What a month it has been, the journey home was quite dull and boring and apart from telling you about the torrential rain, the unsatisfactory trip into Johannesburg where we hoped to find an arty square but instead found squalor and a place where we wouldn't even park the car, there is really nothing to tell.
Instead I thought I would reflect on some of the events of the last 3 and a bit weeks.
The new baby we were expecting from the hospital did arrive on Friday after we had finished work. Sadly we didn't see her but she was just a few hours old and the result is of a rape which is all to prevalent out in Lesotho. At least she will have a chance of adoption, hopefully quite young so she will have a chance of a good life somewhere.
We also met a young man who volunteers at Beautiful Gate. He is 22 and an orphan himself. He has just finished school because it is a regular thing out here to stay on at school until you finish. Secondary school is not free so if there is no money to pay, a young person might take a year off to earn enough money for the next year. This nay well happen more than once. He is an educated young man with a real heart for service. He loves the children and will do anything to help from changing nappies to mining the lawn. His real dream is to be a missionary and he has now been out in touch with missionary schools but of course unless there are scholarships available it will not be easy for him.
Fred went round to his house one evening and he lives in a small house with his 19 year old brother who is still at high school. They have a bed, a stove and a picture of their mum. That's it. No water, no electricity and no modern comforts that we take for granted. He is keen to read to improve himself, and I found a few books at BG which were too old for the children which I gave him to read. We also gave him some food before we left for which he was very grateful, although not having a fridge meant he could not really store any thing......
We never heard him complain about his lot, he always had a cheerful smile and served others. He is not unique in Lesotho, he is one of thousands like him. In fact he is more the norm than the factory owners and people who have built slightly bigger houses with running water and electricity. Please pray for his future. He works in the neighbourhood pulling weeds and doing odd jobs for his neighbours to earn enough money to live.
The other side of town from where Beautiful Gate is is much more the normal side of town. Thetsane the area we were in us becoming quite prosperous. For the other side there are no shopping malls, more markets, street food sellers selling maize from rusty BBQ, more hustle and bustle and fewer white people. Not that there are many white people at all anywhere, mainly missionaries, doctors and aid workers.
It is a hard place to live, nothing happens very fast and there is political instability almost all the time. There are many laws made which are good and sensible but there is no one willing to implement them. Bribery and corruption are rife and there is no one really to uphold the laws.
There is no thought for tomorrow, or for planning. Things happen and they let things happen.....it rains, things get flooded. It doesn't rain, things dry up and crops die. There is much water in the country stored in 3huge dams but this is not really benefitting the normal population who have to buy tokens to get their water from the wells.
The Basotho people are lovely....but their culture is so different from ours and I can go into more details when I talk to you. Sometimes it is hard to understand their behaviour and attitudes but the longer you live alongside and spend time with them, the more you begin to understand.
Anyway, my plane is almost coming into London and my life has to change gear.
I am going into work today......that will be a real culture shock.....breakfast was served at 4 am so if will be a lng day.
Jo will be here to meet me at the airport I hope, to take me home where hopefully I will have time for a shower and a coffee before I go back and get steve who is on the next plane. Fred is getting the bus back to Brighton and Nell is already at Phalabora where she is staying in a more jet sanctuary for a further 2 weeks. We dropped her off at the airport earlier yesterday, hence we had stayed the night in Clarens to give us a shorter drive for an early flight.
I will miss my little family, it has been such a wonderful time together . I have really got to know Nell better from being an ex piano pupil and daughter of friends she has become a friend and room mate. We have had some laughs together and it has been a pleasure to have her along.
Fred is my cousins son, and he slotted back into life in Lesotho on this his second visit. He enjoys meeting new people, picks up language well and whilst keeping himself to himself, wearing his headphones most if the time while we travel, he takes everything in and I know that much of what he sees will tun up in some of his creative writing in due course. They have a few months left before going off to university and I feel sure that they will have more adventures before they do but I hope that this trip will have ha a positive impact on their lives .
Thank you for staring this trip with me through reading my blogs.
Back to reality now, we are coming into London and I can post this when I get home.
Talk to you soon I feel sure.
Love
Jenny xx
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