October 19, 2001
The sun has returned to Lesotho and I've shed the long underwear which seemed a second skin to me throughout the winter. The mountains are beginning to turn green and once again Lesotho is a nice place to live. Actually, it's been a nice place to live all year given the quality of people we live amongst. But, on winter days when either tenets of hygiene or common courtesy dictated that a sponge bath was in order, I had to wonder why anyone had chosen to live her. Sponge baths are never an ideal way to wash, but certainly not when you can see your breath.
Prior to leaving I recall George Drake maintaining that sometimes the hardest thing about St. Rodrigue is coming up with ways to stay warm. I didn't really believe him until I found myself unwilling to sleep without a stocking cap and virtually entombed within a sleeping bag and several blankets. It was during this part of winter that I came to cherish the tremendous class sizes I had earlier shunned. In an unheated classroom you'd be surprised at how much you like a class of 60 with all of their wonderful body heat. Fortunately, winter departed at the end of August and since then we've had some almost hot days.
With the arrival of spring has come a wonderful, if almost forgotten warmth, but also the realization that my time here is nearing the end - a very bittersweet prospect. Having been here for close to 10 full months, I am still convinced that a year is long enough to be away from family and friends back home, but I am now equally convinced that a year is too short of a time to spend here. The bonds I've formed with students and colleagues alike are going to be very hard to break come December and I can't help but harboring a certain amount of envy for the incoming fellows. Despite the seemingly daily frustrations that accompany living in a profoundly foreign culture, I cannot imagine a teaching environment where I am filling such a needed role, where filling that role is more appreciated and where I am part of a more closely knit community of colleagues an students.
In preparation for the passing of this fellowship torch, I thought I'd dedicate the majority of this report to a synopsis of the misconceptions and unknowns that caused Ali and me the greatest frustration, in hopes that future fellows will have an easier time with some things. I hesitate to write this, however, for fear that future fellows will have it too easy, but I trust that Lesotho will always come through with a new and unending supply of irritants to ensure a legitimate African experience for all fellows to come.
Things you need to know, but won't likely be told:
1. Don't buy school supplies before school starts. Ali and I made the mistake of purchasing a variety of notebooks, several pens, and a box of chalk only to find out that teachers are all provided with free notebooks, pens, and their very own box of chalk. Plus, several pairs of scissors and some calculators were sent to the school as gifts so they're easy to find, too. You can also get pens, stationary, and school supplies, except for stickers, at the CAN store in Maseru.
2. Whenever an all-school event such as English Day, Moshoeshoe Day, or a cadet rally is planned, count on classes days beforehand being forfeited with little warning, so as to have practice time.
3. Unless this is changed at the first staff meeting next year, the only work which counts toward quarterly grades are the quarterly exams. The only work that counts toward the final grades is the final exam. It's not an ideal system, but it prepares them for what they faces with the Cambridge exams.
4. To receive a package you must sign an official receipt from Tlali (in blue,not red pen, right Ali?) and most often send R9.80 as a receiving fee. For one package, however, some sketchy business occurred at the Tlali post office and R9.80 became R99.80. Needless to say, we never got our "official package slip" for that one.
5. Both letters and post cards to the states cost R2.10. Originally we were told, by the post office no less, that letters to the states cost R4.50. Fortunately, we met a Peace Corps volunteer during our extended stay in Thaba-Tseka who corrected us and has saved us a fair amount of money.
6. Sister Claudia sells full trays of 30 eggs at the convent for R15. Most shops sell eggs for 60 cents a piece. Do the math. We didn't until September.
7. 'M'e Augustine sells fresh mil for R2 a litre. You must boil this before drinking it. I will stay relatively fresh for a good 18 hours in summer and close to 48 in winter.
8. Don't try to garden without consulting an agricultural teacher. There is some sort of mystical agricultural prowess that Basotho possess, but we evidently don't.
9. Frasers, in Mpatana, closes at noon on Saturdays and is not open on Sundays. The Makabele shop in Mpatana, though, where the bust is open both days for longer hours and has many of the same goods.
10. There is a relatively inexpensive place to stay in Ladybrand (R250 for a double room and two breakfasts) called the country lodge. It has card phones outside of it and a spar grocery store three blocks away.
11. The best travel agency in Maseru is called AstraTravel and located in the Lesotho Sun Hotel. The two travel agents there, Rosita and Poloma, are very helpful and are great bargain hunters. They are open until noon on Saturdays, too, which is helpful as you teach during most business hours. The only drawback is the veritable mountain you must climb to reach the Lesotho Sun.
Also, incoming fellows ought to know which things they need not haul across the Atlantic. The following is a list of items which will remain at the house:
a small, single burner, paraffin stove
a set of mini-speakers (for walkman or discman)
a pair of scissors
every kitchen utensil you'll need, even a homemade pizza cutter (the cutter is homemade, but the pizza doesn't have to be)
a map of ancient Egypt
a 5-gallon solar shower (mint condition)
one green hot mitt that still smells slightly of mutton
and the following books:
Lives of Courage, The Poisonwood Bible, As I Lay Dying, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Grapes of Wrath, Enigma, A Confederacy of Dunces, Hill of Destiny, Prodigal Summer, Dune, Solomon's Song, The World According to Garp, Stones from the River, Setting Free the Bears, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Crime and Punishment, Dear Exile, Roald Dahl: Short Stories, Sein Language, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Cat's Cradle, Mere Christianity, Snows of Kilimanjaro, To Have and Have Not, The Celestial Railroad, Porterhouse Blue, Things Fall Apart, Winter of Our Discontent, Burger's Daughter, Ulysses, Armageddon, Robben Island, The Reader (x2), House of Sand and Fog, The Africans, Out of Africa, My Son's Story,Harry Potter 2 and 3, Ides of March, Jambalaya, Atticus, If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Guide Books:
Southern Africa ('00),S.A., Lesotho and Swaziland ('97/'00),Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia ('95),Africa ('95)
Well, there you have it. I hope that this gives future fellows some much needed insight into the workings of St. Rodrigue and alleviates some of the frustrations that we have felt (hopefully not all frustrations, though; there's got to be some things that make your experiences real). But, for all the frustrations, there are more than enough joys in Lesotho to make up for them.
