Arachnophobia, consumerism and good days

9-30-08
The spiders have arrived. I expected it, moving to Africa and all, envisioned myself fighting off spiders the size of my head with nothing but a broomstick and a torch (you know, for dramatic effect). So when I discovered that Lesotho, at least in the winter, is a spider-less utopia, I was pretty stoked. Have I mentioned that I HATE spiders?

But then, a couple weeks ago, I spotted one in my latrine (of course while I was not in any kind of position to defend myself). It perched there, to my right, taunting me, threatening to hop down and make its home on my lap. I finished my business as quickly as possible and ran like the wind so as to keep it from jumping on me. Crisis averted. I got into my house and calmed myself. It was, after all, a spider of normal size and was just hanging out in the latrine. It's not like it was in my house or anything. And how much do I really need to use the latrine?

Well, when I really needed the latrine again, I returned with a giant gob of toilet paper, ready to smash him (I've determined that only a male would hang out in a latrine) into oblivion...but, of course, he was gone.

Last night, at approximately 8 o'clock, his friends staged another attack. I was getting ready to cozy up in bed, read a little and then go to sleep (because, in PC, staying up until 9 p.m. is the equivalent of 3 a.m. in America) when I made the mistake of looking at the wall above my bed. There sat not one but two, TWO spiders, both of the same general color and look of Mr. Latrine spidey. Except these were his much larger, older brothers, each the size of a (please excuse me for this comparison, I've spent too much time at the PSI office) condom wrapper.

So what to do? Well, I could try to smash them. Yes! Brilliant! But wait, there are two, they could stage some kind of sneak attack. While I go after Bob, (yes, they have names) Bill could jump onto my face and scurry around until he has hid himself in my hair. While I'm distracted by Bill, Bob could then crawl into my bed, undetected, lying in wait for the next round. When Bob is safely out of site, Bill could swing by his little spiderweb string from my hair and find safety in one of the cracks in the wall. No thank you, not taking any chances of that happening! Smashing is out. Why haven't I bought bug spray yet?

After assessing the situation for a few more minutes I took the only logical action. I proceeded to create an impenetrable fortress, stealthily closing up the mosquito net above my bed (which, until now, mostly just served as a decorative canopy that also catches random pieces of ceiling that fall every few days) using some 20-odd clothes pins. Try to get me now!

And, somehow, that provided enough comfort to allow me to go to sleep rather quickly. Bob and Bill were, of course, no where to be seen this morning. But, as a precaution and because something tells me there will be many more creepy crawly visitors to come as the weather gets warmer, I bought a giant can of DOOM at Shoprite today.

So I'm pretty sure Shoprite is owned by Wal-Mart (nice segway, huh?). I have no way to substantiate this, other than the fact that they use an “Always Lowest Prices” slogan and have the creepy smiley face guy all over the store. And while, like most twenty somethings, I in theory hate all that is corporate evil Wal-Mart, Starbucks, etc., I still like getting things cheap and easily. Yeah, my generation isn't always so good at practicing what we preach, myself just as guilty. And in Lesotho I can't really be picky. I mean, I like having a frozen foods section, a bakery and Doritos and there aren't really options for other places to get those kinds of things. But today, today Shoprite went too far.

I rolled in, headed directly for the insecticide/soap/air freshener/car supply (not really sure how many car supplies they sell) aisle, not to be distracted by chocolate or ice cream, on a mission. But I was stopped in my tracks. In September, in Africa, there they are, tiny gold reindeer hanging from the ceiling. In America this is to be expected, stores start the Christmas racket in July. But here? In September? After further investigation I discovered the reindeer are not alone. There are Santa Claus costumes (maybe I can wear that for Halloween?), garland, lights. And this is just the beginning, they're clearing space for much more.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Stores full of Christmasness, as long as it's after Thanksgiving, make me happy. I mean, I'd go to Target just to wonder around the holiday aisles (yes, I'm lame) and look at all sparkly goodness. Christmas trees make me smile. I enjoy driving the neighborhoods to look at lights on all the big houses. Stockings, presents, Santa, candy, snow, the whole thing, it's wonderful! But here...all that, now, so soon, so pre-packaged? Of all the things to import from the Western world, why has consumerism been the one to succeed?

Don't answer that, I know the answer. Just let me be annoyed. At least I got my DOOM and can now take my disappointment out on Bill and Bob, whenever they are brave enough to return.


10-5-08
I really meant to write this on Thursday or Friday, really I did. But I guess I got busy with all the exciting things that take up my time these days. Anyway, Wednesday and Thursday were, officially, two of the best days I've had here so far.

Wednesday started off like any other, I walked to work and arrived at the office at 8 a.m. After the usual singing and prayer (all in Sesotho with me sitting in the corner quietly pondering what kind of reaction that routine would get in an office in the States) my boss, 'M'e Mosele, began to discuss some of the issues that had been brought up at the site managers' meeting in Maseru the day before. Due to budget issues, some of the more remote outreaches are going to have to be scaled back until January. It's sad news because the remote areas need the outreach more than the schools and organizations in and close to the camptowns; most NGOs (PSI/New Start does do a good amount of remote outreach, going to places that many other organizations can't or don't) visit easy-to-access communities with decent frequency while the other areas are rarely, if ever, visited because of the logistic challenges of getting to them. As a result, those areas have less knowledge about HIV/AIDS leading to increased transmission and little if any treatment for those who are HIV+. For me, though, increased focus on outreach in and around Mafeteng is a plus because it means I finally have an opening to try to get some help with my ideas for outreach projects. I used the occasion to explain to 'M'e Mosele and the rest of the staff (it was a holiday week, Lesotho Independence Day is October 4, so unfortunatley there were several people on vacation) that I have many ideas for local outreach but I cannot set them up myself, I need a PSI/New Start staff person to go with me. 'M'e Mosele gave me the go-ahead, finally, to take whoever I wanted from the staff to set-up these meetings and get things rolling. No more having to wait around for an appointed person to decide to work with me, no more having to worry about causing problems because of politics within the staff!

After this small victory I went to 'M'e Mosele's office and pitched another idea. PSI/New Start Mafeteng hasn't done outreach to the prison in about 6 months, and the prison population is very high-risk, an obvious target for another outreach. However, there is a hole with most HIV/AIDS education here in Lesotho, one that is extremely important to cover, especially in this context. In Basotho culture, homosexuality is not generally recognized, it “doesn't exist.” Men are with men but they aren't homosexual, it isn't sex and they don't talk about it or recognize it. As a result, HIV transmission from male to male is not discussed or even hinted at. I've been waiting for an opening for awhile, and seeing it, pitched the idea to have Men As Partners, an organization that discusses the issue of homosexuality in the context of Basotho culture, come to PSI/New Start Mafeteng to do training with the staff. Then I braced myself for the rebuke, the expected, “What? But that doesn't happen here.” To my surprise and excitement, it didn't come. 'M'e Mosele completely agreed that it's an issue, one they've had a hard time tackling. She says when clients get into counseling sessions none will ever discuss it, and she sees the benefit of having Men As Partners help the counselor/testers learn more about the issue and perhaps find ways to help those being tested open up about it. This next week I'm working with another PCV who is working with Men As Partners to set up training as soon as possible!

Ok, so not a lot of “work” accomplished, but many barriers to work broken down. How could it not be a good day? And then it got better...

After our staff meeting and talking to 'M'e Mosele it was time for me to meet with Vikile, my counterpart with the Mafeteng Hospital Library project. I met her in her office, which she shares with two other women, and we walked to the conference room for our meeting. It happened to be occupied so we “couldn't meet” and she asked me to come back in the afternoon. While this didn't surprise me, there's a big importance placed on formality here, it did annoy me. Why couldn't we just meet in her office? But, with no other choice I handed her the draft applications for English books through African Library Project and Sesotho books through Biblionef and told her I'd come back after lunch. Bracing myself for disappointment, for her to give me excuses for doing none of the things I'd asked her to, I arrived promptly at 2 p.m. (lunch here is at 1p.m.) and we again went to meet in the conference room. To my shock and elation, Vikile had not only done everything I'd asked in the last meeting, securing a letter of support from the Hospital Administrator and working on setting up a time for us to meet with the district's library administrator (government official), but had also filled in most of the blanks I had left on the applications to fill with hospital statistics. I hadn't even asked her to do that, had just left the drafts with her in the hope she'd at least read them over. Amazing! Just when I'm being cynical, thinking I'm going to have to carry every project I do for the next two years all by myself, I am taught otherwise.

I left our meeting on cloud nine, almost skipping to the post office. And what do I find there but my first two pieces of mail to arrive in Mafeteng, letters taking only two and a half weeks to arrive from the States, a huge improvement on the two-month time table I've been working with getting mail from Maseru! Grinning like an idiot I climbed onto a kombi to head out to Ashely's site in Thaba Tseou (pronounced ta-ba sway-ooh) where we were going to meet with her boss on Thursday to pitch our plans for the Health Day event at her clinic. I think the Basotho on the kombi really thought I was crazy, or maybe drunk, because I just kept giggling and grinning...really, I couldn't control myself. It's the simple things, let me tell you!

On Thursday Ashley and I spent the morning writing out our plan, discussing possible time-tables, listing organizations we want to invite, what we want them to do, what kind of promotion we need and what kind of funding to go after. We met with her boss in the afternoon to pitch our ideas and she was positive about the whole thing. She told us to just go ahead with all our plans and let her know when and how we will need her assistance. We're looking at holding our event on a Saturday during the first school break after the holidays (there are more children around during breaks as some, especially high schoolers, attend school away from the village) which will be in March or April 2009. We want to use both the clinic and at the primary school across the field from it, so as soon as Ashley is able to meet with the principal to make sure we can use the school buildings (hopefully this coming week), we'll have an actual date and the plan will roll into action.

So there you have it, two really great days in Lesotho. Yesterday wasn't too bad either, I met Ashley, Karrin and Julie (Karrin and Julie were both in my training group along with Ashley...Karrin is in Mafeteng district with me and Julie is in Quthing, her site about 3-4 hours away from me) in Morija, a village about 45 minutes from Mafeteng on the paved road towards Maseru, for the annual Lesotho Arts and Cultural Festival. It wasn't quite what I expected and there were a lot less attendees than I anticipated but it was a good time none the less. We saw some traditional Basotho dancing, several groups performed dramas (support and youth groups here LOVE doing plays and skits) and there was also some singing, although we have our doubts about whether it was live or lip sinking. There were also vendors selling Basotho crafts, everything from weavings to pottery to beaded jewelery to baskets to paintings, all really beautiful.

Here's to hoping this next week will be as good as the last!