Trip to Lesotho – A Brief Summary

May 8th, 2007 Posted in Africa, Charity, Lesotho, Photography, Travel

Seeing as it’s now a week since we got back from the wonderful trip in Lesotho, and I haven’t updated the main site yet, here’s a quick summary of how we got on…

Lesotho is a country surrounded completely by South Africa and has the distinction of having the highest low-point of any country in the world. I joined a group of volunteers in the mountains of Lesotho and set about building a classroom in a remote village near the town of Butha-Buthe.

When we got to the school on the first day, it was getting dark and we were ushered to our lodgings for the week: a camp-site next to the school. It was almost 6pm and it was getting cold and dark very quickly. Thankfully a campfire was already lit and the 20 of us gathered around this for warmth. For the rest of the week this became our routine as the nights were freezing cold in complete contrast to the warm days.

The work began in earnest the following morning where we cleared rubble from the site and began preparing the foundations. None of the group had any experience whatsoever on a building site but we were all quick learners. Over the week, everybody had a hand in all the different tasks which included brick-laying, building trusses for the roof, putting panes of glass in the window frames, and the never-ending job of mixing the mortar. What we would have given for machinery other than shovels, hammers and saws. However, the area didn’t even have electricity so we had to make do with manual tools.

On the third day of work the weather turned and we had to take shelters from thunderstorms. However, we had to get a layer of bricks up to a certain level so that they could dry in time for the trusses to be placed on them the following day. As it was getting dark, another thunderstorm approached but we continued on. I’ll hopefully never have to lay bricks again in thunder and lightening, balancing on a scaffold with the only light coming from a gas burner! The bad weather continued that night when I was woken at 4:30am by wind whistling through the tent and rain seeping in. Lightening was still flashing outside while I tried to tie the tent flap down again.

Each morning the 170 or so school children would congregate in lines in the school yard to sing a song with one girl singing above all her classmates with a rhythmical solo. It was a great way for us to start the day! For the first day or two, we were a bit of a curiosity to the children who would come and watch us work during their lunchtime but they soon got used to us being there. The people of this area benefit from rich agricultural land and, while they may be poor, they appear to be very happy and content.

The highlight of the week for me was the handover ceremony. All week, we could hear the children singing in the classrooms and every now and again spotted some traditional costumes. They had been practicing in earnest for this ceremony which lasted almost three hours. My favourite was a dance which looked like an early version of Stomp. We brought a little bit of Ireland to the proceedings when some of the girls did a short céilí dance while I played the tin-whistle. I left two tin-whistles with the music teacher at the school but it might be some time before the Lesotho Fleadh Cheoil is held!

This trip was a great experience for me and I hope to return to the country at some stage. I would like to thank everybody who came along to the table quizzes and who contributed so much to the fundraising over the last number of months. For more detail and pictures, log on to www.ISPCCinAfrica.com (in the coming days).

Taking a break at the end of the day:

Donal