Abseil Training

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early for a quick breakfast at the lodge and then abseil training. Melissa and I had been a little undecided about the abseiling (it’s what they call rappelling here) but we heard we couldn’t come to Semonkong without abseiling down Maletsuyane Falls so we had to do it! And I might have pressured Melissa just a liiitttle bit :) The abseil training was on a cliff right next to the lodge and we each went down three times. It went really well-quick and easy so we were both feeling pretty confident about the real thing in the morning!









Training Complete!

Heading Off for Our Weekend in Semonkong

Hands down the most exciting weekend ever! Melissa and I were picked up by the lodge owner from the Basotho Hat Friday afternoon for the drive to Semonkong. Maseru is in the Lesotho lowlands so we had a rocky, bumpy, jerky four hour ride up through the mountains to Semonkong. Unfortunately the seats didn’t provide much padding either, but we finally arrived in Semonkong in the early evening (days are are generally as warm as in Maseru, but nights are MUCH colder up in the highlands!). We had a delicious meal in the lodge and then headed up to our rondaville for the night. I had seen the round, thatched-roof huts in our other travels outside of Lesotho before and was really excited to sleep in one!

Heading off for the weekend


Construction workers' sign-kinda sums up how we felt on the drive up to Semonkong


Lodge doggie that came along to pick us up, his name is Jagermeister:)


Thatcher's Inn-the lodge's dining area


Our rondaville!

Day 30-Photo Day

I wanted to go around the ward at Queen II and take photos to include in the project proposal for the play therapy project. I was very hesitant at first to ask people if I could take their photos because I didn't know how moms would react to me trying to photograph their sick babies. Well I quickly found out that sick or healthy, all the moms, grandmothers, aunts, children, and babies absolutely LOVED having their pictures taken! Groups of people quickly gathered round to have photos taken of themselves, themselves with their babies, themselves with other people's babies, just the babies, kids with babies. It wasn't quite what I had intended to get pictures of for the project but it was the first time I had seen a lot of the families and patients really open up to me and get excited about something. For every picture I took, I made sure the moms and kids knew what I was taking the pictures for and I promised them copies of their photos. In the afternoon, I walked down the street to a photo shop and had pictures developed. It was exciting to see faces light up when I gave people their photos, and to know that it will be something that hopefully they can keep and treasure for a long time.

This is typically how the moms carry their babies






Moshoeshoe-haha he actually has a very cute smile!





Little boy in the acute room with an oxygen mask

































Pretending to make a phone call?


















This baby had the biggest eyes!


















Kenueoe-so sweet, she's one of my favorites:)

Day 28-Church and Renaissance

I took Melissa to church this morning and the worship service was great. The kids were even more into the singing and dancing than usual and someone had come during the week and painted new murals on the walls of the church! It looked really nice. After church we took a cab to the mall and got a few things from the PnP, and then ate a late lunch at Renaissance. Renaissance is my favorite place in the mall, it’s like a little café with really good coffee and the best sandwiches ever. My favorite is the chicken and avocado panini, yummm.

Little children!! (I think the one on the right is Mmpho)


















Lunch (we split a bacon, feta, avocado trazzini...I don't know what a trazzini is but it was good!)


















Melissa with her sandwich

Day 27-Ty and Blue Mountain

Erika moved her flight up to spend a few days in the city with family friends before flying home so she left this morning for Joburg. But not before getting up super early Saturday morning to make her delicious bran muffins and bread for us. She also made some for her family friends and the driver taking her to the airport because she is the sweetest person ever. I’ll miss her lots!!

Melissa and I got dressed and called a taxi to take us to TY, I had planned to show her the weavers and may be go to Kome caves (some traditional homes built into the mountainside). We didn’t make it to the caves but we went to the weavers and got the full tour. Then we had lunch at Blue Mountain Inn. Randomly we bumped into Meagan who was having lunch there also with Peace Corp friends! It was really pretty so we sat outside and had pizza. I had forgotten that it was the last Saturday of the month when the Basotho Hat (a tourist shop downtown) has their monthly cultural fair. We were told it closed at 5pm so we took a cab back to Maseru right after lunch hoping to get there before it ended. We got there at 4pm but unfortunately they had already closed for the day. We came back to the Cottage, watched a movie and were lazy the rest of the evening:)

Day 26-Queen II and Baby Shower

I had a really awesome day today! The driver dropped me off at Queen II and then took Lina to the airport because she left today. I spent the morning at Queen II to get some input from the nutrition assistants, moms, caregivers, and children about what they would like to see happen at the hospital as far as play therapy. Everyone was very supportive and had good ideas about games, toys, etc. When I asked if there were any traditional Lesotho songs or stories, one of the little girls started telling a story called “Tselane and her mother” (apparently a very popular children’s story here, which sounded very similar to Little Red Riding Hood). When she started the story, parents and children came and gathered around to listen. It was so amazing to see people coming together like that! Another woman told a story and my favorite little girl in the ward, Kenuene, sang songs.
I went back to the clinic for the afternoon. Down in the break room, some of the staff were preparing food for the baby shower because two of the local doctors, Mme Mamello and another doctor, are pregnant! A bunch of the ladies got dressed up in shoeshoe (the traditional Sotho dresses) and around 4pm everyone went outside. After a song and prayer, the psychologist, Mme Lebo, had made up some baby shower games they played and then presented the two doctors with baby gifts. Afterwards there was a whole table of delicious sandwiches and cakes. It was really sweet!
Erika got home late in the evening from Thaba Seka and it was her last night in Lesotho:( We heated up leftovers and Erika, Melissa, and I spent the evening talking about her trip, gossiping, and laughing. It was a really good end to the week.

Ladies in traditional Sotho dresses


















They made Dr. Lindy stand in front:)


















Expectant mommies


















So precious


















Mme Lebo























I loved her tulip skirt!























Giving a speech


















Presenting the gifts


















Happy moms


















Party food

Day 24-New scholar, shopping, Bar One, and Regal

A new scholar arrived Wednesday morning. Her name is Melissa and she is a 2nd year resident at Baylor so she knows my dad! They hadn’t told us before that anyone else would be coming, so I was really excited that I wouldn’t be alone in the cottage for the next week and a half! She’s so nice and we get along really well.
I worked at the clinic for the morning and in the afternoon I went with Lina to downtown Maseru. She wanted to do some shopping so we walked to an area behind the main road where there are a lot of street vendors and little shops. She bought a few scarves and I checked out the Basotho blankets. We stopped at Lancer’s Inn after shopping and ate a piece of their famous Bar One cake. Everyone here raves about this chocolate cake being so delicious, but I think it’s mainly people who’ve been here a while and just missing food from back in the States! It was good but not the best I’ve ever had.
In the evening, we met up with Melissa and Erika at PnP for grocery shopping, and then went for dinner at an Indian restaurant called Regal. We drank wine, at good Indian food, and got to know each other. It was a fun evening!