Building Roads in Lesotho, Traveled back to South Africa

Greetings from Kestell, South Africa-

Our group returned to South Africa last night after a few wonderful days in Lesotho. We once again worked with a local community to repair a road to their village. Our first day in Lesotho, Sunday, we went for a long hike to some cave paintings that were created 27,000 years ago! We then continued our hike heading to a waterfall and taking a dip in the chilly mountain waters.

On Monday and Tuesday, we spent both full days repairing a local road. We dug out rocks, filled in dirt, cleared culverts, and smoothed out roads; we were all amazed at what we were able to accomplish! We shared lunch with the community both days, feasting on pap, chicken, samp, spinach, cabbage, and a few other local dishes. I think our students also gained an appreciation for different types of service works as we had spent most of our earlier program working with kids. We had a few nice discussions on the merits of seeing tangible results (a new road) in our service work versus working with the children we have spent time with throughout our program.

Next we headed back to Karma Backpackers in Kestell to gear up for our final few days. Thursday morning we drove to Durban to work with a youth home for that afternoon and Friday. We are hoping to catch a few hours at the beach in Durban on Saturday morning before making our way back to Johannesburg to have our final banquet and prepare for the flight home.

Spirits remain high and Sarah and Thatcher continually marvel at the efficiency and power of the group - these kids are simply amazing in how quickly they have all come together and the great things they have accomplished.

Student Notes:

Cole - has been stepping up to help out whenever we're in a tight place. When we had to change a tire on Sarah's van (three times!) he worked with Thatcher and Sarah to change it. When we did a huge grocery shopping trip before heading into rural Lesotho, he did the difficult task of organizing and packing the many refrigerated items to fit into our small cooler. He woke up extra early to help cook a fabulous breakfast the other day in Malealea, even though it wasn't his turn to cook.

Emily - Actively engages with local people wherever we go. On our hike in Lesotho, she walked up front with the guide, asking him questions about his life and Basotho culture. The leaders love how she takes initiative and continually involves herself in the community.

Emma - volunteered to work up at the top of the road we were repairing in Lesotho, the only one in our group working in that spot for a while. She labored alongside local women and made the effort to befriend them, despite the language barrier.

Dorian - is still helping out all the time: from cooking, to cleaning, to even learning from Sarah how to keep the group budget excel sheet balanced. He is a constant, active participant, keeping us on track with what we need to be doing, and keeping us entertained with his wacky statements and singing in the van.

Julia - was nervous to climb the long chain ladder up the side of the mountain during our hike in the Drakensburg Mountains, but she stepped up and conquered her fear, and cheered on others to do the same. During our road project in Lesotho, she took on the job of raking, and evened out huge amounts of dirt and gravel to make a smooth road for the village.

Meghan - continues to be an incredibly positive force in the group. She stepped up as a leader and helped us decide how far we wanted to hike on our frist day in Lesotho - and she got the whole group to agree to go for the longer distance hike in a very positive way. She is a great friend to everyone and helps keep the group positive and energetic even when people are tired after long days of work. She did a fantastic job at the road project in Lesotho, connecting with locals and repeatedly unloading entire pickup truck loads of dirt onto the road we were working on.

Megan - was very supportive of all her peers - espeically Dorian - during the ladder climb in the Drakensburg Mountains. She really enjoyed our hike to the waterfall in Lesotho and is an extremely intelligent and motivated young lady. She did a great job using the pick axe to deepen the drainage ditch on the side of the road we were working on in Lesotho.

Francesca - connects really well with the young kids whenever we work with groups of children. She loves nothing more than spending time with young children and we love hearing stories about her work at orphanages in Bolivia. Her aunt and uncle joined us for dinner in Durban on Thursday night and we had a great time.

Andrea - is fun, funny, and enthusiastic; a constant positive force. She was Leader of the Day in Lesotho and did a great job motivating the group to get ready in the morning. She leads through clear, energetic communication as well as by example, volunteering for countless group tasks herself, as well as facilitating others to do them.

Maggie - took on our road building project in Lesotho with zeal. At first, the locals would see her small size and try to take her shovel or wheelbarrow away and help her. But she assured them over and over that she was capable of working alongside them, until eventually one woman smiled and said, "thank you," and they let her do the work - and work she did!

Alex - whether he's hiking up a mountain, building a road, cooking an early morning feast, or just riding for five hours in the van, Alex takes on each activity with enthusiasm, thoughtfulness, and energy. He is a wonderful traveling companion and inspires us with his positivity.

Jaque - when we were working on the Lesotho road, Jaque took on the challenging and essential task of unclogging the culvert running under the road, connecting drainage ditches on either side. To do this, the village gave him just a long, heavy metal pole. It took some serious time and perseverance, but he did it! And he was a huge force in completing the road project during our two days there.

Becca - volunteered to spend time with the very young children at the Arayan Benevolent Home. She really enjoyes her time in structured service projects. The leaders love the wonderful suggestions she comes up with for ways the group can thank people along the way, like when she picked out a bouquet of flowers for Vera Anne as a thank you gift for hosting our group. She also did a nice job of breaking up dirt on the hillside, which we then used to smooth out parts of our road that we were filling in with rocks.

Pictures - new ones have been posted!