A great day to be in Africa

November fourth was by far the best day to be in Africa. I spent the evening, entire night, and the morning of the 5th getting a half an hour of sleep at a time as the "Magic Map" changed colors, announcing to the world who Americas next president will be. Many people in the states didn't have a hard time watching, since it was probably on every single channel. Here in Lesotho, in the "far corners of the world", as Obama said, people were crowded around TV's and computers where they could be found. I had to travel south to Peka, where Kaye works at a mission, and shared the night with her, Merrill, Barb, a Canadian woman named Linda, a very sweet nun named sister Theresa, and a couple orphans. We had a delicious dinner with hors d'oeurves of bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, salad, and pasta. Somehow, though it has been years since I have cooked rhubarb, I managed to make a quasi-crumble like rhubarb dessert with a sour cream/cream cheese topping that turned out pretty good. We spent the whole night munching on chips and crumble, sleeping on and off, waiting anxiously for that darn Magic Map to be more blue than red. Truly the most powerful thing I will have shared with people here in Lesotho will be watching Obamas speech (twice) , everyone crying silent tears of hope, and seeing how important that day was not only to us four Americans, but to a Canadian and Basotho people. Sister Theresa's tears were those of hope and those of worry, with prayers for him because the sisters are worried about what people will or could do to him. Still, watching her explain to one beautiful orphan girl in particular how momentous of a day this was and how everyone can dream was immensely powerful. I ran back to school that day, running on a couple hours stolen sleep, because I couldn't wait to share with the teachers what had happened. Ntate Phoole and Marco in particular didn't believe it would ever happen so I was very eager to share it with them. All the teachers were ecstatic about what changes will come and said with Bush gone they will now not "hate America" anymore (their exact words, not mine). I did promise a few teachers we would have a party when he won so now have to figure that out, it definitely deserves a celebration. Obama is our new president, to the Basotho he is "African" and I had to explain "African American", many of the people I have talked to think he is going to change all of Africa. Though not entirely true, the most important thing is that they also see a black man who went to the university and strove for something huge and attained what they see as the impossible. It is wonderful not only for our country but for the world because he is showing people everywhere, no matter the color of your skin, you can still dream.