Today was another incredible day. (This is the second time we're typing this because something went wrong when I added the picture, so appreciate that view!!) We returned to our two work sites to continue working on the homes, except a few of us switched sites in order to gain new perspective. All of us will eventually switch sites by the end of the week. I (Hannah) switched to work at the top site. We continued working on adding cinder blocks to the walls, added a window and door and leveled the (dirt) floor (again) after aimlessly moving piles of dirt from outside the house, to inside. There were some frustrating times working with the Habitat workers due to our language barriers, which made it difficult to get some things done. This caused some of us to have a lot of down time, which we gratefully used to play with the children! I lent them my camera since they LOOOVE having their pictures taken along with taking pictures. So when I got my camera back at the end of the day I ended up having nearly three hundred new pictures to enjoy... yikes. It is incredibly difficult on all of our hearts during lunch time, however, having the children following us to the buses, watching us eat. It is hard for us to balance the emotions of realizing that we cannot change the world in our short few weeks here and that by giving them part of our PB&J sandwiches won't change their lives. But realizing that we CAN make a small difference, helping a few people in the few ways we are able, which is the main reason why most of us are here... It will take us time to fully comprehend all of this. All of us have 100% fallen in love with these children. They are just so full of life, running to see us every. single. day. just to play soccer, braid our hair, or sing songs with us for those few precious moments. It is a simply incredible feeling. On a more lighthearted note, our farmers' tans are coming in GREAT!
Today at the bottoms site(which is called that due to the lower elevation) when we (Isaac and Jamila) arrived we initially felt useless. This is because the residents were already working on the wall. So instead of working on the house initially we worked on some of the smaller jobs, such as making mortar and moving sand and cinder blocks to a more suitable position. Also we attempted to carry a 10 foot slab of timber a distance of 1 Kilometer. This was VERY DIFFICULT!!! After lunch we were able to do more work on the house. We helped with the construction of the wall, which helped us feel more useful. During the second half of the day we also were able to communicate with the residents more effectively, which made the whole experience more meaningful. In our communication with the Basotho some of us got Lesotho names. Jamila's Lesotho name is MaHlanya which is translated to mean "The Mother of craziness"; while my Lesotho name is Thabong, which can be translated to mean "Be happy". Finally receiving our names was a really exciting experience because it made us feel a part of the Basotho culture. In all I would say today was a good day!
Isaac, Maggie (Johnson), and I (Hannah) FINALLY received our missing bags from Delta! YAY! Maggie and and Isaac received theirs yesterday and mine today. Maggie was missing her donation bag and Isaac and I were missing our clothing bags, which made for a humbling first week here. We were definitely getting tired of borrowing clothing and toiletries from everyone. But we are gonna milk this from Delta for everything they got! Free tickets, anyone? Say whaaaat?! The debate continues... Is it guava... or carrots? Today has been two days straight that we have been Guava free at dinner time... I think we're having withdrawals!!!...NOT.
Enjoy the picture we've posted! It's from where we saw the dinosaur footprints the other day, and let me tell you, the picture does not do it justice by any means. This place is just simply beautiful.
Peace. Love. Guava: Hannah Kinney, Isaac Cason, Jamila Juzer :)