Heros

On a weekend in early May we traveled deep into a part of Lesotho that was new to us. We traveled past the rocky desolation of the Mafeteng area, beyond the desert succulents of Quthing, over lofty mountain passes enveloped in cloud, and back down to the Senqu River into Qacha’s Nek district, near Lesotho’s southern border with South Africa. Unlike some other trips, this one was on tarred roads (of varying quality) that wound through the landscape for 355 kilometres, and six hours. We traveled with an Australian friend, and he did the driving so I got off easy. We were off to visit the first room-mate Wendy and I shared a house with when we arrived in Lesotho four years ago.

Four years ago she was a volunteer at Beautiful Gate. She was one of many wonderful people we have met from the Netherlands, and we shared the Beautiful Gate staff house with her. Later she joined YWAM (Youth With a Mission) Lesotho, committed to living and serving in Lesotho. Some 6-8 months ago she married a Mosotho man. It was his home village of Tebellong, where they live, that was our destination. To reach there home there was one last barrier to cross.

They lived across the Senqu, the largest river in Lesotho, at a location where there was no bridge. We paid the boatman our fare, and he rowed us, not to the netherworld, but to a land of fields and villages.

The boatman.

Wendy, always on the lookout for a prospective student.

This one, at the landing, in front of a month's supply of groceries.

We had another fare to pay however, to get to these Elysian fields. This time the fare was for a truck to bounce us and our hosts and their months worth of groceries up, and up, out of the river valley to the fields and villages lying on a plateau above the river.

Ready for the ride up a very steep and rough road.

By the time we arrived it was getting late and it was straight off to a ‘guest’ house where we were served a simple Basotho meal, before heading to our beds. Dark, no electricity, no heat, so bedtime under, toasty warm blankets was barely past seven. (The couple we were visiting lived in a one room house, with no room for visitors.)

The next morning I was up early and thoroughly enjoyed a ninety minute hike up a mountain behind where we stayed. A perfect before breakfast hike it was, pushing my aerobic abilities while providing intriguing route finding challenges through a couple of cliff bands. It was the kind of exertion that leaves one feeling that it is great to be alive. It is a place I hope to return to, just to spend a full day or two exploring the mountains. After a breakfast of lesheleshele and bohobe, it was a 45 minute walk back to spend an enjoyable visit with our hosts.

The view over the fields (and cows) from our accommodation.

She continues to adapt from a western lifestyle to a much simpler, though more labour intensive lifestyle. He has spent the last number of years learning and practicing conservation agriculture (CA), and is developing a market garden and sharing CA practices with other interested farmers. Together they share their Christian faith within their community, seeking to serve and lead by lifestyle and example. After visiting for the day, as we walked back to our lodging for the night, I thought about her choices. She loves Lesotho, and its people, and was willing to give up a western lifestyle to be with and serve them.

I was trying to get the coordination correct to work this zero tillage planting device.

It was like rubbing one's head and patting one's stomach at the same time.

The next day we trekked back to their home to say our good-byes and then it was down to the river. Our trip across the river was as uneventful as the initial crossing, and we were soon on our way back over the mountains, past the aloe succulents, and towards home. We had one more stop; to visit another young couple. She is from Canada, he from Ireland. They met in Lesotho, and are building a life together here. She caring for orphans and other vulnerable children, he helping to construct buildings for NGOs serving orphans and other children. They recently relocated to a small city in the south west of Lesotho, where she will be managing a children’s centre intended to provide short term care for needy children. They have two delightful little Basotho girls that they have adopted.

Again I reflected on the commitment of this young couple, eschewing the opportunities and comforts of home to make a difference in a place more needy. It is one thing for someone like me with the security of a pension, and some savings, to think of going to another country, but these couples. Their commitment is to being Jesus’ hands and feet to others first, rather than their own comfort and security. They, and others like them, are my heros.

From Holland to here.

~ Benno ~