NEW MALL

Sorry for the long delay between posts, the new job has been very busy. We have been running about writing, revising, commenting on and otherwise dealing with all kinds of documents, from Invitations For Bids (IFBs) from rural water supply contractors, to IFBs for large Design-Build contractors, to various levels of consulting engineers for Program Management and Construction Supervision, whilst trying to manage the projects that have already started and plan informational sessions with international and local contractors. It’s all been a bit overwhelming, and challenging, and frustrating, and satisfying. The job is going well.

Life in Maseru is going well. It’s been interesting getting a much different view of the expat community. There are a lot of expats working in Lesotho who are in their mid-20s, and a few of them live just a few doors down. It’s been great to have a few braais (bbq) and just hang out and chat and see what it’s like to be in the development industry and not in PC. It sounds pretty great. The quality of life is quite high, especially because the cost of living is quite low. They get to eat most anything they want, play squash at the sports club and go on quick vacations around Lesotho and South Africa. It sounds appealing.

Also, a new mall (first mall in Lesotho) just opened, and it’s on my way home from work. It’s awesome.

There is a great new supermarket (very small by American standards), but there is French bread, parmesan cheese, refried beans, beef stroganoff, green Thai curry mixes, pork chops labeled as porterhouse steaks (they got me), cilantro, etc, etc. It also has the first ever escalator in all of Lesotho, which will provide hours of weekend entertainment in the coming months. People begin to line up at the escalator, with the lead person pointing their toe out and jabbing and the moving stairs like they were testing the temperature of a bathtub. Then, abruptly and without warning they plant a foot stoutly down on the escalator, which quickly moves away from the rest of their body, and just before they become a wishbone they drag the other foot along for the ride. There are many variations on this general pattern, sometimes with small, frightened children, sometimes large, frightened men. It’s amazing.

The mall has also brought up a few discussions about development. The expats are generally excited because they don’t have to take trips to South Africa for groceries, etc. However, when people make comments like, “Lesotho is really coming along,” or similar such comments, it makes you wonder about metrics of development. We usually think of things like GDP/capita for financial metrics, cases of infant mortality/1000 for maternity health or literacy rate for education. But could the square footage of shopping malls be lumped in there? It feels wrong. It feels too American. Way too consumerist and imposed. On the other hand, one of my friends made the comment, “The only people who think that Pick n Pay (the new grocery store) is not good for Lesotho, has never gone without a supermarket. If you’ve shopped at a supermarket your whole life, you’d never want to live without it.” Which is quite true. Accessibility to good, inexpensive food is a wonderful thing. The mall in general also creates local jobs not only during construction, but also during operation. So let’s just hope that a lot of the money that goes into the mall stays in the country and some people’s lives are improved.

This is kind of a short post, but I’ve learned my lesson in the past trying to keep people entertained with engineering jibber jabber, and now that it’s mixed with program management, it is probably even a little dull for the engineers in the crowd.

I hope everybody had a happy Thanksgiving. Cheers.