I started this piece in May, and have been back to add to it once or twice. I just never got it finished. So after a few attempts to complete, this entry is somewhat of a jumble of unrelated and disparate information.
It has been a year that we have been in Africa, almost 14 months. It has gone so quickly. It has been challenging, but also rewarding. The immensity of the needs here has sometimes been overwhelming. The challenge not to become callous and uncaring is always there. I am white, “makhooa”. As such, it is assumed I have, therefore people ask. Most often they ask because they truly need, but many also ask because I am white, and maybe a bit gullible. Yet the risk of not giving and not caring, not walking alongside is to miss opportunities to bring a moment of joy to another or to be enriched by who they are.
Today is one of those days where I was reminded of the blessings of our friendships here. There was the joy of supporting the young woman next door as she went through a small but painful medical procedure. And the simple pleasure of working alongside one small work team at Beautiful Gate who every day bring an infectious joy and cheer to their work. Truly amidst the challenges and need, I feel so blessed by the people I have come to know and treasure.
There are many other things that bring pleasure to each day, not the least is living in a chaotic place where people sometimes just do what needs to be done to add to their lives. There are not a plethora of laws telling people how to live or, if there are, folks don’t seem to pay a lot of attention. In many ways people take things into their own hands or just make do with what life offers.
Like the fellow who wanted some trees in front of his house. The sidewalk outside his home is made of paving stones. So he just dug out a few paving stones and planted a tree. Actually he planted three trees in the sidewalk in front of his home. (More recently I have noticed that this is a rather common practice.)
Another fellow has a house above and bordering a natural area. He seemed to want a bigger back yard. So whenever someone is preparing a lot for building and needs to dispose of rubble his back yard is available. Now the natural area has a huge slag heap jutting out into it, … but the guy has a much bigger back yard.
Or potholes. There are some wicked ones in the roads here. Folks don’t just complain about the potholes in the roads. They actually get out and fill them in. Many potholes would be far worse if citizens hadn't gotten out and made road repairs, after a fashion.
Another day I was passing children walking to school. A pick up truck stops and the kids pile into the open back for a quick ride to school. I think there are seat belt laws here, but as Wendy has noted, even the policemen ride around in the backs of open pick-ups.
On other occasions I just smile at the absurdity of situations. Like the fellow I helped push his taxi to jump-start it. This was not the taxi owner I was helping, it was the customer.
It isn’t always taxis, but when driving it is common to see a couple of guys pushing a car to jump-start it, or a car broken down in the middle of a traffic lane, often with someone underneath making repairs.
Another positive to living in Lesotho, it is not Johannesburg. In June we were up in Jo’burg to visit our son Dylan. Dylan had given us excellent directions and we our way through this huge city to Joseph Project and nonchalantly parked out front of the Joseph Project site - we could actually see our car from within. But Jo’burg is not Maseru, Lesotho. One of Dylan’s colleagues quickly invited us to move our car off the street before the tsotsis caught sight of it. So it was off to park it behind a locked gate in a yard equipped with motion detectors, and an alarm system linked directly to the security company. To get at our car now, any tsotsi would have to climb over a six foot high wall topped with sharp metal spikes, race past the motion sensors, take what they wanted, avoid impaling themselves on the way back over the fence, and all before the security guards arrived with their guns. In Maseru we have occasionally been known to forget to lock the gate and the doors of our house at night. (This is not recommended practice, however.)
The drive to Jo’burg, included looking back at the snow crested mountains of Lesotho. It was winter then and in early July it was 3-4 degrees below freezing most every night. One thing I did not expect in Africa was frozen water lines, but we were having such problems at Beautiful Gate and other folks also reported experiencing frozen water lines. We have been okay at our house though our little coal heater was working hard to keep the chill off. Winter in Lesotho also means layering up to stay warm INSIDE.
I had brought a couple pairs of light MEC underwear to Lesotho in the event we were to do some hiking in the mountains in the fall or winter. Forget the hiking, I was wearing them to work everyday to stay warm - inside. I continue to marvel at how the buildings hold the night cold and during the day it is often warmer outside than inside. On winter mornings I often saw folks standing on the sunny side of their homes, soaking up the warm morning sun after a cold night inside. We do that at work too, when we start feeling chilled inside we head outside to a sunny spot. I have a big window behind my desk that catches the morning sun, so I don’t have to go looking for a warm sunny spot outside until the afternoon.
And now it is spring. Cool evenings but beautiful, warm days. On the horizon is the rainy season, with the rains of late spring, early summer anticipated in the next few weeks. Ah, life has its challenges, but overall it is good.
Tsalleng hantle,
~ Benno ~
No comments:
Post a Comment