Turkey Day!

I killed a turkey! We had a big celebration for the Thanksgiving Day and I had the honor of bringing the turkey, down the mountain (1hr walk), 15 min taxi ride to Mt. Moorosi, 15 truck ride to river, 5 minute boat ride across the Orange River, 1 hr walk to Bethel, eating turkey in Lesotho on Thanksgiving Day, priceless. Check out these pics!

HIV/AIDS in Lesotho

Population: 1.8 (should be 2.1)
#of PLWHA: 260,000
Prevalence rate: 23-30%

Lesotho has the third highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the world. Before I arrived I thought I would see a lot of "sick" people but so many people are infected and they are very good at hiding it. The stigma is a huge problem here. When people die, they die of the "common cold" (AKA TB-HIV co-infection). 80% of people who have TB also have HIV. People do not talk about their status. To find these people in the community is a rarity. I see more of it because I work directly with people who are living openly with HIV/AIDS but other than that people don't talk about it. Some common MYTHS I've heard since being in Lesotho are: condoms have worms and if you put them under the microscope you can see them. Sharing toothbrushes causes AIDS. There is a billboard in Maseru that actually says this! I guess its possible, blood to blood via toothbrush but the chance of this transmission is very LOW. But this is what people here are worried about, not unprotected sex. It is very common in Lesotho for people to be engaged in multiple con-concurrent relationships. Especially with so many men in Lesotho working in the mines in South Africa. Even if one is married it is perceived that there is a side girl of some sort. But people don't recognize this as a problem. "Men have needs" is the excuse I have heard (from men of course). Traditionally the basotho were a polygamous culture. King Moshoeshoe I (founder of Lesotho) had 15 wives! This mentality is in-grained in the culture. I've also heard people say that AIDS isn't real. That it was just made up to scare people. There is definitely a lot of work to be done here and most of my "work" will probably just consist of having conversations with people about HIV/AIDS and trying to debunk myths associated with it.

PHOTOS

Sebapala Community Library

So one of the projects I worked on was to help open the first library in Sebapala Community. The PCV before me received a bunch of books from African Libraries Project but did not get a chance to finish the library before leaving so I picked up where she left off. I never knew much about how to organize and open a library until now. The official opening was 19th of October. It was a great success! We had the Director/founder of African Libraries attend as well as members of Parliament, ministries, local government, teachers, principles, students and people from the community. There was a tour of the library followed by speeches, singing, and lots of food. The library is located at Pontseng Primary School but is for the whole Sebapala Community (vast and rural area of over 21 villages). I think people are truly excited for this library because until now, books have been non-existent. Parents don't read to their children and teachers don't incorporate books into their classes (except text books). So, this is a very exciting time for the Sebapala Community!

"Work Life"

So a lot of people are asking what it is that I am actually "working" on here in Lesotho. I can tell you that the concept of "work" here is very different than back in America. People here have a very different work ethic which influences the time it takes to get anything done. It takes a VERY long time to accomplish anything so patience is key. I've been mainly working with support groups. At this point I am working with over 8 different support groups throughout the Sebapala Valley. Some are made up of only People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and some are made up of HIV negative people but mainly want to help the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC'S) in their community. At this point I am doing a needs assessment of each group trying to figure out what they do and where they want to go and how I can help them help themselves. This in itself is extremely difficult because the needs are obviously quite great and the groups have no money to reach the goals that they do have. Unfortunately, Lesotho has a "hand-out" mentality ingrained in their culture so it makes it very difficult to re-direct that to starting from nothing (reality) and making it into something. Most groups want to do some type of income generating activity (IGA) to help PLWHA and OVC'S. Right now I'm working on getting the group seeds so they can plant and have a good source of nutrition for PLWHA and OVC'S and to sell the remainder of the crops. One group has started making bracelets and necklaces out of scrap fabrics and materials to sell as IGA. A lot of groups want to do chicken and pig projects for sources of protein and as IGA, but these projects cost a lot of money so I'm trying to have these groups start small so they can reach these goals. I've also done some education of support groups on HIV 101 and Nutrition. It was shocking to realize the lack of facts these groups have on basic HIV/AIDS info. I've also worked a bit with Red Cross on canning and food preservation techniques. But pretty much I've just been trying to meet as many people as possible, trying to figure out how things work, and the culture of my community, and putting people in touch with the proper resources and connections that Lesotho has to offer.

Holy Cow!

Wow! Its been a long time! How is everyone? I apologize for the long delay in updating my blog but I have had little (no) access to internet since I departed the capital city of Maseru. I'm back in Maseru for some in-service trainning for 10days so I promise to do some serious blogging before I go back to site. Anyway, where do I start? Well, I guess a good place is to describe my village and my community. I live in a very small village (about 100people) at about 6,000 ft above sea-level. I am actually in a river valley so the views of the mountains are AMAZING! I will definetly post some pics while in town. I have my own rondaval on a family compound. My host family is amazing. My host father works in South Africa in the gold mines so I don't see him very often and my host mother holds down the fort at home. They have five children together (4boys and 1girl), from ages 27-6. My host sister had a baby back in August. Its actually quite an interesting story because she went into labour during the day but never made it to the hospital in time. By the time the truck came to take her to the hospital (1 hr drive in a private vehicle) it was to late. She ended up having the baby on the side of the road on the way to the hospital. The BO-Me (women) who went with her assisted with the delivery on the roadside. They had no flashlight or water, just a few blankets. She was back home a few hours later. They gave me the honour of naming the baby! In Lesotho, people have a christian name and a sesotho name, I was responsible for both. I named her Sophia Palesa. She is such a beautiful baby and she is getting so big! I will try to get some pics up of her as well. Stay tuned for more updates. I miss you all and hope the weather is not getting too cold.