The past day here in Lesotho has not only brought bountiful sunshine and hundred degree heat, but new friendships, growth, and even a few new dance moves. We have had the pleasure to help paint the rehearsal space for the Roma Youth Club. They are a club of young adults from here in Roma, who dance, perform poetry, theater, and music. Working with them to brighten their rehearsal space is a description that barely does justice to what we have experienced during this last day, though.
Capturing the energy that was alive in that space can not be accomplished through words or descriptions, though I will try. I have discovered within this last day that true happiness and joy comes from seeing Mich dancing freely to the music that is blaring through her Beats, from learning a song the Youth Club had begun to sing and joining my voice with theirs. Laughter and smiles come from witnessing some of the club's own choreography, seeing in their moving hips and hands reflections of my own carefree dances done together with friends and aquantainces. As I talked with our new friends, I was struck with how, truly, we are all the same. We talked of dreams and passions, of favorite subjects and college majors. We bonded over hating math and loving music, of past relationships and growing up. Whether from America or Lesotho, we all want to travel, to see the world, to have adventures, to get away from our home towns. We want to dance and sing and tell our stories.
Our departure was marked with a final performance, mostly theirs but featuring a few people of our own. After one last group picture, Facebook profiles, phone numbers, hugs and high fives were exchanged. I was struck by the love and comradery for these friends that were so recently strangers, and for the love I felt back from them. With a few weeks here in Lesotho under my belt and our last day approaching, it is funny to me that it is in this second to last day in this country that has re-invented everything I have ever known, that the biggest lesson has finally hit home. Kao fela rea tsoana. We are all the same. Friendships can stretch continents and oceans, if you let them.