Sunday, February 19, 2006
The Rain Continues
Made a surprise trip to the Lowlands and can post a week earlier than I thought (more on that later). Last weekend I went to Maseru, the capital, for a visa renewal. With the govt bureaucracy this took only about 20 minutes but it was a four day excursion overall. Maseru is another level of development again from the rest of the country. There are buildings up to about 10 floors, large suburbs, good internet (about 1/3 of Canadian broadband speed) and even treated water and sewage.
The hotel was quite nice. It had been the prime minister’s residence (not sure why he needed a new one) and was in a nice part of town across from the golf course (yes they have one). It was a bit quirky, the toilet flushed with hot water and the light switch was in the hallway (not even in the room). Maseru has two Shoprite stores. These are quite large supermarkets that would not be out of place even in a large Canadian city. It was great to be able to buy a wider range of food stuffs, but I was limited in terms of what I could carry from the road to my house.
The bureaucracy for the visa was upsetting but reflects a couple of things. One is that the people there have a job and need to fill in forms and the like to justify their position – there were a great many people working in the office in relation to those coming to get service. The other is that you can see that she was a product of the educational system – unable to think outside-the-box. We had a letter from Help Lesotho saying that we were aid workers but it was addressed to the customs office (for our original arrival in the country) and she wanted something addressed to the immigration department. It finally went upstairs (literally) and was approved by the director of immigration.
My trip to the mountains was problematic. The mini-buses here do not leave until they are full – and this took almost two hours. I had two bags and a herd boy (around 25) jammed against me and could not move my legs at all. We went to the gas station and then were stopped by the traffic police – these are common. They look for lights out or bad tires and drivers get a ‘choice’, pay a fine of M150 ($30) or promise to get it fixed with a ‘tip’ to the cop of M50. Before we got to the permanent police check point (you have to get out of the bus and walk through a gate where they may look at your stuff) and get back into the bus; we managed to run over a man’s foot (he was standing next to a broken down taxi). Looked like we might have had a fight between two drivers, but we ended up driving the guy to the local hospital. He was in the hospital for no more than three minutes and then we drove him back to the main road where he could get a taxi back to his taxi. He was walking better and had a few little cuts on his foot. One of the other volunteers was talking about a child being hit by a taxi this week and being seriously injured. Another child was drowned in one of the swollen rivers – it has continued to rain (and hail at times) like mad. At Mamohau it rained hard every day this week. Usually between 1 and 4 pm for an hour or two after a lovely morning. On our drive to Maseru – in the major farming area – the soil erosion was a tragedy. In some places, the soil was gone right down to the bare rock. There are huge gullies everywhere.
The other problem with the rain for such a long time, is that the ground is now totally saturated so the mud is worse than even and the farmers’ fields are sodden and many crops are being lost.
I am making considerable progress with the kids I think. They respond well to the fact that an adult is nice to them and does something other than yell at them. Some kids are starting to borrow English reading materials and I was a judge at a debate where the Form Bs beat the Form Es (there is a three year gap here so the Form Es should have won but the Bs had two highly articulate girls who did a great job.)
Something neat at school … I mentioned earlier that I had put some stepping stones along the path the girls take to school so they would not have to walk through the mud (the students and some teachers called this my bridge). The students decided to do a proper job of this and built a little bridge of corrugated steel over the worst part, dug a channel to drain the swampy bit (made a little stream in effect). They also moved hundreds of rocks to make a pathway. It was almost like they needed to be shown that they could alter a natural problem.
Had one of the neatest teaching experiences last week. During the evening study period (7 to 830 pm) I had almost all of the Form Es in one room as I helped them with math questions. Meanwhile there was a raging thunderstorm just outside. No discipline problems here. If any kids talked, the others shushed them instantly. Afterwards, four of the boys insisted on escorting me back to my house, in the pouring rain and with the mud (they wear black, reasonably formal shoes).
Weeks ago a girl was brought to the school office (principal and deputy were not there). The teachers thought she had bad hiccups but I thought it certainly was not that. Beyond Red Cross first aid I have no expertise but I thought she might be having a minor (petit-mal?) epileptic seizure and pushed for the idea that she should be taken to the medical clinic across the way. This week a letter arrived from the district nurse in the next district to say that she is epileptic and on meds but there is so little understanding of proper medical care here. One of the young nuns at the convent where the guest house is had a tooth ache and they just pulled out one of her front, upper teeth.
The reason why I ended up unexpectedly back in Leribe is that yesterday was a sort of retreat for all of the teachers. It was a combined staff meeting and BBQ held on the grounds of a lodge that used to be the summer residence of the British High Commissioner in colonial times. Not entirely sure why we had to go so far (it is about a 4+ hour trip), but I decided to be dropped off at the guest house for the night (a shower and conversation!). The meeting was interesting. They give prizes to the teachers who have the best results on the external exams in Form C and E (typically Sesotho and Geography). These teachers then explain the reasons for their success. The teachers with the worst results (math and computer) have to explain what they will do differently in the future.
All for now. Will be back here next weekend (25-27) getting ready for the four of us (Penney, Carol and Ray) who will be going to Mahlefekane with new benches we are making, paint, school bags etc.
The hotel was quite nice. It had been the prime minister’s residence (not sure why he needed a new one) and was in a nice part of town across from the golf course (yes they have one). It was a bit quirky, the toilet flushed with hot water and the light switch was in the hallway (not even in the room). Maseru has two Shoprite stores. These are quite large supermarkets that would not be out of place even in a large Canadian city. It was great to be able to buy a wider range of food stuffs, but I was limited in terms of what I could carry from the road to my house.
The bureaucracy for the visa was upsetting but reflects a couple of things. One is that the people there have a job and need to fill in forms and the like to justify their position – there were a great many people working in the office in relation to those coming to get service. The other is that you can see that she was a product of the educational system – unable to think outside-the-box. We had a letter from Help Lesotho saying that we were aid workers but it was addressed to the customs office (for our original arrival in the country) and she wanted something addressed to the immigration department. It finally went upstairs (literally) and was approved by the director of immigration.
My trip to the mountains was problematic. The mini-buses here do not leave until they are full – and this took almost two hours. I had two bags and a herd boy (around 25) jammed against me and could not move my legs at all. We went to the gas station and then were stopped by the traffic police – these are common. They look for lights out or bad tires and drivers get a ‘choice’, pay a fine of M150 ($30) or promise to get it fixed with a ‘tip’ to the cop of M50. Before we got to the permanent police check point (you have to get out of the bus and walk through a gate where they may look at your stuff) and get back into the bus; we managed to run over a man’s foot (he was standing next to a broken down taxi). Looked like we might have had a fight between two drivers, but we ended up driving the guy to the local hospital. He was in the hospital for no more than three minutes and then we drove him back to the main road where he could get a taxi back to his taxi. He was walking better and had a few little cuts on his foot. One of the other volunteers was talking about a child being hit by a taxi this week and being seriously injured. Another child was drowned in one of the swollen rivers – it has continued to rain (and hail at times) like mad. At Mamohau it rained hard every day this week. Usually between 1 and 4 pm for an hour or two after a lovely morning. On our drive to Maseru – in the major farming area – the soil erosion was a tragedy. In some places, the soil was gone right down to the bare rock. There are huge gullies everywhere.
The other problem with the rain for such a long time, is that the ground is now totally saturated so the mud is worse than even and the farmers’ fields are sodden and many crops are being lost.
I am making considerable progress with the kids I think. They respond well to the fact that an adult is nice to them and does something other than yell at them. Some kids are starting to borrow English reading materials and I was a judge at a debate where the Form Bs beat the Form Es (there is a three year gap here so the Form Es should have won but the Bs had two highly articulate girls who did a great job.)
Something neat at school … I mentioned earlier that I had put some stepping stones along the path the girls take to school so they would not have to walk through the mud (the students and some teachers called this my bridge). The students decided to do a proper job of this and built a little bridge of corrugated steel over the worst part, dug a channel to drain the swampy bit (made a little stream in effect). They also moved hundreds of rocks to make a pathway. It was almost like they needed to be shown that they could alter a natural problem.
Had one of the neatest teaching experiences last week. During the evening study period (7 to 830 pm) I had almost all of the Form Es in one room as I helped them with math questions. Meanwhile there was a raging thunderstorm just outside. No discipline problems here. If any kids talked, the others shushed them instantly. Afterwards, four of the boys insisted on escorting me back to my house, in the pouring rain and with the mud (they wear black, reasonably formal shoes).
Weeks ago a girl was brought to the school office (principal and deputy were not there). The teachers thought she had bad hiccups but I thought it certainly was not that. Beyond Red Cross first aid I have no expertise but I thought she might be having a minor (petit-mal?) epileptic seizure and pushed for the idea that she should be taken to the medical clinic across the way. This week a letter arrived from the district nurse in the next district to say that she is epileptic and on meds but there is so little understanding of proper medical care here. One of the young nuns at the convent where the guest house is had a tooth ache and they just pulled out one of her front, upper teeth.
The reason why I ended up unexpectedly back in Leribe is that yesterday was a sort of retreat for all of the teachers. It was a combined staff meeting and BBQ held on the grounds of a lodge that used to be the summer residence of the British High Commissioner in colonial times. Not entirely sure why we had to go so far (it is about a 4+ hour trip), but I decided to be dropped off at the guest house for the night (a shower and conversation!). The meeting was interesting. They give prizes to the teachers who have the best results on the external exams in Form C and E (typically Sesotho and Geography). These teachers then explain the reasons for their success. The teachers with the worst results (math and computer) have to explain what they will do differently in the future.
All for now. Will be back here next weekend (25-27) getting ready for the four of us (Penney, Carol and Ray) who will be going to Mahlefekane with new benches we are making, paint, school bags etc.
