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The Rhythms of Lesotho
Life here in rural Lesotho is very rhythmic. Sure there is a lot of singing and dancing, but I am referring to the deeper rhythms of life. As with many places in the world, the seasons fade into each other, but if feels more noticeable here. But, even more than the seasons, every day, every week, every month has a rhythm that I notice so much more than I did in America. Some would call it a pattern or a routine, but that feels as if we are throwing an artificial human constraint over something that is for more natural than any human schedule could create. Let me discuss some of the rhythms I feel here in more detail in the hopes for giving you a sense of this place and the flowing of life here.
The Weather
I will start basic with the weather. Out here without any professional to predict the weather, we watch what comes over the hills behind us to see what the weather will be like a couple of hours in the future. However, we don't even need to do that many days as the weather has a rhythm. When I wake up, the sky is usually cloudless and the sun is peaking over the high mountains to the east. By the time our morning tea break comes at 10:15, the sun is high and warm and a few light clouds are usually drifting by to the south. By noon when I walk home for lunch, the high mountains to the south and east are decked out with puffy clouds and a few misguided souls are drifting by overhead. By the time school gets out at 3pm, we have our own fair share of clouds that will bring us a rain shower every three or four days. The clouds might even decide to cover the whole sky if rain does come, but oddly most nights by 10 or 11pm, the sky is again clear save for the retreating clouds, and the stars, whose light alon
e is enough to light up the night.
The Week
Since I already touched on daily rhythms in my last section, I will not dwell on them and will move onto weekly rhythms. Each day has its own flavor and most people, students, teachers, local residents, seem to move and act accordingly. Whether they feel it and act accordingly or just conform to the prevailing standard seems like a chicken and egg debate. Monday (as with almost anywhere in the world) is a sluggish day and this can be seen in the faces and steps of the girls trudging up the road past our house at 6:45am to get to morning study on time. The staff room is usually subdued and teacher joking and banter is at its lowest. Tuesday is the great awakening day. My students respond to my questions, teachers are joking and planning and moving. Most of the creative ideas seem to come from Tuesday. Wednesday is also a light, care-free day. Maybe it is because it is the one non-Friday that the girls do not attend study from 3:30-4:30pm. They have sports or associations to attend. Maybe it's becaus
e on Wednesday that the bread truck comes. Maybe it is because if you want to mail something that week, you need to get it to the post office by Wednesday. I don't know, but Wednesday is always lively. Thursday is a slower day filled with more anticipation than energy. Everyone is just punching the clock to get to tomorrow, although the slim chance of a mail delivery keeps hopes alive. And then, Friday. Everyone is alive on Friday. The students sing the national anthem (which on other days can be slower than molasses on a cold day) with enthusiasm and zest. Mail is usually placed on desks in the staff room during the morning and school ends at 2:20pm so that students and teachers can make it to the bus stop in time to catch the one bus to town. If you don't leave, Friday afternoon and Saturday are slow, relaxing days. Few people are about, few come to visit. It is the relaxation day. Sunday is that as well, but the activity level is higher - people going to church, coming from church, visiting fri
ends, making a brief stop at school to pick up work to be done. It is a preparation day and the next morning with the slow footsteps, it will start all over again.
The Month
The month has a similar feel to the week, with only different reasons for the moods. Everything in a Lesotho month is aimed at the end for one simple reason: Green papers. This is the informal name for pay checks. They arrive at the end of the month and it is the one time people have money, so the bus is jammed so full of people it is a wonder no one dies, Maseru is so crowded you could walk from one end of town to the other on people's shoulders, and everyone is in a good mood. The weekend immediately before month end is quiet as no one has any money and the one after is taken up by rest from all the excitement and stress of month end. At month end, big purchases are made, letters sent, phone calls are made, relatives are visited. On other weekends, these events are looked forward to, but not carried out.
Reflections on Rhythms and Time
With all of these rhythms, it is easy to get lulled into the flow. If you allow yourself to be carried by them, you can look at the calendar one day and realize that a month has gone by without any notice. The individual days go by slowly - when you are left to your own devices to fill every hour, sometimes tedium sets in, or there are some 40 minute classes that feel like they will never end. But, because each day is so similar in routine and differs only in a rhythm or feel about it, it is easy for the days to blend together and for time to slip by like sand between fingers. I could not believe that the time had come to write my second report and that when you read it, I will have been here for more than four months. Time flies when you let yourself slip gladly into the rhythms of life in Lesotho.
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