Tag Archives: Lesotho 2015

Sam and Will Teach at Mary’s School

Day 3 Mary's school (22)As soon as we were settled in Mary’s home, the first thing she asked Sam and Will was “Are you ready to teach my class tomorrow?” She then gave them her teacher’s manual and told them to go and prepare their lesson plan.

Mary is a high school science teacher. The students in her classroom are between 13 and 18 years of age. Sam and Will took on her challenge with amazing grace and determination.

Niko and I stood in the back of the room as Sam and Will stood before 50 Besotho young people and taught them about heat conduction. As I watched them, I was full of awe and I wondered, how is this experience going to impact their life? How will standing before 5 different classrooms of students today and teaching, impact the way they see their own teachers, or the way they see themselves? Will this plant a seed for them to pursue teaching one day? How does it feel to them to be the minority? There was not another white face in the school, nor had we seen another white person since arriving in Lesotho. This was the first time in their life that they experienced being the minority. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be 16 or 17 and to have such an experience. I was filled with awe at how well they were prepared and at their incredible willingness and spirit of adventure in taking this on.

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Apartheid MuseumWe spent the day in Johannesburg with our wonderful guide, Agnes, from Feleng Tours. We visited the Apartheid Museum, Nelson Mandela’s Home in Soweto and the Kliptown Youth Program.

Kliptown is one of the oldest residential districts of Soweto. It is the home of over 44,000 people and lacks the most basic needs of schools, sanitation, and electricity. It is Will and Sam’s first experience of witnessing how the world’s poor live. 44,000 people living in small houses made of tin crammed together in a small space, without running water, with electricity stolen from the grid and with sewage and garbage visible on the side of the roads.  In the midst of the squalor is an amazing project called the Kliptown Youth Project. KYP’s mission is to “KYP enables children to harness their potential and grow into dynamic and skilled individuals who can give back to society.” They provide tutoring, tuition assistance, Food programs as well as training in cooking, employment networking and technology.

 

We were each given a ticket which determined whether we went through the museum as a white or as a non-white person.

We were each given a ticket which determined whether we went through the museum as a white or as a non-white person.

 

Zulu Dancers

Zulu Dancers entertained us as we ate lunch.

Will umped in to embrace the culture.

Will umped in to embrace the culture.

Homes made of tin, one right next to the other

Kliptown: Homes made of tin, one right next to the other

Kliptown

Kliptown

Kliptown Youth Program Computer Lab

Kliptown Youth Program Computer Lab

Roasted Chicken Feet for Sale

Roasted Chicken Feet for Sale

Children of Kliptown

IMG_2510wmWe are in Dubai! We had an amazing flight. I felt like I was back in time 30 years ago to how flying used to be. The flight was long…14 hours, but Emerates is an amazing airlines and they treated us so well that our flight was a lot of fun. As soon as we took off, a flight attendant came around with hot, moist, lemon scented towels for each of us. At our seats we found a little travel case with socks, eye covers for sleeping and a toothbrush.

The food was delicious. They fed us lunch as if we were already on Dubai time to help us restart our inner clocks. It included an appetizer of crackers and dips, a salad of black eyed beans and corn, a main dish of lamb or chicken a delicious dessert of toffee pudding, followed by a cup,of tea and a piece of chocolate. We were also fed a snack of an individual pizza and a breakfast of eggs with various side dishes.

Niko and I watched 3 movies together that we missed seeing at the Grand Cinema: the 2nd Best Grand Budapest Hotel, Woman in Gold and Still Alice. Will learned some Arabic on the plane from a boy, sitting across the aisle form him. He and Sam are having a blast!

>We have a 3 hour layover in the Dubai airport. Sam and Will are off exploring the mall in the airport while Niko and I sit with the bags. Then we will fly another 8 hours on Emerates and arrive in Johannesburg at 9pm, ready to rest at the Blue Mango Lodge.

The Seed of a Dream is Planted

Thula Thula Game Reserve, South Africa

Thula Thula Game Reserve, South Africa

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Kim, Mary, Sam and Niko 2010

St. Julianna, Founder of the St. Camillus Center

St. Julianna, Founder of the St. Camillus Center

In 2004, I went to South Africa to study the AIDs pandemic with a delegation of 16 women from the United States.  We spent 2 of our 16 days in South Africa on a game reserve.  Upon returning my then 6 year old, Sam, who is an animal enthusiast, made me promise that I would not go back to Africa without him.  I made that promise and set my intention to go back to South Africa with Sam and Niko one day and to spend time on at a game reserve.

In 2009, a young woman, Mary, came to Tacoma from Lesotho Africa to work in L’Arche for a year.  We were her host family.  Mary walked into our home and took up permanent residence in our hearts.  She returned to Lesotho in the summer of 2010.  By the summer of 2011, Mary had married her longtime boyfriend, Paul and she had given birth to their son.  They named their son after her brother… Sammy.  Our family’s dream to visit her and to meet Paul and our grandson, Sammy became more than a dream.  It became a clear intention.

I served on the board of The Lesotho Connection for 3 years from 2006-2009.  Lesotho is a small mountainous country surrounded by South Africa. One out of four children, in Lesotho, is orphaned by AIDs.  A Holy Names, Besotho, nun named Sr. Julianna has devoted her life to caring for the orphaned children in Mohales Hoek, Lesotho.  One of the goals of the Lesotho Connection has been to raise the funds needed to build a home for the orphaned and vulnerable children in Sr. Julianna’s Care.  This dream was fulfilled and the children moved into their new home, the St. Camillus Center, in December of 2014.   I wanted to see this center, which had been just a seedling of a dream when I was on the board and I wanted to spend time with Sr. Julianna and these beautiful children.

This dream of returning to Southern Africa, which started in 2004, continued to grow in me as our love for Mary developed, the St. Camillus Center was built and Sam grew into a young man.   The dream expanded to include Sam’s best friend, Will, in this adventure.  Sam and Will have been friends since birth.  Their friendship has been nurtured by their deep loves of animals, music and community.

In the autumn of 2014, I felt a voice inside me say “The time is now!  You must begin to prepare and plan to go to Southern Africa this upcoming summer.” It would be the summer before Sam’s junior year of high school and Will’s senior year.  If we waited any longer, the opportunity for all of us to go together could be lost.  And so we began to plan.