Back in Leribe

October 29, 2008

We were split into two groups today - one visited a mountain school, and my trio including Gary and Wes visited a half dozen grandmothers' houses around the next town down the road, Butha Buthe.

The first rondavel we visited was inhabited by a grandmother raising 15 grandchildren. She is 73 years old. She had eight children, all dead now, all died from AIDS! She has no income beyond a few hundred rand per month in old age pension. The home has a new thatch roof and repairs to the holes in the walls paid for by Help Lesotho. But 16 people hunker down on a cattle dung floor in a 35 square foot hut every night. There is never enough to eat despite food and food vouchers provided by HL. And yet this woman was so thankful throughout our visit, and so pleased with the new roof - now they don't have to stand against the walls to stay dry on rainy nights!

But some months there is no food and they are desperate. While on this topic, she seemed a very old and stressed 73.

At the bottom of the hill from this village we met the chief of Butha Buthe - an Indian man! Many generations of East Indians have lived in this town and in part because of this, the current chief is Indian.

Gary and Wes asked to have a picture taken with him and he agreed. Then we thanked him and began to walk away and he called out "wait, I also want to have my picture taken with the old man!)

Yes, that would be me.

The second and third grandmothers' homes we visited had sadly similar stories, just lesser quantities of grandchildren. One of the grandmothers was age 70 but not enjoying the physical health of the first grandmother we visited. The woman had the added issue of a growth in her lower jaw that was so large and heavy she could not close her mouth. Donna Bawden of HL (Help Lesotho), immediately called to arrange a visit to the hospital in Leribe. Donna will send a cab out to pick up the woman - who will still have to climb down a steep 300 yards of hillside to get the cab - and she will have the growth removed.

The third home was occupied by a 79 year old woman who faced many of the same challenges facing the other grandmothers whom we had visited. This woman was raising five grandchildren all under 10 years of age. Will the children have the benefit of their grandmother’s care until they are full grown?

We also visited three homes where grandmothers were waiting for approval on similar repairs to their rondavels. All were in similar situations to the others. It is difficult to stay positive when exposed to the struggles these woman face every day. There are many people in this district who need a hand.  Help Lesotho is doing the best that they can. Every week here they do make a difference.

Some interesting stuff we learned along the way that day:

Eloping means something completely different in Lesotho than how we find it in Canada. Here, when they say a couple eloped, it means a bride was chosen (often as young as age 13) and kidnapped by four men, usually led by the groom's father. The girl is then raped by all four in order to confirm her virginity. Yes, four times, once by each man in the group! If they agree that she was a virgin, the marriage happens and is then presented to the community, including the bride's family, as a done deal. Recent legislation guarantees the young woman will be taken seriously by police if she files a complaint, but this has not been tested successfully in this district. And the bride has a most unfortunate relationship with her father-in-law.

If a Basotho woman's husband dies, she has no right to her children or marital property. Any decision  regarding these issues are determined by the husband's family. They can, and sometimes do choose to throw the woman out into the street.

Migrant jobs in industries such as South African mines played a huge role in causing the AIDS pandemic to grow so fast here in Lesotho. Many Basotho men had to take such jobs in South Africa in order to support their families. These same men often used the sex trade and found other sexual partners in SA, contracted AIDS and then carried it back home to their wives and girlfriends here.

Everyone in the group has been impressed with woman carrying huge loads on their heads. Donna Bawden of HL explained that girls are trained to do this from an early age, starting with small items and steadily progressing in weights. By adulthood this has significantly altered their spines and leads to increased mortality rates during child birth.

Will hope for cheerier news tomorrow - we are to spend the day at a new HL youth centre in Pitseng.