Courtney on the Roof....of Africa!: Summertime in Lesotho

Summer down here in the southern hemisphere is usually from December-February. My work schedule has been fairly quiet, since kids are out of school for the break and all the farmers are very busy in their fields. However, I’ve been keeping busy with various Peace Corps workshops and seeing other volunteers!

December began with a weeklong training back in our host villages. The training covered topics that we had specifically requested during our first three months at site. These included income generating activity (IGA) development, bystander intervention, and more games that we could play with children in lifeskills lessons.

Peace Corps also took us out to lunch

LASAGNA!

awww it's a baby donkey!

double rainbow

There's a goat in the classroom. No big deal.

Several people in my village bought chicks for laying eggs (known here as layers-as opposed to broilers, the ones you eat). Have you ever wondered what 170 chicks looks like?

I had the chance to go to the birthday party of a friend’s son in Katse (he turned 5!). They had a jolly jump and tadpoles in the swimming pool…

Please note the Chaco tan lines

My good friend and fellow PCV Amanda also got a puppy that weekend. She named him Charlie :)

Awesome view from her house with the Katse Dam Resevoir in the background

I spent Christmas with two other volunteers, Cassie and Kelly, in TY. I’d say we managed to put together an excellent Christmas meal

Peter than came to visit for two weeks in January as did my counterpart’s son Bataunyane.


Peter playing football with the local team

Bataunyane

Really fat lizard that Peter and I saw on a hike

School started back up again in mid-January, which has given me something concrete to do on a daily basis again. I’m teaching lifeskills to the same group of kids as last year, but they are now in Std. 6. So far, we’ve gone over t he general overview of lifeskills, STI’s- transmission, care, and sympathy, and also had a session where we just blew bubbles. Guess which one was their favorite?

In mid-February, I finally got around to shaving my head. A PCV who’s going back to the states soon, will be taking the hair and donating it to Locks of Love. I was quite excited and relieved to find out that my head is fairly round- no weird lumps or anything.

Back with long hair

After we cut the pony tail off

With a mohawk

So round!!!!!!

Also in mid-February, Peace Corps had a Project Design and Management and HIV/AIDS Capacity Building Workshop for those in my training class and two counterparts of our choice. It was a very helpful workshop and it was also great to see volunteers I hadn’t seen for a few months.

Having now been at site for 6 months and in Lesotho for nearly 9 (yikes!), I’m finally feeling prepared enough to stop my mostly observing role and become a more active change agent in my community. Slow steps are, naturally, the best way to go, but I’m excited for whatever the next year and a half brings!

Also some random pictures