Much excitement this past week.  I took a road trip.  I went to Lesotho for three days.  Then came home was down 24 hours with a very bad cough and fever.  Having recovered quickly, we are full swing into Valentine’s Day. 

I mentioned last time I would touch on poverty and education.  There are ten provinces in South Africa.  The Limpopo and Eastern Cape provinces have the highest levels of poverty and the lowest levels of education in South Africa.  Open Arms is in the Eastern Cape Province.  60 to 70% of households have an income less than the poverty income.  Poverty income for one person is (R = Rand) R871, about $93 per month, or for a household of eight, R3241, or $390 per month.  Only 14 – 18 % of the population have passed the 12^th grade.  This all gives me more patience and incentive when working with six and seven year olds who are holding pencils for the first time. 

Touching the subject of poverty and education, this past weekend I went to Lesotho.  Lesotho is called Southern Africa’s “Kingdom in the Sky” with its stunningly beautiful, mountainous country, nestled like an island in the middle of South Africa.  

The region and later the country of Lesotho came into being during the tumultuous early 19^th century with its forced migrations.  King Moshoeshoe the Great and his Basotho people forged a nation that has resisted even more recent pressures as well as its continuous intriguing anomaly in a sea of modernity. 

When crossing the border from South Africa into Lesotho, the two lane paved road with a shoulder stopped and instantly became a one lane dirt path, which for thirty minutes took us through village after village of abject poverty.  We finally found a paved, sort of paved road.  I do not know what I was expecting, however I did know these Basotho-Sotho-Tucana people were folks whose mainstay was cattle and cultivation.  Everyone has a garden.  Even though the landscape is much more rugged and sparse, there is still ample rainfall.   

I saw a sign for a women’s pottery project to help lift their community out of poverty, so I stopped.  Here is a picture of the road taken to get to the project.  You are right there is not road.  

Here is a picture of the two women who saw me driving from quite a distance away and ran waving to encourage me to their establishment. (picture to be uploaded soon) I also went to a Women’s community weaving project to help lift their community out of poverty.  Here are some pictures from the weaver’s center.  They were very talented. 

I also saw some ancient mud cave dwellings that are now protected.  

I also saw some rock paintings that are between 1200 and 1500 years old.  Probably painted with the tip of a springbok horn, a type of antelope.

I stayed in a roundeval at a backpacker’s facility run by the Anglican Church.  Maseru is the capitol with ¾ of a million people.  It is big and not much to look at.  Unemployment is over 45% in Lesotho, yet it has a much higher literacy rate than much of South Africa, near 85%.  The main street in Maseru is called Kingsway named after a visit by the British Royals in 1947.  I did have some tasty Indian food here in Maseru. I also purchased the typical, yet intricate Lesotho woven hat whose design was taken from the shape of a local mountain and the shape of the mud and thatch rondavels that folks live in.  Here are a couple of pictures of some Lesotho children.  

Because this blog entry has so many pictures I will finish this trip in a few days with what I found out about South African on my drive home. 

I close with a picture from a cooking class with four of the home school children. 

We are getting ready for Valentine’s Day.  The local Komga Junior school was to have a dance and some restless children tore up some library chairs.  The deal was that the students who did it would need to come forward and the dance is on, if not it is cancelled.  Well the dance is cancelled and much to our relief the culprits were part of a grade level Open Arms’ does not have students in.  So we are having our own Valentine’s Dance tomorrow, Friday evening.  We are working hard.  I just wrote out, “May God’s love hold you, protect you and guide you” on fifty one valentines.  I am working with the Mama’s in the kitchen to make party finger food, and then we have to decorate.  Much excitement and much to do.  Friends have even been invited.  I will let you know how it all turns out.  Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!