Lesotho Oddities

There are certain signs and oddities that remind me I’m in Lesotho, and make America seem like a distant dream-like world. Here are just a few:

-Towels are actually very nice skirts to wear around the village,

-Calamine lotion is used as a face-mask and sunblock in one.

-It takes over an hour to get a plate in the “fast food” hut.

-Why carry a small Tupperware container when you can carry it on your head? Suitcases too.

-A woman wearing gum boots is laughable, but fuzzy toe socks with flip-flops is very nice.

-KFC is fine dining, people will do almost anything for a piece of that special recipe chicken.

-A mouse, donkey, chicken intestine – if it’s meat my family will roast it up and eat it.

-MSG is a delicious spice, sprinkled on the top of any dish.

-Previous homework is actually free toilet paper, math seems to be the most popular in my family.

-Dogs are used for protection and definitely are not your best friend. Cows perhaps.

While these things may appear strange and often comical to me, I am sure that there is a much longer list the Basotho in my village could write about me. And yet, regardless of my oddities or accidental faux-pas, I am constantly greeted, accepted and loved by these remarkably friendly people.

My Household Survey

It’s taken 40-some hours and over eight weeks, but I have now finished surveying all 210 households in my village. In the survey I go door to door, visiting and talking with every family in the village. I ask twenty questions – about what animals they have, if they have a bank account, what fuels they use, what their problems are, etc., etc. I’m doing Peace Corps as part of my master’s research in international development planning, and hopefully writing a draft of my thesis while I’m here. Then after my two years in Lesotho, going back to Cornell to finish my masters.

I can be a pretty shy person, and probably would not have taken the initiative to go door to door and talk with all the families in my village if it hadn’t been necessary for my research. But it was probably the best, most eye-opening thing I’ve done in Peace Corps. I talked with widowed HIV positive mothers, with women who were abused by drunken husbands, with a polygamous man whose wives lived right next to each other, and with many excited children yelling “good morn” no matter what time of the day it was. I have certainly learned all the names for animals in Sesotho really well. I have yet to compile the data, but some basic trends I noticed are:
Both the poorest and richest households said they were unsatisfied with their lives. The poorest because of lack of food or sicknesses, and the richest because there was always something more they wanted – a bigger house, a tv, a car, etc. It was those in the middle that claimed to be the happiest, especially those who were more religious.
Basically everyone in my village cooks and heats with wood fires, wood from the endangered cheche trees that grow around the park.
The only time men were recorded as contributing to getting the wood was when I talked with a man and a woman was not present (which I don’t think is a coincidence).
Families that stated that they felt unsafe tended to be ones where there wasn’t a man in the household.
And the only people who confided in me that they were HIV positive were older women, almost all widows. The statistics say that the actual rate of HIV positive people in my village is closer to 24%, I’m not sure whether people do not know their status or just didn’t feel comfortable telling me. But there are definitely a lot more HIV positive people in my village than I have recorded. The number of orphans and widows provide proof.
One of the saddest moments was when I was talking with a family with a little girl around 4 years old who had legions on her face, a sign of full-blown AIDS, and I wondered if her mother even knew. There were some sad moments, many rather boring ones, and some really fun ones that involved dancing, singing or food (or if I got really lucky, all three!).

My survey was intended to see what the cultural and social impacts are from getting electricity. I predict that it will negatively affect the social ties that are so important in my village. This also means that I’m going to be doing another survey a year from now, after we get our electricity officially turned on. I learned so much more, less quantifiable aspects of people’s lives which I didn’t anticipate when I started out eight weeks ago. It has definitely been one of my best experiences in Lesotho.

My Project(s)

I’ve had some people ask about the projects that I’m working on here in Lesotho. It’s a bit difficult to explain since I'm involved in many things, so I’ve attached below the summary I submitted to Peace Corps about the work that I’d done by February. It has changed a bit, but hopefully this makes things a bit more clear.

I am working to incorporate the benefits of Maliba Lodge into the larger community. I, with another PCV, linked GRO local artisans to the lodge, where they are now selling their jewelry very successfully. I also helped establish an internship program with local schools and the local agricultural training center, where the ag students get valuable experience working on projects and small ag businesses, while the schools get ag experts to help them with their projects. I helped set up 5 agricultural projects at local schools, funded by Maliba Community Trust. The projects combine small business and environmental teachings into the schools' gardens. I also teach lifeskills at 4 local schools, one to two times a week each. Lifeskills cover topics of health, HIV/AIDS and gender issues. I also lead bi-weekly teacher workshops on lifeskills, classroom management, lesson planning, etc. I am currently working on an application for the Maliba Community Trust, so that the schools and the broader local community can apply for aid, get what they request and need, and make maintenance of previous donations part of the process. Hopefully the recipients will take more ownership in what they receive and maintain it. I am also about to begin research for my master’s thesis, conducting door-to-door household surveys.