Rain and Vaccinations

I first knew it was raining at 3 am when it was beating down on the roof of Nala where I am living. I have never heard rain like it outside of Africa and it went on for hours. It was very hard getting out of bed without the sun shining and I felt very tired for the first time since arriving in Africa.

I spent the first part of my morning in playgroup! Wow! 15 children, singing and learning words together - interesting! I learnt the word for rain was Pula - thought I would try and learn a new word each day and hopefully string a sentence together before the end of my time here. The children are 3 and are learning Sotho and English. Such a different culture here - books are not around. Reading is not part of their life - the only book that the people of Lesotho really read is the Bible. Lesson over the toys came out and I spent a long time being climbed on by assorted children as I tried desperately to stack lego bricks together. Meanwhile the rain kept falling and the little hut i was in was surrounded by water - it was an amazing sight.

There was an adoption ceremony during the morning which was a privilege to attend. Little Palaser was being adopted to a lovely lady from Sweden and as many staff as possible gathered to gether in the chapel for the ceremony which included speeches from the Social worker and Anita as well as from the house mother and the new mother, then a short address from Bryan. It was very moving and reminded me what Beautiful Gate is about - giving a child a chance of a new life and a new family. She had clearly bonded really well with her new mum and it was a joy to see. This was followed by celebratory cake.

I had previously spoken to the nurse about working alongside him occasionally and he told me he had planned to vaccinate children today and I had offered to help. I was just about to eat my lunch having had a short rest when he came to find me so I hurriedly ate a fried egg sandwich on the move and started the rounds. By this time we really were paddling through some 4 inches of water to get to the clinic. He seemed to appreciate my help handing him swabs and holding children still while he injected them. The government provides the vaccinations which is good but these little children are so fortunate as they are now protected with BCG and hep B vaccinations. They didn't really feel very fortunate when the needle was going in and there were quite a few tears and struggles.

My job done I settled down to read for an hour while the children were having their sleep and I too fell asleep - those who know me well know that I NEVER even sit down during the day let alone fall asleep! The high altitude is really making me tired I think.

My nap over I knew I had to get back to play for the afternoon. The house mothers were all in a meeting while the children slept so there was only 1 lady in charge of two houses so when i got there I was alone in my house when all the children started to wake one by one! Boy - chaos! No sooner had i got one out of the cot and the next one started - trying to find places to sit them, lie them and then toys to occupy the big ones! Fortunately the house mothers soon came back and I was able to feed the screaming baby who clearly just wanted her bottle! I learnt to feed porridge to 2 toddlers at the same time today and wished i had another pair of hands as I seemed to be used as a climbing frame whilst i was trying to feed a baby. One child was eating my tissue, one playing with my ankle bracelet, one screaming and one feeding - no wonder I was tired!

The afternoon passed quickly and before i knew it it was bath and vaseline time again followed by pap and milk which did not look as appetizing as previous nights but was wolfed down hungrily by little mouths!

Back in my house it was birthday tea time for Faith, Bryan and Anita's oldest daughter. I had no warning of the birthday and knew i could not turn up without a present so had to think quickly. Fortunately I had a few bits that I had in my case for such emergencies and managed to put together a little bag (actually my new 'm and s knickers' plastic bag with the label pulled off!!!!!) with some glow in the dark stars, some erasers (they are American after all!!!!) and some sweets and a little bracelet. Fortunately Tabby had some wrapping paper and i had a postcard so a card and present were both taken to the table for home made pizza and birthday cake. I was absolutely starving so enjoyed seconds and thirds. Faith had 2 little friends round for a sleep over so they are sitting in my lounge at the moment watching Tom and Jerry movies while I am sitting in Bryan and Anita's lounge avoiding Tom and Jerry and catching up on here.

The rain finally stopped tonight and a bit of blue sky shone through. The river and lakes at Beautiful GAte are now flowing again and are topped up due to the clay soil the whole place is quite waterlogged as the clay was so hard and dry. Another few days of sun are now forecast so hopefully it will be dried up a little tomorrow.

I have no idea what the weekend will bring - the children will continue to be needing the same care and attention but I think Laury and I might be going to explore somewhere. Bryan and family go away for a week on Sunday so it will be odd just being the 3 of us in our house for meals rather than 10 of us!

Hope you all have a great weekend and for those who are on half term next week - have a restful one.

Lots of love....................Jenny