For those that don't know, I am currently living in Lesotho. If you are like me and have to Google (verb form) it, don't feel ashamed. To point you in the right direction, Lesotho is that small spot of a country completely inside of South Africa at the tip of Africa. This is one of only three countries in the world that is completely surrounded by another country; Lesotho, the Vatican (yep, it's a country), and San Marino (also a small city/country in the north of Italy).
The next two years I am calling Semonkong, Lesotho home. No Mom it will never replace my real home!! Love you guys! No, home is a two room tin roofed building on St. Leonard's Mission. As part of the Peace Corps agreement, my host organization pays my rent for this place. Though I don't have running water, the electricity is only available six months out of the year, and my latrine is a mini throne out back, this is a great place. This is a definitely improvement to what I was imagining; mud walls, with a dung floor and thatched roof. Most people in the rural areas do live in those kinds of houses but I just got lucky and received one of the best houses in Semonkong.
Semonkong means “The Place of Smoke” named so after the mist that rises from the famous waterfall in the area. If you like westerns then this is the place for you! Though we are about four hours from the capital, you must travel for about two hours on gravel road up to an elevation of about 2200 meters (about 7000ft). Once here you can see how the mountains that surround this place can make it a rural highlands town. In every direction for kilometers/miles people come to town on horse or donkey to get supplies. The horse rank is bigger than the bus rank. (A rank is just the place designated for people to park their form of transportation or to get public transport.) When it rains the roads become a network of mud trails. I love it!
I am working with a local Basotho NGO. Three men from villages in the area started this organization to improve overall development of member villages. The people with membership in this group are hoping to receive information on farming, income generation, health and sanitation; any number of things that may help them to better grow and thrive. The farmers I have come to know are really motivated but they don't have the education or skills to do what they set out to accomplish.
Some of the projects Katleho 'Moho Association is formally participating in are the building of latrines with members support, Farmers extension work and support, an Organic farmers project, supporting the creation of a weaving group in town, community gardens with fruit tree and indigenous plant production, and the coordination of networking efforts for Farmers, Orphans, and Semonkong Basotho in general. The list is rather extensive. With two offices, one in Maseru and one here in Semonkong, this group is one of the most motivated and active groups in all of Lesotho.
I consider myself very lucky to have been place in such an amazing area and with such a good group of people. You are surely to hear more about the goings-ons here.
The next two years I am calling Semonkong, Lesotho home. No Mom it will never replace my real home!! Love you guys! No, home is a two room tin roofed building on St. Leonard's Mission. As part of the Peace Corps agreement, my host organization pays my rent for this place. Though I don't have running water, the electricity is only available six months out of the year, and my latrine is a mini throne out back, this is a great place. This is a definitely improvement to what I was imagining; mud walls, with a dung floor and thatched roof. Most people in the rural areas do live in those kinds of houses but I just got lucky and received one of the best houses in Semonkong.
Semonkong means “The Place of Smoke” named so after the mist that rises from the famous waterfall in the area. If you like westerns then this is the place for you! Though we are about four hours from the capital, you must travel for about two hours on gravel road up to an elevation of about 2200 meters (about 7000ft). Once here you can see how the mountains that surround this place can make it a rural highlands town. In every direction for kilometers/miles people come to town on horse or donkey to get supplies. The horse rank is bigger than the bus rank. (A rank is just the place designated for people to park their form of transportation or to get public transport.) When it rains the roads become a network of mud trails. I love it!
I am working with a local Basotho NGO. Three men from villages in the area started this organization to improve overall development of member villages. The people with membership in this group are hoping to receive information on farming, income generation, health and sanitation; any number of things that may help them to better grow and thrive. The farmers I have come to know are really motivated but they don't have the education or skills to do what they set out to accomplish.
Some of the projects Katleho 'Moho Association is formally participating in are the building of latrines with members support, Farmers extension work and support, an Organic farmers project, supporting the creation of a weaving group in town, community gardens with fruit tree and indigenous plant production, and the coordination of networking efforts for Farmers, Orphans, and Semonkong Basotho in general. The list is rather extensive. With two offices, one in Maseru and one here in Semonkong, this group is one of the most motivated and active groups in all of Lesotho.
I consider myself very lucky to have been place in such an amazing area and with such a good group of people. You are surely to hear more about the goings-ons here.
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