As you may remember from previous posts, Nichol, a PCV near Mafeteng, received funding though Peace Corps Partnership (a program where PCVs post projects on the Peace Corps web site and friends and family back home can donate money online) to build four playgrounds at ECCD (similar to preschool) centers in Mafeteng. Unfortunately, there was a problem between PC Washington, their bank and PC Lesotho's bank resulting in the money arriving just a week before Nichol COSed (close of service). I offered to help Nichol out by overseeing the playground installations when the equipment finally arrived. As with everything here, it ended up being a little more complicated than we bargained for.
A couple of weeks ago Lima, the store owner in Mafeteng who ordered the playground equipment from Bloemfontein, let me know they would be picking everything up on January 28 and that beginning January 29 we could start delivering the playgrounds to the schools. Nichol's counterpart, Blossom, returned to Mafeteng when school started back on January 19 and I was able to meet with her late that week to set a schedule of what schools would receive their playground on what date. Blossom was attending a conference the week we were to deliver, but she gave me phone numbers of two of the schools and promised she would contact all of them to let them know what date I would be coming and that they needed to have some adults present to help unload the equipment. I met with Lima to go over the playground locations and delivery dates. Everything seemed in order.
Last week was a week of rain in Mafeteng. No one was complaining, it has been dry here and the water is needed for the crops and gardens. But by Wednesday, the day the playground equipment was being picked up from Bloemfontein, it had been raining for almost 48 hours straight. All the roads were slop, the fields soaked, the ponds and creeks overflowing. I walked to the shop, assuming Lima would tell me that we'd need to postpone the installation for at least a few days. When I got there, however, she assured me that it would be ok to proceed despite the rain. Furthermore, she wanted to finish her inventory counts and needed all the equipment out of her shop and delivered on Thursday. Four playgrounds, one day. I told her that wasn't what had been discussed the previous week, that only one school was expecting us on Thursday. She'd have some of her people help unload, she said, it needed to be done.
I waited until Thursday morning to contact Blossom, assuming Lima would change her mind if the downpour continued. Amidst a light drizzle, I climbed into the truck along with a driver and one ntate who was to help with unloading the equipment and we set out for the most distant school in Thabana Morena.
Thankfully Anne Marie, one of my fellow Mafeteng PCVs (she is the one who originally spotted Anna in school and brought her into the hospital), lives in Thabana Morena. I had no idea where the school was located, Blossom's phone was off and this was, of course, one of the schools I didn't have a phone number for. Anne Marie met us on the road and walked as the truck drove in reverse behind her, all the way down a huge hill, until we arrived at the school. The entrance to the school was a narrow, dirt track and it didn't look like the truck would be able to fit through. But, instead of just putting on the flashers and unloading from the road, the driver decided to give it a try. The truck narrowly fit between the fence posts but began to sink into the mud almost immediately.
Seemingly un-phased, the driver and ntate began unloading the two swings, teeter totter, bouncing horse, jungle gym and slide. Several bo-'M'e arrived to see what the excitement was about and helped carry the equipment off the truck, though the teacher was absent. The driver touched up where the paint had scratched off, set up the swing set base and explained to the bo-'M'e, in Sesotho, that the equipment had to be fastened into the ground with stakes or cement before the children could be allowed to play on it. The whole process took just 30 minutes and I began to believe we could indeed get all the equipment delivered in one day. None of it would be actually installed, but at least it would be delivered. Then, the digging began.
As I mentioned, the truck had started to sink as soon as the driver backed in to the school's gate. And it didn't stop. By the time we had unloaded the playground equipment one of the front tires had sunk a foot or more into the ground. The truck was tipping precariously to the right. Anne Marie and I immediately discussed how the truck needed to be pulled out but couldn't even consider suggesting that to the driver. I mean, what do two American girls know about getting a truck out of the mud?
Some bo-ntate from the village showed up with a shovel and the ntate from the store crawled under the truck and began digging. Bo-ntate carried large stones to throw into the hole around the tire and the driver tried several times to drive out, only making the hole worse. At one point, the bo-ntate tried to lift the truck using stones and a jack much too small for that size of vehicle in an attempt to crawl further under it. Anne Marie and I sat, nervously convinced the truck was going to fall...which, of course, it did. Thankfully, the ntate under the truck was able to roll out just in time to avoid being crushed.
This went on for a good three hours, bo-ntate digging, stones being stacked underneath, even, at one point, bo-'M'e getting in on the act and trying to help push the truck out. Just when I thought I'd be spending the rest of my day watching spectacle, another truck showed up and pulled ours out. Problem, finally, solved.
I climbed back into the truck, waved goodbye to Anne Marie and the villagers, and off we went to our second school of the day, Ha Ramohape. Just before we arrived back to Mafeteng camptown, the driver pulled off onto a gravel and dirt path and began driving slowly over the small mountain. “A shortcut,” he said. Imagine, we just spent hours digging the truck out of the mud and, instead of taking the paved road around Mafeteng and over to the school in Ha Ramohape, he wanted to take the washed-out, dirt shortcut. I kept my fingers crossed and my mouth shut. Despite a few close calls, we finally made it to the school, though I'm not sure how much faster the shortcut ended up being.
Several male students from the primary school across the highway from the ECCD school ran up as soon as we pulled in and helped unload the equipment in just twenty minutes. Thankfully Blossom had been able to notify this school of our arrival and the teachers were present to receive instructions. Then it was off to the school in Ha Maklarie, where we again had plenty of help and the teachers were expecting the playground's arrival. After unloading the last playground at the ECCD office in town, we drove back to the store. It had taken almost the entire day, and none of the playgrounds had actually been “installed,” but the equipment was delivered. And, more importantly, no one got crushed.
Next Monday and Tuesday I will be going with Blossom to check back on all of the playgrounds to see that the schools have secured them into the ground. I anticipate everything being exactly as we left it, that none of the schools will do anything until Blossom repeats the instructions and that we'll have to go back to check the final product yet another time.
Just another, muddy, day in the life...
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