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!!!