"Off" day in Hlotse, Leribe 

October 31, 2008

 keep switching back and forth between the town names of Leribe and Hlotse, thought I should mention that they are the same place!  Hlotse is the “real” name of the town we are in.  Leribe is the name of the region (province/state).  But customarily, the region name is also commonly used as the name of the principal town or city of the region as well.  So we are sort of living in Leribe, Leribe.

The group took most of this day off and pursued individual interests.  Jeff and Gary were preparing for departure for Canada on Saturday morning. Shelley was nursing feet badly wounded from our unexpected 10 km trek the day before. Everyone did some souvenir shopping. 

This may have been the hottest day of our trip!  The least exertion and we were perspiring profusely.

I went down to the offices of HL and spent the morning wearing my old hat.  These guys run a half-dozen or so stand alone laptops.  Two printers. A single dial up connection to the internet.  If they want to print, they must pick up their laptops and take a walk to the printer of choice and connect the USB cable.  If they need the internet, they walk to a specific desk space that has a phone line and plug in and initiate a connection with the ISP.

Someone had donated a shopping bag containing assorted lengths of network cable and a network switch. HL has no server and hence no domain, but I spent the morning setting up a peer-to-peer network and shared the printers and the internet connection. (Sharing a 56K dial-up connection is not ideal for using the internet.  But using the internet is not a primary function or need at Help Lesotho).

‘M’e Konesoang gave me a Basotho name in honour of her now being able to print from her desk instead of having to walk from one office to the next.  I am now “Thabo” (Happiness). No laughing!  My group wanted to know the Basutho words for “grumpy” and “I am not stopping the van again for pictures” as they felt either of those would have been more appropriate.  Screw those guys, ha! ‘M’e Konesoang is just more perceptive!

In early afternoon, Shelley and I went to Tsepong looking for Mathebesang and Alicia Homer from OHAfrica.

Mathebesang wants us to come to her church on Sunday. (Mathebesang is a key member of the group of interpreters employed at Tsepong. An AIDS survivor and AIDS widow, and she lost her children to AIDS as well). Mathebesang had started a church of her own a year or so ago and we had agreed to come to her service this Sunday. When we met with Mathebesang today it was strictly to get directions and service times.  Turns out that Mathebesang actually wanted us to drive to the church with her so we would know the way on Sunday.  And I had a 3 pm appointment back at the HL centre with a youth from Pitseng. So we ditched Mathebesang temporarily so I could get back to HL and meet this kid, Monaheng Monoto.  And 3:30 came and Monaheng had still not arrived.  We had additional commitments at 5:00 back here at HL, so we had to abandon waiting for Monaheng and go back to the clinic to get Mathebesang.  (I left word for Monaheng to wait for our return if he could). We picked up Mathebesang and started off for the guided tour to the church site.  Which turned out to be in Maputsoe, a village 16 km away!  Along the way Mathebesang had us stop and look at an empty plot of land that she is proposing will be the home of her church once she raises the 50,000 rand ($5,500 CAD) to purchase it. Apparently she runs her church from her home, or outside of her home, depending upon the crowd size. 

Raced back to HL and Shelley made her commitment to meet with Mampoy and I met with this young man Monaheng who had returned.  Shelley headed off to the watering hole (can’t keep her out of there), and I offered Monaheng a ride home to Pitseng (26km).  It was a longer trip than I planned on, but he was a nice kid and I may not see him again.  We had more good conversation along the way, and when we got to his place I met several of his siblings. They lived at the top of a hill and he pointed way off down the valley to a woman bent over in the field gathering sticks of sorts for fuel.  Said that was his mother, and that he was going to call for her to run up the hill and meet me.  Persuaded him that we could go to her instead and we did, and then she insisted on coming back up the hill with us.  Everyone in the family gathered by then and insisted on having a good look at the old man from Canada.  I was asked to go through the family photo album an listen to all of the stories surrounding each of the 20 or so pictures that told the story of their family.  Dad is dead from AIDS, none of the family knows their status. I hope that they choose to get tested soon. I said my goodbyes and headed back to town.