices trump labour saving ones.

'Til next time.

~ Benno ~