Just Another Update

10-12-08
Here's my latest letter to my pen pals back at IKM-Manning Middle School!

Dear Mr. Diersen and students,

I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your fall and that both the volleyball and football teams are doing well! I'm sure you are all really excited and are doing a great job of cheering them on. Did you know I was a cheerleader at Manning when I was in high school? I'm glad to see school spirit is still strong and you enjoyed your homecoming.

Thank you for the update on things that are going on in Iowa right now. I miss the sights and smells of fall. It is spring here and it is hard to get used to that the Basotho are thinking about planting and the trees are blooming instead of changing colors. The temperatures here now are in the 40's and 50's in the morning but get up to the 80's during the day. Your paragraphs were great, they gave me a good idea of what things are like in the new combined school district. I bet it is exciting to meet new friends and be the first to attend IKM-Manning Middle School. It would be great if you ever had a chance to email or mail me some pictures of your class or some school activities!

I am happy to hear that you have been able to read from my blog as well as my letters. My trip a few weeks ago was a bit of an adventure for me, the first time I've visited the mountains here in Lesotho. The country is divided into three geographical areas: the lowlands, which is on the western side of the country and is where I live; the foothills, which is in the center of the country; and the highlands, which is on the eastern side of Lesotho and where I was visiting my fellow Volunteer, Megan, in Qacha's Nek.

The landscape of the lowlands is much like Iowa, pretty flat, and many people farm the area growing mostly corn and garden vegetables like cabbage, spinach, onions, tomatoes and potatoes. The biggest difference between the landscape here and in Iowa is that the lowlands have a lot of large rock formations, that look like mini mountains, scattered throughout the land. The soil here is also a reddish-orange, not black. It usually doesn't ever snow in the lowlands, but every few years there might be a winter storm (winter is June-August here) and there will be snow on the ground for a day or two.

The foothills are mountainous, but the mountains there are not nearly as large as the ones in the highlands. The foothills is also at a lower elevation than the highlands. The mountains in the foothills do not have any snow on them for most of the year but do during snowstorms every winter.

The highlands are full of large mountains and are at the highest elevation of all of Lesotho. As a matter of fact, Lesotho is the highest elevation of any place in Africa! In the highlands it snows quite a lot in the winter and there is snow on the ground for most of the season, even in the valleys. As you read on my blog, there is even snow in the spring sometimes. The tallest mountain peaks in the highlands have snow on them all year.
I realized after I wrote that blog post that it is kind of confusing to understand exactly where all the places I talk about are located in Lesotho. I hope to find a map to send you that will help make it a little clearer. Maseru (pronounced Muh-sair-ooh) is the capital city of Lesotho and is located in the far west central part of the country. Mafeteng (pronounced Ma-fuh-tang), the town that I live in, is located to the south of Maseru. Quthing (pronounced K-ooh-ting), the district I visited with PSI/New Start to do HIV/AIDS outreach is located to the south and east of Mafeteng. Qacha's Nek (pronounced Kaw-cha's Neck), where I visited Megan and saw the snow, is located on the opposite side of the country from Mafeteng, to the east and slightly south. There is one main paved road that connects all the districts. Since Maseru is the capital, the paved road starts there and then runs north through the districts of Berea (pronounced Burr-ea), Leribe (pronounced La-ree-bay), Butha Buthe (pronounced Boo-ta Boo-tay), Mokhotlong (pronounced Mow-hoat-long) and ends in Thaba Tseka (pronounced Ta-bah Say-ka). The paved road also runs south out of Maseru through the districts of Mafeteng, Mohale's Hoek (pronounced Mow-hall-ee's Hook), Quthing (pronounced Coo-ting) and ends in Qacha's Nek.

Each district also has one camptown, which is the largest town in the district and would be comparable to a state capital city in the U.S. Most camptowns have the same name as their district. The main, paved road from Maseru runs through all the camptowns. There are other paved roads in Lesotho but they are limited in number. There is just this one major highway that connects all the major towns to each other.

I'm glad to hear you have been reading and learning about life in southern Africa. Soweto is a township, sort of like a suburb in America, of Johannesburg. Jo'burg is about 400 miles from Maseru and Mafeteng is about 60 miles south of Maseru. Life in South Africa is in some ways very similar and in others very different from life in Lesotho, even though Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa. I will be visiting South Africa over Christmas and New Years and will write to you after my trip about the comparisons and contrasts. One of the things they, sadly, have in common is a very high rate of people who are HIV-positive. It's really great that students in America are trying to help stop the disease's spread here in Africa. A lot of my work here in Lesotho also revolves around HIV/AIDS and trying to encourage Basotho to get tested. Right now I am working with my host organization, PSI/New Start on a campaign to test kombi and 4+1 drivers, a group that has a high risk for being HIV-positive.

I moved to Dallas in 2005, and the last two years I lived there I worked for the City of McKinney, a suburb north of Dallas with about 120,000 residents. My position was Marketing Coordinator. I had many tasks but one of my main jobs was to write brochures, reports, flyers, newsletters and anything else that the City would send out to residents, visitors or potential partners. I also created and carried out marketing plans for City events and projects; my job was to make sure as many people as possible knew about the event or project by placing advertisements, sending out flyers and posters and working with other people in my department to have the information included in local newspapers and on the television news.

I really loved my job, the people I worked with and my friends in Texas so it was hard to leave. Joining the Peace Corps was something that I'd thought about doing for years, ever since I was in college, and so when I was accepted, I felt like it was just a good time in my life to go on this adventure. I'm not sure yet what I will do when I'm done with Peace Corps. I really loved Dallas and would be very happy to go back. It will depend on what kind of job I can find when I come home. Right now I don't think I would go back to the same job I did before I left, but I could see myself working in marketing for a non-profit organization or the government.
Do I think I will be changed as a person? Most certainly, yes. The how is really hard for me to answer. I know I have already been changed but I don't think I will realize how until I am back home. I do think I will have a much better perspective of how the United States influences the world and will be more patient, compassionate and appreciative of all the things we are lucky to have as Americans.

To answer your questions about the photos:
In the winter I will use a gas propane heater to heat my house. I cannot leave it on at night, though, so I will have to buy more blankets. The Basotho are known for their blankets and the traditional ones are made of mohair (sheep wool) and are very warm. I also brought a sleeping bag with me that is made for camping in cold weather and keeps me very warm. It was winter when I arrived in Lesotho in June and we stayed warm during the day by wearing lots of layers, thermal tights and tops under our pants and shirts and then wearing winter coats, gloves and hats. In the winter, at night, it gets below freezing, even in the lowlands, but usually warms up during the day into the 50's or 60's. The temperatures here are almost like being in a desert...it gets really warm during the day but as soon as the sun goes down it gets cold quickly.

I will still be able to use my water tap during the winter as it does not get cold enough to freeze the water pipes. My house will also stay warm enough to keep water from freezing in the buckets. I will continue to dry my clothing out on the clothesline, although they won't dry as quickly as in the summer.
I feel very safe in my home and in the community, but I do not go out of my house at night as a precaution. Most of the Volunteers here feel very safe as the Basotho are welcoming and friendly and have taken us in as their sons and daughters. If there is ever a safety issue, communities most always come to the protection of the Volunteer and Peace Corps has a Safety and Security Officer who inspects our sites regularly to ensure our safety. The biggest security issue, I would say, is theft. As Americans we come to Lesotho with things that aren't available here or that are worth a lot of money, like laptops, iPods and cameras. Since I stand out here, I just have to watch my surroundings, not be flashy with things people might want to take and do my best to make friends with people I live and work with. I am the only one in my compound that has burglar bars but there are many homes in Mafeteng that have them. Peace Corps requires Volunteers to have them as they help deter people from breaking into our homes. There are police here and they are very helpful but it is not like America, there is no 911, and they do not have stations in every town. Mostly they are located only in the camptown and go out to the villages if they are contacted about a problem. People here rely greatly on each other, their friends, neighbors and village chief, for safety.

I get my money from an ATM, believe it or not! Peace Corps sets up bank accounts for us with a bank in Lesotho and then deposits our living stipends into them. We then go to the bank branch in our camptown and get the money out at the ATM. We are paid every three months in loti, the national currency of Lesotho. Right now eight loti is equivalent to one U.S. dollar. We receive about 1,400 loti, the equivalent of about $200 U.S., a month from Peace Corps to pay for food, clothing, transportation and anything else we need. It doesn't seem like a lot of money, but it is plenty to live on. Our host organizations pay our rent. My rent is equivalent to about $45 U.S. a month.

Unfortunately, things are getting more and more expensive here all the time. I've noticed food prices rising particularly. For example, two weeks ago I bought a bag of green beans for 10 loti. Last week that same bag was 12 loti. A loaf of bread is about 5 loti and a bag of powdered milk, which will last me about a month, is about 30 loti. A bag of tomatoes, onions or potatoes is 5 loti and one piece of fruit (an apple, banana, orange or pear) is 1-2 loti. A 4+1 ride costs 4 loti and a trip on a kombi from Mafeteng to Maseru is 25 loti each way.

It's hard to find out exactly how many people live in Mafeteng camptown as there isn't regular census information available here like in the U.S., but I've been told the number is somewhere around 20-30,000. There are about 210,000 people who live in Mafeteng district and the population of Lesotho is a little under 2 million.

The cans on the floor of Shoprite are cans a paraffin, which are used in paraffin lamps. I have one in my house for when the electricity goes out and people who don't have electricity use them as their main source of light as they are much brighter than candles. The orange box by the shopong is an old pay phone booth, but there is no phone in it anymore. I'm not sure why it was taken out but the box was left. The large, dirty barrels are where we dispose of organic waste. My 'M'e has three pigs and she feeds the organic scraps to them.

Thank you for writing again, it was really good to hear from you all! I enjoy all your questions and updates. You ask such great questions! I look forward to hearing from you all again soon. Until then, have a great fall!

Khotso!
Kelly


10-14-08
Things have been really quite lately, hence my lack of blog entires. Life here just goes on life always...I'll try to hit the high points without boring you too much.

Last Tuesday morning I met with the District Administrator for Mafeteng. The DA is the head government official in the district and the person who has to give approval to major projects or initiatives. When discussing who should write letters of support for the Mafeteng Hospital Library book applications 'M'e Vikhile suggested approaching the DA so we could show support from both the hospital and government communities. Vikhile was supposed to attend this meeting with me but there was some sort of transport issue and she couldn't make it. I've had this issue before; it seems most people here don't like to walk places, even if it is relatively close...

Anyway, I went into the meeting alone and had a good hour conversation with the DA. He has lived in the UK and Canada so we were able to relate very well and compared our experiences studying in London. He was supportive of the library project and agreed to write a letter of support. But, in order for him to write this letter, I had to go back and have the hospital administrator write a letter to the DA's office requesting him to write a letter of support. Yes, that's right, he could give me a verbal agreement to write the letter but couldn't actually do it without receiving an official letter of request for the letter of support. Government in action.

Saturday we had our quarterly Peace Corps Mafeteng District meeting at the Golden Hotel in town. We discussed business from the DAR (District AIDS Representative), Security and VAC (Volunteer Action Committee) members. We also discussed establishing a Volunteer Resource Center (VRC) in Mafeteng, basically a place in town where PCVs can drop their things or use the facility for working on projects without having to go to the VRC in Maseru. Looks like I'm going to take on getting that set-up since Jason and Nichol have been working on it and are both COSing (Close of Service...done with their PC service) in November. It was nice to get together with everyone and was a little bittersweet as it is possibly the last time this group will be together. Jason, Janeen, Nichol and Sasha are all COSing and Darrin is extending for a third year but moving to Maseru, leaving only Karrin, Ashley, Shafiq, Anne Marie and myself in Mafeteng district. Here's to hoping we get some awesome newbies when the education Volunteers come to site in January!

After the meeting I left for a short trip to Roma, home of the National University of Lesotho, with Nichol, Sasha and Clare. Francis' , Nichol's fiance, family moved to Roma about ten years ago as his father is a professor there. The campus is really beautiful, full of trees and landscaping. We got some soft-serve ice cream at a vendor (who cares if the chocolate tasted like strawberry, I haven't had soft-serve since leaving the States!) and then watched Frances playing in a basketball tournament before going to his family's house on campus. His father was incredibly welcoming and let us have free reign of his satellite dish...SNL, the latest Harry Potter movie, Golden Girls, CNN, NYPD Blue and Pamela Anderson's reality show, of course! Ok, so it wasn't the best use of our time, but...

We went out Saturday night to one of the college bars for a few drinks, but it was unusually quiet (apparently everyone was waiting to get paid on the 15th). None the less, it wasn't so different than college bars back home. I guess early 20-somethings everywhere are all about the same.

And now it's Tuesday. I'm spending the week wrangling together the last stats and letters needed for the library book applications and waiting for Paul and Keletso at PSI/New Start to find out where the Taxi Driver's Assoc. office is located so we can meet with them about doing an outreach for drivers. Tomorrow I'm headed to Maseru after a staff meeting at PSI/New Start to cast my ballot for Obama. Only a few weeks left before election time and, as much as I'm happy to miss all the petty fighting, commercials and phone calls, it is hard being so isolated from U.S. news. I just hope that, whoever you are for, you get out there and vote. During my time here I've come to appreciate more than ever the blessing that is living in a country where we are free to vote, where our vote is actually counted and not tampered with and where term limits actually mean something.