This week

It’s my birthday on Sunday. Call me. Seriously. I’ll have phone reception from Friday through Saturday, and maybe even on Sunday (big maybe). So give me a ring when you get a chance. I’ll keep my phone on.

I don’t think I have the stamina to write another Phil the Rat Killer post this week, so I’m just going to write quick anecdotes of the pictures I posted this week.

One of the pictures I should have posted last week. It is the whole crew from the rat hunting expedition except for Lechesa, who took the picture, which itself deserves a note. He seemed a little scared that the camera was going to steel his soul, except in reverse. Or, more accurately, that if he held down the shutter too long the whole thing was going to explode in his face. He would line the photo up on the screen then, quite gingerly, press down the shutter until something, anything, happened. Then, while steadily holding the camera with his left hand, would expediently and anxiously remove his right hand from anywhere near the camera while keeping his eyes glued to the screen, like he was watching his life flash before him on the screen. I’m going to have to sit him down and have a talk about what exactly is going on in that little camera.

Those of you that keep up with my blog (God bless you, every one), have read some references to keyhole gardens. I’m not sure if I ever adequately explained what exactly a keyhole garden is. It is a small, raised garden roughly 2 meters in diameter with a walkway into the center. The idea is that it is a small, very fertile and productive garden that you don’t have to bend over to water or weed or plant. It is a lot of work at first to minimize effort later. A little delayed gratification if you will. We are hoping to spread the idea to get a few more students self sufficient as far as food goes. About 6 or 7 students expressed interested in it, including one girl, George Pullane. She came to look at my completed garden a few weeks ago and said that hers was only shin high. I was still impressed, because I didn’t expect any students to actually complete one on their own. So, I thought I’d stop by her house on my way back from tutoring to give her some encouragement and maybe some help. When I arrived at her house I found a completed keyhole garden. I was very impressed and told her as much. I’m picking up some carrot, spinach and beetroot seeds this weekend for her.

The two great hunters, Sello and Lechesa stopped by my house the other night on their way back from another safari. “What did you guys kill this time?” “Ah, we got a wild cat sir.” I looked at the dead animal in the beginning stages of rigor mortis (I’m going with phonetics, spell check can’t even help me I’m so far off) and said, “You mean feral?” Quizzical looks, then very slowly, “Wwwiiiilllldddd cccaaatttt, sir.” “Oh, a wild cat.” Sello’s prized hunting dog had apparently nabbed this unlucky fellow just across the Caledon River in a little nighttime excursion. Sello is the one in the left in the picture. He said that he got that sweatshirt from someone in Waukesha. Go figure. I had to show him where Wisconsin was on the map though.

After tutoring Kemelo on Monday I made my long promised trip to visit his home in Pamong. I cold wind was blowing, which is not foreshadowing, just a description of the walk. Saballa, which is a 45 minute walk from me, and also a 45 minute walk from his house, lies between two small rivers at the base of a small peak. We headed down the road, then down a long hill, crossed the river, then headed up a hill. His house is actually on the Saballa side of the river, but the geography is too steep and rough to traverse the mountain to his house. So, we followed the road up a while then cut off to the left along a well worn trail. About a kilometer upriver we crossed again and climbed a very steep patch of trail up to his house. Kemelo is a double orphan and his current caretaker (I use that term loosely, from what I gather he farms his own plot of land is fairly self-sufficient) is his grandmother, who is a healthy 77 years old. She quickly told me, well, told Kemelo in Sesotho, that she was born in 1932. She was utterly gracious and very happy to have me there. Then Kemelo’s aunt came over and invited me over for some tea and warm sorghum porridge (requires copious amounts of sugar, but is a lot like cream of wheat). I gladly accepted as I was a little hungry from the walk. She got out her china and set out a full platter for my cup of tea then brought in the bowl of porridge. As I was drinking and eating she brought over a picture of Kemelo’s mom when she was in primary school. A girl at Sefako Primary is probably wearing that uniform now… Anyway, some more family stopped by and I did my best to communicate how great a student Kemelo is and that they should be very proud of him. They were excited to hear that and continued to ingratiate themselves. I ended up leaving with six ears of corn and adamant protests that I return soon to visit. I sent them a banana bread with Kemelo the next day and his current assignment is a family history interview with his grandma, which might be more for me than for him.

On my way back from Kemelo’s I stopped by Teboho’s place. Teboho his Eric’s host father who lives near Saballa. Teboho is one of the most ambitious and industrious people I’ve ever met. He has a fish pond, a forestry operation with two private forests and a sapling farm that he uses to grow saplings for the Ministry of Agriculture, cows, chickens and other unknown ventures. In fact, he tried to make his own wind turbine using an alternator, but doesn’t have the technical background to make that work. Anyway, after he expressed the need to get water from one side of the mountain to the other, and I told him that unfortunately physics says that he’s going to get a pump, but that he can use wind or his cows to turn it, he gave me a bag of beans. As is typical, the beans are of different varietals and have rocks intermixed in them. The Basotho utilize the wind by just pouring the beans out of a bucket onto a plastic tarp to help get rid of the bean casings and other debris, but the rocks make it through with the beans. So, I’ve been sorting beans and rocks for a couple nights.

Whew, that was longer than I expected. Things are good and warm during the day and still exceptionally chilly at night. This may be my last post for a while because Melody and I are heading up to Swaziland and Mozambique on vacation next week.

We just have two and a half months left to collect books for the African Library Project so that we can get some more books in my school’s library. So, if you’re interested in helping out, let me know so that I can get you in touch with the right person. Cheers all, and don’t forget to call me for my birthday!!!