Lesotho Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Sonia Marsh

Cultural Differences On How We Treat Dogs

October 30, 2016 by Sonia Marsh 5 Comments

It’s tough for dog-loving people to understand why dogs are treated poorly in many parts of the world.

In the comforts of our homes, we treat our pets like family. We buy them food and toys, we let them climb onto our beds, we cuddle them, we take them to parks so they can play with other dogs, we take them to the vet when they get sick, and we protect them from diseases by giving them their shots. In fact, us dog-lovers treat our dogs like a son or a daughter, and mourn their death, in some cases, more than the death of a relative.

But now I live in a rural village in Lesotho, where people don’t have enough money to buy milk, eggs, and meat to feed their own children, so why should they be able to afford meat, milk and dog food, for their animals?

This post is not meant to make you feel heartbroken for Shaka—the dog that belongs to my Basotho host family–it’s to point out some major cultural differences.

In my rural village in Lesotho, dogs do not sleep in people’s homes; they are solely there to guard the property. I am often awakened by dog fights in the middle of the night, often ending with a dog yelping in pain.

That does not mean I don’t have a heart, and care for Shaka.

In the beginning, Shaka followed me on my early morning walks. She took on the role of protecting me from Bo-Ntate (men) clad in the Basotho blanket. When I passed them on the dirt path, Shaka would start growling at the Bo-Ntate. I knew that sooner or later, one of them would pick up a stone, and throw it at her. My walks became stressful and unpleasant, so I started leaving her home, chained up, which also bothered me.

Shaka recently had her first litter, and Mary, my host “mother” told me her son would take care of the puppies. I believed her, until I heard that he was looking for a job, and was no longer in my village.

Shaka’s first puppy was born when I unchained her so she could get some exercise. I hated seeing that heavy chain around her neck, but Mary warned me someone could steal her and I didn’t want to be responsible for that. So I asked permission to let her run for a while, and that was when she squatted and a puppy was born. Shaka left her newborn on the grass and ran away. She didn’t seem to know what had happened. I waited for her to come back and pick it up but she was hiding in her tiny brick shelter. I charged home, grabbed an old T-shirt, and carried her puppy over to nurse.

The following morning, I found seven puppies nursing. Shaka was starving, and needed protein and milk, but was only given a bowl of water and papa, (maize meal) the staple of Lesotho. There is very little nutrition in this starch, and the children at my school eat if every day. They also need protein to supplement their poor nutrition, just like Shaka.

Shaka stares at my front door with sad eyes, begging for something more substantial.

I cook some oatmeal and add long-life milk, which she gulps, but she’s still hungry.

I cook rice in chicken stock, and gave her the skin off a roast chicken I had bought in town.

I try to hide the food I give her, as I feel guilty that the children next door only get dry bread and papa to eat. They cannot afford butter or peanut butter. I often see the young seventeen-year-old mother, next door, picking green leaves (which look like weeds) and cooking them in her black, cast-iron pot over a fire made from twigs.

The people in my village are shocked that I care so much about Shaka and her puppies.

It’s a difficult situation, and when I explain how we treat dogs in America, no one understands that we allow them to sleep in our house, and care for them as part of our family.

Children in My Village in Lesotho

October 23, 2016 by Sonia Marsh 3 Comments

I am amazed to see how very young children in my rural village in Lesotho, are left to entertain themselves without toys or adult supervision.

As I sat on Mary’s porch, I watched these, one to three-year-olds, playing together with stones that they lined up or rolled on the tile. This kept them busy for about two hours without a single child crying or whining. They are so used to figuring out how to keep busy with nothing other than what they can find in nature.

Things are different at my school though. It came as a shock to see how children are often treated as ‘servants’ who are pulled out of class to run errands for the teachers. They have no choice, and are expected to obey, without ever questioning the teacher: “Why are you making me skip class to collect your cell phone at so-and-so’s house?”

When the child returns with the cell phone, the teacher grabs it, without a “thank you.” It’s expected. Rarely do I hear a teacher thank a student.

I understand why my own students grab pencils and pens from me, without saying, “Thank you.” I don’t put up with the lack of good manners, so I hold onto the pencil and say, “What do you say?” Often they are unsure of what I mean, so I ask them to repeat, “Thank you ‘M’e Sonia.”

I’m not opposed to children helping at school, it just bothers me when I see ten-year-old children carrying heavy desks across the school property. Once I ran over to help them lift the desk over a step, and one of the male teachers yelled, “’M’e Sonia, you should not be doing that.”

Twice a day, after the morning liquid porridge, and the maize meal with dried beans for lunch, I see tiny, under-nourished, first graders schlepping buckets of water uphill, to wash their plastic lunch containers. They wash their dishes in cold water with no soap. Their hands are sticky as they scoop liquid porridge with their fingers; they don’t have spoons. The teachers have spoons and proper bowls, but not the children. It reminds me of the three little bears, where Papa Bear has a big bowl, Mama bear a medium bowl, and baby bear has a tiny bowl. This is definitely a culture where the adults get fed more, and (meat, if there happens to be a special event, like Moshoeshoe Day) and the kids don’t.

During lunch, the children are expected to serve the teachers breakfast and lunch. When they want water, the teachers point to their plastic bottle, and the child runs to the tap and fills it.

Fridays are always “cleaning” days, and the children in each grade run into the woods to get branches to sweep the floors in their classrooms and the front yard. They sweep the staff room, and attempt to dust the tables in the staff room with a dirty rag.

Can you imagine asking our 1-3 year-olds in America to entertain themselves and our primary school children to clean the floors and sweep the grass?

Please Help Me Raise $5,000 to Make My School Safe

October 13, 2016 by Sonia Marsh 2 Comments

I need your help to raise $5,000 to improve the safety and education of students at my rural school in Lesotho, Africa.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO MY PROJECT IN LESOTHO

(Scroll Down Until You Reach S. Marsh)

All donations are sent through the Peace Corps and are

TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION

Your donations will go through the Peace Corps Partnership Program funds website.

My community has agreed upon the following 3 priorities to help our school.

compound-noun-classroom-working — Collapsed ceiling in Grade 5

1). Make a safe classroom environment for 5th grade students.

Half the roof and ceiling collapsed in July, due to the unusually heavy snow storm, and I’m worried about our safety.

2). Electrical wiring of all classrooms to teach computer skills.

My village now has electricity, however, the classrooms have not been wired due to a lack of funds. Since we received four desktop computers from the Minister of Energy, the teachers and students would like to learn how to use them.

Cracks on cold cement floors in classrooms

3). Install vinyl tiles on the floors in all classrooms.

Only the staff room and grade 7 have vinyl floor tiles, all other classrooms have cracked, cement floors which are icy-cold in the winter, and hazardous throughout.

I’d like your help to raise $5,000 and get the work completed by November 30^th, 2016, before the Christmas holidays.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO MY PROJECT IN LESOTHO

(Scroll Down Until You Reach S. Marsh)

All donations are sent through the Peace Corps and are

TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION

PLEASE SHARE WITH OTHERS WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN HELPING.

The children, teachers, community (AND ME) are all extremely grateful to you for helping us make the school a better place.

I shall post updates and photos once we receive the funds, and start the 3 phases of the project.

You can also follow our progress on my FaceBook if you’d like.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Sonia

The Queen of Lesotho Works Out at My Gym

October 8, 2016 by Sonia Marsh 3 Comments

Queen ‘Masenate Mohato Seeiso of Lesotho

I’ve never met the Queen of Lesotho, but I knew someone important had arrived at my gym when two black, official-looking cars pulled up at the back entrance to my gym in Maseru.

The first car was an Audi, and the second a Mercedes. Five people climbed out; two well-dressed women in high heels, and two men in business suits. They whisked a third woman, dressed in gym attire, out of the Mercedes, and headed full-speed to the private entrance.
As I sat on my stationary bike, I watched them scurry along and climb the stairs to another set of bicycles overlooking the swimming pool below.

gym4 — Stationary bikes overlooking the pool below

The well-dressed women and the two men followed the lady in gym attire to a bike where she promptly covered her head with a black towel, and another woman in gym clothes joined her on the adjoining bike. It was then that I assumed she must be the Queen of Lesotho.
I watched her ride the bike, and assumed that the woman next to her was her personal trainer, despite being quite overweight.
After I finished warming up on my bicycle, I headed over to the Mosotho woman I’ve become friends with who works at the gym and asked, “Is that the Queen of Lesotho working out?”
“Yes,” she said. “She works out with her trainer, and the King comes later.”
“I’m surprised they don’t have their own gym,” I said.
“Oh, they’re building a new ‘castle’ I’m sure they’ll add a gym,” she replied.
Those working out upstairs left her alone, and I climbed the stairs to continue my workout. The Queen’s ‘security guards’ stood in different parts of the gym, making sure she was safe.
I used to be a certified personal trainer at 24-hour fitness in California, so I was curious to see what exercises her trainer was making her do.
Since I started working out in Maseru, 99% of Basotho women are doing squats, lunges and leg exercises. I rarely see them working out their upper bodies, and the Queen of Lesotho, was also doing leg press, and hamstring exercises.

gymsoniabetter — Working out with machines in Maseru

I don’t understand why Basotho trainers rarely show women chest, back, bicep and tricep exercises, to balance out the entire body, although I have heard that Basotho women like large behinds.
The Queen of Lesotho worked out for one hour, and after she left, I was curious to see what weight she used for her hamstring exercises. I used the same prone leg curl machine that she used.

I wanted to go up to her, but decided to give her the privacy she deserves. I did not wait for the King to arrive.

Not Being Politically Correct May Shock You

October 2, 2016 by Sonia Marsh 22 Comments

People are not “politically correct” in my village in Lesotho. This may shock you.

In America we try to be “politically correct” so as not to offend someone. There are certain things we would never say, however in Lesotho, being “politically correct” seems to be different.

As a Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, I’ve been quite surprised to hear how some of my students describe their friends, and how people I’ve met in my village, describe one another.

When my students wrote an essay about a person they admire, they all wrote about a relative or a friend. Some of them described their friend as follows:

“She has a big nose, dark complexion, and her body is like a big cow.”

I don’t think a teacher in the U.S would let a teenager get away with this description in the U.S. The funny thing is this does not offend the Basotho. In fact it seems to be a compliment as I’ve been told by many women that Basotho men prefer large women. It’s a sign of being healthy when a woman is big. Lesotho and South Africa are countries where being obese is beautiful according to a survey, the reason being:

“Due to the prevalence of AIDS, the association between weight loss and illness has contributed to South Africa’s negative view of thinness.” Read article.

I remember watching a show on “Oprah” many years ago about what is considered beautiful in different parts of the world, and in Mauritania, West Africa.

“In this drought-ridden west African nation, female obesity is synonymous with beauty and wealth. Though less common, “gavage” (borrowed from the French to describe fattening a goose’s liver destined for foie gras) is still practiced, with young girls imbibing vast qualities of fatty camel milk daily.” Read article.

Another situation I encountered regarding this topic of being “politically correct” was in a public taxi on my way to Maseru.

A woman asked me if I knew “so-and-so” in my village, and I said, “No.”

She then tried to describe her as, “The one with the monkey face.”

I was stunned.

I was even more shocked when I heard a Basotho radio host talking about his co-host in English and said, “You have a monkey face,” and started howling with laughter.

So I guess, we have to be open to different ways of viewing what is politically correct in our society.