Torle's students for Grass Roots Soccer. That is Soccer but it also teaches them about HIV/AIDS.
It has been a a month here in Lesotho. Life is very different here, but in a good way. You know you get used to things like peeing in a bucket and seeing boobs everywhere. Here in Lesotho boobs are not a thing here, it’s completely normal to just not wear a shirt. Most still do, but if they are wearing traditional clothing sometimes it is just a skirt and a necklace. It is also very common for mothers to just breast feed their babies anytime anywhere, which I think is awesome but it does catch you off guard sometimes. This weekend I was able to go and stay with another healthy youth volunteer for a few days. This is called HVV or Host Volunteer Visit. We of course still have to do an assignment for training, but we get to see how life will be like once we are out of training and at our own site. My volunteers name is Torle and she works with a youth sports organization. She teaches Grass Roots Soccer. You will probably start to hear a lot about grass roots soccer in my blogs. But it is relating HIV and Aids materials with using soccer. So it makes it fun for the kids and then they are also learning about how to stay healthy and how to avoid either getting or transmitting HIV and Aids here. It is also very sad, because about 86% of the children she works with are orphans because their parents have died from HIV/AIDS. So most of the time it affects their school work because they either live with grandparents, or they have younger siblings that they are helping to take care of. I got to go to class with Torle and meet some of her children. It was a lot of fun, they are a great group of students. On Thursday they are graduating from their GRS class and so they were practicing for the graduation. I got to see dance, songs, and the national anthem. Which I am also practicing the National Anthem because we have to sing it at swearing in. Torle has been here for a year and so she has one year left in country. Her project is building a multipurpose courts for the community. She is building a volleyball, basketball, netball, and tennis court. This way the community has other sports that they can get into, most schools focuses heavily on soccer only, which is mainly because they just don’t have the funds or resources to get any other sports. I was able to attend some meetings with her and see the progress she is making on building these courts, she hopes to have it completed in 6 months so I will still be in country to be able to go and see it when it is all done.
At the end of this week I am going to start cooking for myself. That should be interesting and informative. I think I am an okay cook, but I am also very lazy. But since there is no refrigerator, I’ll need to only make enough for me and the portion for me at the time of the meal. So it will be interesting. I have faith in myself that I can make some balanced meals and not just make noodles all the time. I was able to get some good ideas from Torle this weekend. We made mashed potatoes and chicken with a tomato sauce and onions. On the second night we made a homemade pizza. Dough from scratch with pineapple, tomato, peppers, bacon, and cheese. Yes they do have cheese here it just comes in smaller portions. Usually you just buy what you need to cook and that’s it.
So far the things I am very happy that I brought with me are:
Slippers
Candles
Luci lights
Book light
My Gameboy! SIMS 2 is the best game! Worked great for when my spider was keeping up at all hours of the night
For those who have a weak stomach do not go any further!!!
At the end of this week I am going to start cooking for myself. That should be interesting and informative. I think I am an okay cook, but I am also very lazy. But since there is no refrigerator, I’ll need to only make enough for me and the portion for me at the time of the meal. So it will be interesting. I have faith in myself that I can make some balanced meals and not just make noodles all the time. I was able to get some good ideas from Torle this weekend. We made mashed potatoes and chicken with a tomato sauce and onions. On the second night we made a homemade pizza. Dough from scratch with pineapple, tomato, peppers, bacon, and cheese. Yes they do have cheese here it just comes in smaller portions. Usually you just buy what you need to cook and that’s it.
So far the things I am very happy that I brought with me are:
Slippers
Candles
Luci lights
Book light
My Gameboy! SIMS 2 is the best game! Worked great for when my spider was keeping up at all hours of the night
For those who have a weak stomach do not go any further!!!
The Chicken that we killed and cooked for lunch a few Sunday's ago.