Creating the Balance

Since the move to Butha Buthe (its been 5 days) we have already started a dance team with some teens from a junior youth class. We are dancing to My Love, Justin Timberlake...whoop whoop. (side note I saw Nick Jonas do a video with The Administration on SA television and he was too adorable...how old is he again, maybe he'll be a younger version of me's John Mayer) BB is a much bigger town, it has a KFC and working internet cafes. I am living with a wonderful Julia. She turned 22 friday and we are SO ALIKE. She is petite and outgoing and way forgetful lol. Since I have come we have never left a house without one of us saying "wait I forgot my wallet" or "where is my phone" or etc lol. I am so glad to have a close female friend with a warm spirited personality. I have definitely run into some friction from women here when they see I'm not Basotho but Julia is fantastic and I hope we can be friends for a long time.
We live with her grandma and 3 young boy cousins. Its more simple than the farm. The roof leaks when it rains and some form of the bucket has become my new best friend. No running water so we collect water in a bucket, we bathe in a bucket (well basin), we wash clothes in a bucket, and we pee in a bucket. Don't worry all different buckets haha. Julia and I sleep in the same room. I sleep on the floor and she sleeps on the bed. Ofcourse my beautiful host family offered me the bed but Julia had a bad toothache when I first came so it was great timing for them to let me sleep on the floor as I requested. As my Americorps friends know I can sleep pretty much anywhere, and Taylor keeps me warm :)
I have already started helping her with children and JY classes on afternoons/weekends. I'm still planning the schedule for the days though I know I only have a month. I found out I have a package in Maseru!! So very excited to get it ASAP and see who its from. Please send all mail to Maseru now that I've moved (PO BOX 936 Maseru 100, Lesotho)
The odd thing is they all have TV with like 5 or 6 channels. There are a lot of soap operas, African ones and Days of Our Lives, Young&Restless, also Oprah and Tyra show, Knight Rider (ooh David Hasslehoff) etc. I have been on tv overload even these last few days so hoping to spend more time outside reading. You know the thing I love about Lesotho is that I think the country is in such an ideal stage. Many people idolize the United States without understanding the mistakes we have made. Many developed countries are so far gone that we would have to go backwards to realign ourselves. But Lesotho is still at the point that they can take the beautiful things from their past and our present to make a wonderful future and not just mimick us. For instance they are getting a lot of shops here. They use plastic bags and I see Basotho people drop trash on the ground all the time. They could eliminate plastic from the very beginning and use their old traditions of basins and wheelbarrels. These advances need to come with education so they aren't wondering in 2 years why they can't drink water from the river. I hope to use balance that they have here in my life. When I get a place, I can boil rain water for my family, and have a garden, and a solar room where we can feel the sun and see the night's sky, and at the same time take advantage of the things I love about America, like having a dance/art room and taking advantage of education through internet, books, and t.v. I think people tend to feel that they have to hold fast to their cultures but what my mummy (and friends/fam along the way) have taught me is that culture is owned by people. We have the great choice to hold on to the things that define us and let go of the things that don't have substance to build a culture that our children will then take to the next level.
Still reading the Bible, Old and New Testament at once. Reading the epistles of Paul, he is pretty consistent in his writings. The only thing that is difficult is the balance between deeds and faith. Paul says that we were living under the law of God before and now we can be freed from the law through faith in Jesus Christ. At the same time they say that anyone who says they believe in Jesus and do not follow his commandments doesn't really believe. I can understand how people get confused by some saying you can get into heaven by pure faith in Jesus and others feeling that you need faith and actions. I think its important that Paul says we should die to sin and flesh and live to God as Jesus did, and that if we live after the Spirit, it is no great struggle to follow the word of God.
So through all the confusion with writings I know that the great importance as written by the prophets in the time of Moses and Jesus' apostles is having faith. And I can say that I have faith in God and faith in His principles, so I'll have faith I can work out the logisitics too. :)

"Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty. Happy is the lover that hath inhaled the divine fragrance of his Best Beloved from these words."
With open arms and open heart,
Spread hope,
Andrea Hope

KE RATA BOPHELO!

So I'm watching Captain Planet right now! How awesome that this show was trying to teach us about saving the earth way before 5 cent plastic bags. I'm a proud Planeteer!
Anywho I know it's been a bit so let me give you the chronological update. Stay with me here
I had kind of difficult closing out in Mokhotlong. The kids had testing for a week, then Easter break (March 31- April 6) people went back to their villages, and the next week they were grading and reviewing from testing. Basically I didn't get to do close out activities how I had hoped but I did get to play tag, grade and send some letters from children in Lesotho to my old classes in Washington DC at Positive Nature Inc, leave a list of activities for teachers and say farewell to everyone on my list. The kids at DayCare and St Peters sang songs for me. I made the kids laugh at St Peters when I was trying to talk through tears. I think they didn't know how to handle a ball of emotion like me. I think people don't really get emotional about leaving each other here, maybe because they mostly stay in the country. Very sad to leave 'Me Lihlahleng and my Sesotho tutor 'Me Mahlokoa, I exchanged gifts with some friends and had a sweet farewell from the DayCare teachers. Also Qiao Ming had been working a lot so putting a damper on our lessons. I am so CONFIDENT that he will do well though because every time I came in and he was at the shop, he would have his exercise books out. And when he came to say goodbye to me, we had our whole conversation without any Sesotho.
KE RATA BOPHELO! The talent show, I LOVE LIFE! update. I had challenges in preparation. Even though I am mentally spastic, I'm an avid planner so I was getting a bit frustrated with my dance team not practicing on time. (DIVAS- lol it wasn't like that maybe 1 person would show up and wait then leave, 30 minutes later 2 boys would show up and I was trying to stress the importance of planned times). I just have to adjust to the relaxed time frame here. Even moving to Butha Buthe, I didn't know where I would be staying until the day of...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Thato came for the weekend from Maseru and sponsored the speakers, amplifier, and mic, so I was very lucky. The show was Sun at 4, at 3:45 there were few people, so I did one last walk around town. One of my performers' little sister (very sweet girl) said "I don't think people are coming, they would be here by now"- lol so that made me worried. I gathered about 10 people on my walk and by the time I got back there was already a crowd waiting for us! Someone was even like can you go get some more chairs, and I thought more chairs?!! lol ofcourse! So we had like 50 pple, among the crowd were volunteers from Touching Tiny Lives and my fav, Sara from PeaceCorps (my judge). The acts were poetry, two dances, a freestyle dance for audience members, modeling, two pop songs, one rap, and a gospel song. The girl winner got a butterfly purse and the boy, a football (not American football), but I got all the participants football water bottles in different colors and a picture of our dance troupe. I was very sad to leave them and hope to visit next month! So YAY my mummy can be proud that I threw my first successful community event! Thato loved it and made me very happy with her positive comments, the students also had a blast.
The next few days were a bit of trouble. The work computer got a virus just in time for me to have no way of buying a virus software so I'll have to try to bring something next time I visit and I dropped my MP3 player in the river. I still have it and thankfully got some songs transferred to my phone, but none of the touch screen buttons work. I want to post pictures but am afraid the virus is on my memory card and don't want to infect this computer.
On the plus Tau came from Maseru with coworker BK on business for his graphics business and BK's wife who is from the UK, Ella. Loved her accent! She is a tom-boy and I was delighted to have her. They are an adorable couple trying to move to UK together. It was thought provoking and a bit sad to hear how easy it is for her to visit BK in Africa but how much trouble he had trying to go to UK. She has to go over like a yr before him to set up a house and life for them before the government to consider him coming over, and thats after they are married! I'm definitely lucky to have a US passport and I'm going to put it to good use my friends! Tau and I had wonderful conversations about religion and the Baha'i Faith (he is Baha'i) and the cultural unity that he has seen the made him want to be Baha'i. This guy has A LOT of stories to tell (and quite a few crazy jokes).
UP NEXT BUTHA BUTHE!
"If I can only reach one set of ears, I know that I've fulfilled my purpose here, to change the world, one boy, one girl, one person at a time..there's still time"
With open arms and open heart,
Spread hope,
Andrea Hope