Easter and Diversity

As my last post said, I spent Easter in Maseru then headed to Mokhotlong for the Diversity Camp.

Easter in Maseru was totally chill and yummy. Woke up Sunday morning to find a chocolate Easter candy on my door that Merrill the Bunny had left for me. Maya made a super-star dinner and we all just relaxed. On Monday people started getting back into town and by Tuesday it was packed with all of us exchanging stories and enjoying seeing people we hadn't seen in a while. I spent the day just hanging out with people and catching up on all the PCV gossip.

Wednesday morning started bright and early because me and Rachel had to be on the bus for Mokhotlong by 6:30. Then began a ride that seemed much longer than the one to Qacha. Maybe it was that they crammed every possible space with a body, maybe it was climbing up to 3000 meters, straight up. Finally we did arrive in the camp town at about 3:30 with one stop at Oxbow and an hour and a half lay-over in Butha-Buthe. The guy next to me was sloppy drunk and very friendly by the time we reached town but at least did not puke or pass out on top of me. Me and Rachel just crashed at the RVRC for the night and watched movies. Their VRC is totally pimp with a computer, Internet, and a couch so it was a comfy night.

The next day we met up with Violeta and started to prepare for the Diversity Camp. Most everything was prepared and we spent a lot of time just supervising to make sure things went smoothly. The facilitators were from the Crossroads Youth Group in Maseru and they did an amazing job. The kids had fun, participated, and contributed a lot of ideas. The sessions were all held in Sesotho which made it hard for us to participate or sit through but made the kids get a lot more out of the whole experience. It was at the camp that I met vegan, atheist, and scientologist Basotho for the first time and realized for myself that Lesotho is much more diverse than even I thought.

My favorite part was probable when some of the students, all high school form B or C, started a debate, on their own, about whether children should be baptised or not. Not only were they using proper debating skills and thinking through their arguments but they were also speaking entirely in English. Even after us three Americans left the group, they spoke English the entire time.

This was the best group of kids I have seen since being here, I wish my classes at school participated half as much or spoke English with such self assurance. Their participation which was definitely encouraged by the Sesotho helped them all the see the differences in each other as well as in the country as a whole. It was sad to leave beautiful Mokhotlong and its awesome kids on Sunday but it was also great to be home, see my family, and give Snarky a hug. Its a different world up there and I cant wait to go visit Rachel and see her village.