With Friends

The generosity of friends has made a difference for the bom’e at Beautiful Gate. Each year my colleagues (former) at Alberta Industry, Immigration and Employment (AEII) in Red Deer raise money at Christmas for a charity. This year they chose Beautiful Gate Lesotho at the organization they would support. Their gift allowed us to purchase three recliner chairs that have made a difference and brought joy to the bom’e who work at Beautiful Gate.

At Beautiful Gate, the bom’e who look after the littlest babies are asked to remain in the baby rooms during the night, even when the babies are asleep. And the bom’e do so, but all they had to rest on during the night was a plastic chair. One wonderful older m’e asked me one day if they could have even a little mattress, for the floor, to lie on. So that is the best they have had, a plastic chair or a thin mattress on the floor. When it came to deciding what to purchase with the funds from AEII, I thought of a rocking chair for these bom’e. Unfortunately, rocking chairs can’t be found in this part of Africa, so we settled for recliners.

So, in late January I left for the South African city of Bloemfontein. M’e Masamuele, the m’e who had asked for the mattress, came along. I wanted her to come to help select the chairs. (M’e Masamuele is a widow, looking after two granddaughters who have been orphaned. She would like to be retired, but as a grandparent headed family she needs to keep working. It was her first trip to the city of Bloemfontein.) She was great in helping picking out the chairs, choosing the colours and model. Then with some time to spare we took her to a mall. She lives a simple life and I think it was culture shock for her, walking around a modern mall that compares positively to anything we have in Red Deer. I gave her some rand so she could buy something, but I think she was just too overwhelmed with everything. In the end she purchased only a bag of potatoes when we went through a small town on the return trip to Maseru.

Upon our return the new chairs created quite a stir. The bom’e were delighted. M’e Lerato was all smiles. All smiles until she had to return to her plastic chair because others were taking a turn in her new recliner.

And then when I was looking for a couple of pictures of bom’e in the recliner, they were quick to make sure Neo was in the picture. You may recall from a former entry that Neo is a little lady in my life. (When sharing with M’e Masamuele that I had three sons she was quick to add that I also had a daughter, Ausi Neo.)

With the interest and help of friends, Wendy and I we have been able to some extra things. Wendy has shared some of the things she has been doing with her students. In a future entry I will add a few more comments about some of the other things we have been able to do with or for others, things we are able to do, in large part, because of the generosity of friends and family who have supported our efforts. 'With friends' we are been able to do so much more.

And the last word/photo goes to M’e Masamuele, feet up and relaxed.

~ Benno ~



Oops, now how did that picture get in there??