Back! After 2 years!

It’s been almost 2 years since I left Lesotho (and wrote that last post).  To make up for lost time I plan to post a couple times over the next week while I’m here visiting Lesotho.  I was both excited and worried about coming back.  It has been very difficult staying touch with people.  Most of my friends and host family here don’t have email addresses or mail boxes.  And all of a sudden no one’s phone numbers worked any more.  It turns out that a new signal tower was built and everyone switched providers and numbers.  I was worried, a quarter of the population of the country has the HIV virus, and you see people get sick so quickly here, I was afraid to try very hard to reach out, I was afraid of what I might hear.  But I am very happy to report that everyone is doing very well! 

My host mother moved to Johannesburg to find work.  I knew that she had moved somewhere in South Arica before I got here but could not contact her.  Even when I got here, no one had her phone number.  I spent the first day wandering around seeing all my old neighbors and friends.  I soon had the familiar red dust covering me and my Sesotho came back surprisingly quickly.  My host brother and sister had also scattered (which is not unusual here).  I found a neighbor who knew where my brother was and then he took me high up into the mountains to see my host sister.  She was 14 when I left and now I returned to find her 16 and married.  I was shocked at first, she was so young when I left, but again that is not that unusual here especially in the poorer rural areas.  And she did seem happy.  Her house was very simple, mud and thatch with only a bed and a dresser.  I hope her life continues to be happy, I don’t think it will be an easy one.  I also got to teach a quick class at the community center with my old friend and counterpart Mantai, which was fun.  I think I’m still struggling with the altitude and climbing hills all day, and am left very tired but gratified.  Tomorrow I plan to visit more friends in the village and to take my host brother and sister to the most exciting place in Lesotho—KFC.  I will update pictures too (http://flickr.com/photos/julianafulton).

Being back makes me nostalgic, but it also reminds me of how hard life is here, and how even my life here was really challenging.  And how fortunate I am to have the life I have back home and still have the connections and friends I have here, in this completely different world.