"Boyfriends I want to be with at one time"

This post is the follow-up to today's original post about why today was so excellent.

I have a Form A maths student named Boitumelo. She has always seemed kind of infatuated with me. Always coming to talk after class, smiling awkwardly... telling me that her mother is American (not true). She's kind of funny. Smarter than most, very hard working, and her English is great. No doubt her future is bright. One day she asked me if I'd assign her an essay topic which she would write for homework, then I could edit it. Naturally I obliged, and I assigned her something dull to write about. She wrote a page, and after I marked it the next day, she asked to do it again. The next day, same thing, and on it has gone, to this day.

Nowadays I have to dig deep to think of new topics. Usually I give her a choice of two or three topics and she tells me they're all awful, but chooses one anyway. Yesterday was no different; I gave her three choices and she grumbled about them. One was "How many boyfriends do you want to have at one time?" It felt like a dumb topic, one which I thought of only because I'm constantly preaching monogamy and thus it was in the front of my mind. I couldn't imagine how one would even answer such a question, and was confident this would not be the topic she chose.

I was quite wrong. Not only did she choose that topic, but she wrote by far her best paper ever. The language was clear, the ideas were more developed (there's even humor!), and most importantly, I was blown away by the wisdom of her answer.

Below, here is her essay in its entirety, unedited. Anyone who has taught here can confirm that this quality writing from a Form A is stunning. As for the content, maybe she's just been so indoctrinated at this point that she's merely regurgitating what she knows I expect. But I'm gonna choose to buy its sincerity.

Boyfriends I want to be with at one time

I don't want to have any boyfriend because when I have a boyfriend my mind will go crazy and I dont want to be craze. I like when my mind is still, not thinking too much. And when they are many I will be mad and when I have to choose for one I will go crazy and I'll not know who to choose and who to loose because I've loved them in the first place.

I'll rather stay a virgin than to have a boyfried or rather be an L.S.B.L [note: I learned today that this means lesbian]. I'll go crazy expecially when they are many. Because when I have them its easier for me to get HIV/Aids because guys don't care. Then when I have one Ill get the baby, and I hate babies, it's like I wasn't a baby.

And I dont like to be known all over because if everyone knows me with bad things like having lot of boyfriends that is not good. And guys bites they will just tell you that they love you but they don't love you they just want to have sex with you and then walk away I don't like that and I dont want to be a part of it.

But lot of girls like that and thats why they have HIV/Aids and lot of them died just because of they din't care about their lifes.

Thank God I am not a guy, and I am not that girl who loves boys too much.

A great day at school

I'm racking my brain, trying to think if I've ever had a better day at school here. It's tough to think of anything... at worst, I could count those days on one hand. Today was great. I'll explain.

The day started off well when I overslept but still got to school on time thanks to some leftover dinner that served admirably as an instant breakfast (usually I make this weird hot cereal thing called Morvite which takes more time). I got to school in time for morning assembly, after which a student of mine, Tlalane, approached me.

[Some back story before I can continue. I've recently been able to obtain scholarships for nine of my brightest students at school through the Lesotho RPCV community. Tlalane is one of the nine. She's new to the school, she's in Form D at only 16 years old which is on the young side. I came to be close with her early in the year, after realizing she was smart but that she had fallen in with slacker-ish students. I could tell it was affecting her work in Maths and Biology, so I challenged her to do better. She responded full force, becoming one of the top students in the class. She also began seeking me out to chat on a daily basis. I soon found out that she had a little baby. I decided she ought to be a scholarship recipient, because a little extra cash would surely go a long way for a 16 year old mother. I submitted the scholarship money to the school yesterday, and told all the recipients they should write letters of thanks to the donors ASAP.]

Tlalane said to me, almost in a whisper, "Sir, I'm sorry that I have not yet finished the thank you note for those people." This was no problem, though, because no one else had either. Then she added, "But this one is for you," and she handed me a folded piece of paper. It was profoundly gratifying. I won't write the whole thing, but here are some excerpts...

"It has been a while not knowing what to say. I am extremely delighted to write this letter to you, Sir."
"My family and I was over the moon when I told them that the scholarship you promised before was approved. First of all I thank you for showing your hardworking job as a volunteer teacher at this school keep it up! :)"
"I did not write the exams of June very well because my mom was very ill at that time, so we did not sleep at night..."
"My dream is to go far away with Biology because that's my favourite."

Such acknowledgments are few and far between for PCVs, and as such they carry a lot of weight. So the day was off to an excellent start.

In Biology class, I moved speedily through a short lesson, then gathered everyone around to watch a movie. I always loved movies in class when I was a student. But it's even better here, because honestly, I believe this is the second time it's happened in my students' lives. We just got electricity at school, meaning I can bring my computer to class. I've been teaching all about plants, so we watched the episode of Life about plants. It's incredible, and they loved it as much as I did. Fun, and educational!


As I left class, some boys followed me out to tell me how much they enjoyed the show...

[More back story: Yesterday when I was out running after work, I ran past a student of mine, Tsepo, who was also running (this was a first, Basotho don't often run for exercise). We chatted for a while, and I noticed he was wearing tons of sweaters, coated by a rain coat and rain pants. I asked why he was wearing them, and he told me he wanted to be thin. Extremely unusual, and also, not healthy. I told him we should talk tomorrow, ie today.]

...one of them was Tsepo. We began talking about why running in a coating of plastic is unhealthy. This led to a very enjoyable conversation about how to eat and exercise to be healthy and (hopefully) also look good. I demonstrated lemon squeezes on the dirty ground, which drew laughter from female passersby. But the boys were eager to brush off my backside for me. It's a testament to how long I've lived here that I didn't find it unsettling. 

Later on, my principal pulled me into his office. I was unsure what it was about, but he just wanted to take a moment to thank me for getting those scholarships. Odd. Those who've spoken to me know have surely heard about the sort of person he is, and how uncommon it is for a teacher at his school to be treated with dignity. But alas, he liked that I brought in nearly $1000, and I appreciated the gesture.

And finally, maybe the best thing that happened today. Actually it warrants its own post, so I'll do that.

Moçambique

Before my last post (for which I must apologize on account of its mopey-ness), I actually took a pretty incredible vacation. My friend Rory and I went to Johannesburg, where we ate tons of great food, tempted fate in the taxi rank (not as frightening as people wanted us to believe), and I took the GREs. We took an overnight bus to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique (it's written "Moçambique" there, and as this is my first opportunity ever to use ç, I don't want to pass it up, hence the blog title).

For anyone who ever wanted to see Africa, I strongly recommend Mozambique. It is an amazing place. A very interesting blend of traditional African culture and European influence (which is not unique at all, most countries were colonized by this or that European power. Portugal, in this case). Great music, interesting architecture, awesome food, beautiful beaches, vibrant atmosphere. One of the more stable and faster developing places in Sub-Saharan Africa, too.

We spent our time in Maputo meeting locals and other travelers, and indulging in local food and beverage (highlights - fresh fish and seafood, avocado the size of a child's head, fresh loaves of Portuguese bread for $0.15, and high quality dark beer on tap at an outdoor market for $0.90). Mostly, we were just idling around, waiting for our other PC Lesotho friends to arrive, which they did after 2 days. From that point on, our travels around Maputo and Tofo have already been expertly chronicled by another Lesotho PCV and fellow traveler, Shanthi. I invite you to read all about it and enjoy some pretty pictures here. Sorry not to be writing it for myself, I guess I'm a bit lazy. Thanks Shanthi!

Today's Story About Why Lesotho Schools Are Depressing

Today is the 2nd day of classes for the 2nd semester. Yesterday, I returned last semester's exams to my students. Nearly every one failed, both in Form A (8th grade, ages 12-18) and Form D (11th grade, ages 16-23) Maths. In Form D, the class erupted in laughter when they looked at their scores (the average was about 25%). I admonished them for laughing at their own failure. They held it together after that, though I think more to make me feel better than anything else. After I returned their papers, they spent class working on corrections under my supervision. Their homework was to finish their corrections at home, so that they could submit them to me today. (Today, I returned part 2 of their exams, and the uproarious laughter resumed).

In Lesotho, you submit assignments by turning them over to your class monitor, who brings them to the staff room. I told all 3 classes today to submit their work at break time. Pretty routine. Everyone understood. But... I received 0 papers. From THREE classes, ZERO students turned in their assignments. Perhaps the saddest part is that this is so common that I wasn't even surprised.

A short while after, I got into a discussion with other teachers about what a sad state of affairs this is. We all agreed that the students' only motivation is the fear of punishment, and that since I don't beat them, they don't make the effort (All other teachers beat students, and indeed, they do get better homework completion, though not by much). We commiserated about the frustration of watching our students revel in their own failure. They claim that when they were students, it wasn't like this.  I told them that if 11th graders' only motivation to work is to spare themselves punishment, then they're beyond my ability to help. Bear in mind, I'm not just talking about the troublesome students, or the slow students. I'm talking about 3 entire classrooms of adolescents and adults. Strong students, weak ones, well behaved ones, and troublesome ones. I've spent 1.5 years doing everything in my power to motivate these kids. The amount I have to show for it is, to be honest, embarrassing.

Next time in Why Lesotho Schools Are Depressing: Harassment, Corruption, and Transactional Pedophilia.

Asking For A Little Help!

Do you like racking up good karma? Do you like supporting orphan children? Do you like the Baltimore Orioles? If you said yes to any of these, then perhaps you'd like to help me with a very small project.

A while back, I wrote the Baltimore Orioles PR office. I told them about my life here, and about all the poor orphans in my village who don't have proper clothes to wear. I asked if they had any old merchandise they'd like to send, and they sent me a huge box. Imagine how cool it would be to see all the kids in my village running around in Nick Markakis jersey-tees. Problem is, the post office messed up and delivered it to the wrong place. Long story, but in the end, it ended up in the possession of my brother in Washington DC. The Orioles have lost interest in re-shipping, but I would still really like to get it here.

So, I'm asking if anyone would like to donate a small amount of money - $3, $10, $20 - to help ship it here. I will organize an event to distribute the stuff. I'll take pictures and post on the blog. I don't know the exact cost for shipping but it's probably something like $60.

Email me or write on the comments section if you can help, and we'll discuss the logistics. Thanks!

Witches and the Bewitched

So other than those last 4 stories/news items, it's been since January that I've really updated on my life here in Lesotho.  Obviously that means there's a lot to catch up on. Lots of good days, lots of bad days. Lots of crazy times in the village. Lots of unexpected encounters while hitchhiking. Lots of kids doing silly things. Lots of training for the half marathon. And lots of... witches?

Well, that's what they say, at least. We here at Thuto-Ke-Leseli High School are battling a witch epidemic. It's been going on since the first week of school back in January. Witches only attack girls.

On the 2nd or 3rd day of school, we had a sort of opening mass to christen the new school year. There, a sweet young orphan girl from my village named Mamotseare gave a long speech. She was re-taking Form A after failing last year. She spoke about why she had failed. Sounds like it should be inspiring, right? Well, turns out she had become possessed by witches during finals. Her soul was taken captive and brought to a cave, where she was beaten and fed pig food for a month or so. Her body continued to persist as usual, so she was able to take her exams, but this caused her to fail. But as of the time of her speech, her soul had returned and she was ready to take on Form A again.

Naturally, I was not convinced.

A few days later, I entered the staff room to see a new student screaming and writhing on the ground. As she shouted things I did not understand, teachers and students stood around her, trying to hold her steady and calm her down. I watched on in bewilderment as they yelled alternately in English and Sesotho, things like "Out, in the name of Jesus!" and "Fire and the holy spirit!" This went on about 30 minutes until the girl regained full consciousness. She described, once again, caves and pig food. She returned to class, but came back a few hours later with the same problem. This time, I helped steady her head so she wouldn't slam it against the tile floor as she convulsed. Despite my obvious skepticism, it was disturbing. I can now say I've taken part in an exorcism.

Over the next few weeks, the same thing happened to a few other girls. Being possessed seems to manifest in slightly different ways each time - sometimes screaming and pain, sometimes loss of coordination, other times a state resembling a coma. But there are always caves, and always pig food.

One morning we called in a local pastor to help us fight the witches. He gave a sermon that (judging by students' reactions) was very compelling. It culminated in him putting his hand on each student's forehead as a kind of cleansing. Sometimes he would "see" something in a student's eyes. He would focus more on that student. The student would promptly collapse. There were, at one point, 6 students laying on the foyer of our staff building, shouting/twitching/falling over, with the rest of the student body watching in horror. They were some of my favorite kids - I was especially shocked to see it happen to Thato, one of the brightest, happiest girls I know.

Another student, a very nice quiet girl, was one day accused of being one of the witches behind all this. No word on any evidence behind the accusation, but nevertheless, she was taken to jail. Jail! Then she was released, and she returned to school. Teachers considered her to be in danger of violence, as our village blamed her for all the witchcraft. I'm not sure what happened since then, but she stopped coming to school.

These days, the problem has not gone away. One of my students, Mamoliehi, experiences a sort of coma every week or two. She just goes unconscious in the middle of class. She then gets carried to our staff room where she sits for a few hours, her eyes very slightly open. She does not respond to any stimuli whatsoever (even when I squeeze her pinky nail as a test for pain response). After a while, people come in and pray for her, then she wakes up. It's almost a routine.

So, what to make of all this? EVERYONE at school believes it's real witches. People disregard my Western ideas. Lately I've been pushing for Mamoliehi to go to a hospital, but no one cares. I can't get myself to believe there's any truth to the witchcraft. But it's not so easy to just dismiss it, either. I know it's easy to shrug off when you hear stories like this. But believe me when I say, it's totally different to watch students I care about suffer from it (and they really are suffering). Still, in the end, I don't buy it. In America, we stopped believing this stuff 200+ years ago. And above all, I'm a scientist.

I'm leaning towards a theory along the lines of: These girls are paranoid schizophrenic, and their paranoid delusions take the shape that their society tells them it should. The more people around them tell them they are possessed by witches, the more they believe it and act it out. But then, is it really possible for such delusions to manifest so physically and so violently? (Maybe.) And also, is it really plausible for this to happen to so many girls? What percent of people experience this kind of paranoia in their lifetime? My school is small, and I'm talking now about ~5-10% of our female students over a 4 month period. I welcome any ideas from people reading this. Are there certain triggers for a psychosocial epidemic of this nature? Are there precedents elsewhere?

At the very least, this whole experience has gotten me interested in the neurology behind religious/spiritual experiences. I'm reading some books now. I'll update if they help me reach any new theories.

Four Items

Here are some random but noteworthy events that have taken place in 2011 (can't believe I'm so backed up here...):

1. Sometime mid-January, I was walking to my school with friends. As we reached the mountaintop, clouds suddenly turned dark and it started to rain. In an instant, I heard the loudest sound/saw the brightest light I've ever seen. Though, I didn't process it right away. The first thing I noticed, before registering the sound or light, was that I was on my hands and knees. Turns out, lightning had struck a few yards away, and the force had thrown me to the ground. We ran into the nearest building, and after collecting ourselves, realized we were totally fine. Lesson learned: Don't walk on the summit of a mountain in a storm.

Then, one night a week later, I was sitting in my house watching Lost on my computer (watching entire TV series that you missed while in America, on your laptop alone in the dark, is a favorite PCV pasttime). The computer battery was running low so I plugged into my solar panel (which sits on my roof) through a car battery (which sits in my house). As I continued watching, it started to rain, which was so noisy on my tin roof that I couldn't hear the show. I plugged in headphones. The second I touched the headphones to my ears, I am not exactly sure but I think lightning struck my roof. It was very loud. And I think the electric current flowed through the panel, through the car battery, through the computer, and out the headphones, because a massive spark flew out from my ear, big enough that I could see it with my peripheral vision. My heart pounded and my head ached for about 30 minutes. My nerves were all the more racked after the events of the week before.

I'll confess I've been a little scared of lightning since that day. But I don't totally understand how this is possible, because I think if it really happened this way, my computer should have been fried (it's not) and/or I should be dead (I'm not). I welcome any phsyics/electrical engineering/meteorology experts who can make sense of it. Lesson learned: don't plug your head into your tin roof during a storm.

2. My mother's friend/neighbor, Ellen, donated enough money to sponsor a bunch of my best and most needy students! So far, the money has been used to keep 6 of my brightest students in school. There is enough still for a few more. Thank you, Ellen! Their thank you letters are on the way to Baltimore.

3. One day I gave a maths test in Form A (8th grade) which ended early. I gave kids the option to pass the extra time by telling them to "Write a funny story." Here's a very revealing but seriously disturbing one from a young boy named Moteri:

"Funny Story

Now we are happy because we have parents. My parents buy me anything that I like and the love me and also I love them because is my parents. All day they meet me also I meet because is my parents they shy me whe a make noti in somewhere.

My parents die because they burn at night and a cry for them because the died now we are lonnly We are funny."

On a lighter note, here's another one from a very smart young girl named Mokhantso:

"A man without senses

there was a man without head some boy dicided to found his head they touch him under the armpits they heard his head laughing under the rock and he was been stuck by a rock and run away them left his head!!!!"

4. My mom visited in April! She loved Lesotho, and Lesotho loved her. We had a great time touring the country, and especially visiting my school. There she received a very warm welcome from my coworkers and especially my students. They were in awe. Makhooa have parents, too. Thanks, mom!

We also went to Cape Town, which is a truly amazing city. Even better than advertised. Aside from a lot of really good quality mother-son bonding (aw), the highlight was probably my successful running of the Two Oceans Half Marathon. I finished in around 2:10 (the website says 2:15 but it lies!). Considering I never ran much before, it felt pretty good. And I was stunned to find that the race itself was actually a blast.

OK, more soon! Actually, I already wrote what will become the next post. I'll post it separately so it looks like I'm working harder (JM I hope you're happy :D).

Why I More or Less Stopped Writing (And Why I'm Writing Now)

Fine and you? [still my favorite Basotho English form of greeting]

So, I'm still alive and well. For those who have yelled at me for not writing on here in so long, I am sorry. I've been bad, I guess. It's been over 3 months since I hurriedly threw on a text-less post full of safari pictures (and just as long since I promised to hurry back with descriptions of those pictures). But I have some reasons, whose validity you can decide for yourself. In short, they are three-fold:

1. My daily life here hasn't been as jolly as it once was. I'm not suffering, per se, but it's just not so exciting. So I'm less motivated to come on here and tell the world about things like my sense of stagnation, my growing distaste for various aspects of work, and so on.

2. The honeymoon phase seems to be gone. In the beginning, no one (myself included) had much idea what my life here would be all about. But now, if you've been reading this blog at all since it started, you have a decent idea. So I'm sometimes reluctant to keep up writing. It sometimes feels like all I'd be saying is "Hey, look at me! My life is so different! Look at how different it is here!" But most people reading this already know that, so it has come to feel kind of self-indulgent to an unnecessary degree. Maybe that's all in my head, though, I'm not sure.

3. Many of the things I would like to write about would not win me many friends in the Basotho community. And as we all know, if you don't have anything nice to say...

But then, to be honest, that's an exaggeration. It's not that I have nothing nice to say. Far from it, actually.

So what prompted me to get back on the horse? A package I received recently from someone I've never met. A former Lesotho PCV named Becca sent me a package full of delicious foods, plus a very nice postcard. It mentioned that she enjoys reading my blog and encouraged me to keep on fighting the good fight. All in all, an extremely extremely nice, memorable gesture. Thank you, Becca. Your kindness will not be forgotten (and neither will be your exquisite Kraft Mac N Cheese).

I received the package in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon, right after finishing a pretty irritating maths class. It immediately went from a bad day to a good day. And as I sat at my desk in the staff room devouring an entire bag of beef jerky in about 30 minutes, I contemplated what the package and the letter signified. I realized that this blog is perhaps more valuable than I can see. Which suggests that I ought to keep it up. So alas, here I am, ke teng.

With all that said, I have a lot of catching up to do.

But it will have to wait a little bit, because on Friday, my mom arrives to Lesotho. This is extremely exciting. We'll tour around a bit, and next week we'll fly to Cape Town so that she can see an incredible city and I can eat a lot and take decent showers for a few days. Also I'll run a half marathon on April 23rd.

So, provided the malaise doesn't hit me too hard, I'll be back soon.

Sharp!

safari

just finished our safari. in short it's been amazing. we have free internet for about an hour more so i'm gonna upload as many of our best pics/videos as possible. time is short, hence the lack of capitalization, among other things. i'll come back on later to edit this post and make it a bit more proper.