More than just Snapshots of Africa....

I have been back in good ol' Canada for a week and half now and have been reflecting on and remembering my experiences from Lesotho as I share pictures and stories with others. It gives me a chance to share the kinds of things I 've been writing in my journal for the past 5 weeks - the bits and pieces of my practicum in Lesotho  that could not be photographed. Yes, each photo does tell a story, but there is so much more to the past 4 weeks of my life in that country that those photos cannot capture and describe.
Living in a new culture is my favorite part about traveling - there is so much inside one culture to taste, hear, see, speak, engage in.....my favorite part of Lesotho's culture, an aspect I talk a lot about, is the resiliency of the Basotho people. Their perseverance, strength and joy amidst challenges and tragedy is what makes this people the most beautiful people I have ever interacted with. They always have a smile and a laugh to share along with a "Dumela, aousi!" (hello, sister!), whether they are pushing a heavy wheelbarrow across the street or behind you in line at the market; their welcoming friendliness was so cherished.
If you've read my other blogs you would have gotten a taste of the kind of poverty and health state that is in Lesotho. As a nursing group we struggled to be from such a  privileged culture and working as nurses amongst people living in poverty and with poor health and not being able to help as we would in Canada. We'd get discouraged and feel quite helpless, like we could never do enough for these people. But through a close friend and nursing student, as well as just time going by living in that place, God taught me that it is not our job to question His creation and His plans for it - He does not want us to dwell on the whys or how comes, the  distressing differences between us and them. He just wants us to love them, in any way we can with what He has given us. Whether that means holding a child's hand walking down the street or giving a bracelet to a bedridden patient at the hospital.....those things do make a difference, even if they are not nursing- related, as we struggled to accept at first. Through loving them we can appreciate them; appreciate who they are in the midst of the goods and bads of where they are.
This is what makes me want to go back to Lesotho again one day. I'd like to work as a nurse and continue a bit of what we started this spring (or winter in Lesotho :P) as not only third-year nursing students, but compassionate and generous - hearted young people, and continue my learning and loving of such a unique country. I am so proud of and appreciative of the other students I went to Lesotho with and loved getting to know them as we got to know Lesotho together :)
As this is my final Snapshots of Lesotho post, over and out......and hopefully over and abroad again in the future!!!

Highlights from Africaaaa!!!!

I'm back I'm back I'm baaaaaaack from Africa!!  So the first order of business.... how was my trip? (As that is usually the first thing one asks another who has been on a long crazy faraway trip). The first words that come to my mind to describe my experiences:  absolutely eye-opening and the perfect way to receive some serious self-growth.
So what are the highlights from my trip?  I'll include some photos to go with them, but I want to save most of my pics to show peeps in person, as that is the best way to share  what I've done and seen.

1.) Working at a public health clinic in the rural town we were living in, administering Vit. A drops to infants and weighing them.

Vit A oral drops

2.) Getting to know and taking care of our two  families who lived nearby our own home. We bought them some essentials, set up long-term support arrangements and took them to the clinic at the nearby hospital.

 our first family

 4-year old Mawetsi

3.) Babies!! Deliveries and Pediatrics.......comforting and teaching mothers, holding children and giving them fruit snacks and coloring pages and crayons. We also did this at the community centre on Saturday mornings.

4.) The hikes we went on, especially the all-day ones into the remote mountains, accessible only by extreme 4x4ing.

Our first big hike, along a route of the Roof of Africa

5.) Pony trekking at our hosts' other guesthouse in Ramabanta. I've always loved horseback riding and had a lo of fun experiencing it in another culture, especially with my new adopted 'family' of nurses :) Meeting with the Sangoma, a Basotho traditional healer or 'medicine woman' was also a highlight of this weekend.

 our hosts

the Sangoma

6.) Getting to know and having so much fun with the people I went on this trip with. We played lots of loud games of Dutch Blitz, watched movies, got excited about the delicious dinners and deserts we shared each night and traveled many miles in a cramped and bumpy hippie van for four weeks.

on our last 1- hour plane ride from SA to Lesotho!

7.) Kruger National Park in South Africa!!  At the end of our practicum on our way out of Africa we spent three nights at this exotic resort and went on two full day game drives into the Park where we saw lots of the Big 5!!!
8.) Seeing so much of Africa...with all of the driving we did in Lesotho from community to community, as well as the driving in and out of Kruger in SA, we got to see and appreciate a nice bit of this huge continent and its diverse terrain that changed so often.
9.)Spending time at two schools, talking with students about each of our countries and ourselves. We all learned that while we come from different places and live in different situations, we are all still young people, students, doing our best where we are.

high school near Roma

primary school in Ramabanta, 2nd or 3rd grade class

10.) Living amongst, learning about and interacting with the Basotho people. Seeing them work, travel, interact, live. When you can walk past a Basotho woman, smile and say 'Dumela, mae', and she smiles and replies with 'Dumela, aousi!' the feeling of belonging in their culture is so cool :)

 on our dinosaur-fooprint hike in Roma

a typical home in rural Lesotho

And a few of my favorite things about Lesotho specifically?
Donkeys

Passion fruit

The people!!

Our home!

Kaylee :)

Pam :D

More of my own pics (the above ones are others, mine are not made pretty yet :) are soon to come!