on parenting

Over the past many years (my children are adults) I have often been struck by the myriad challenges of parenting-all the lessons you teach (and hope are learned), the letting go as they step into each successive age, the reminders that this is still the circle of life and that though it may appear different in the details, you are dealing with most of the same things your ancestors did. This morning I was reminded of one that I think is never outgrown-and that is having to watch your child, grown or not, suffer a hurt.

While reading the paper I came across an obituary for a young man (I say young because he was only 43, which depending on your perspective may seem "old"-but I suspect young for anyone reading that particular page of the paper. This man had employed my son for a time, and in that brief period demonstrated a joy for life and a caring for others that clearly extended well beyond his family. It is by far not the first time my son in his 30+ years has been touched by the death of those near him, which is a sad statement in itself but one that I realize is shared in a much larger way by many others. It is often a goal to protect our children from this reality-but sometimes life (or death) takes that option away from us, and that door, once opened, cannot be closed-at least for me.

As a parent raising children, I often felt that one of the hardest things was dealing with the hurts that couldn't be kissed away: the exclusion to the birthday party or outing, the loss for whatever reason of a good friend. I don't think that ever stops-no one wants to see a loved one hurting, whether it's a child or not. The challenge became to do what I could to help develop the skills that would work to deal with hurts-and here's the challenge-those skills are different for each person. My life philosophy, colored as it will be by my personal experiences, will put me on a unique path, as will anyone else's. I realized this morning (again) that the real challenge may be in trusting that as adults, my children have likely developed those skills-and once again I need to step back and trust. Trust that those skills will be there, and that if I truly believe that there is a good to be found in everything (not that I am always successful in finding it!), then the same is true for my children.

So I'm off on my run, to work on trust and faith!

RIP Sean, and peace to your family

Paris, encore

Bonjour!

(I started this three weeks ago...I'm giving up and finishing it tonight-no matter what!!)

To continue my wonderful winter of travel-to really warm and really cold places...Skip and I took advantage of a great offer and spent Valentine's weekend in Paris-yes, as in, three nights sleeping-in the Holiday Inn Montparnasse! Now, before anyone thinks I've really lost it-this was an offer from an educational tour company, and as they pointed out-there are rather limited options when you're trying to put up 45 people in the center of Paris! 

After our flight from Seattle via Chicago we arrived Friday morning to snow on the ground-again! Lucky for us, it didn't stick around, in fact, Saturday and Sunday were gorgeous days with blue sky, although with the wind I'm guessing it was below freezing. After checking in and a short rest, we explored the area around our hotel-and found (surprise, surprise) a creperie nearby, where we treated ourselves to an afternoon snack of sugar crepes...mmmmm yummy!

Saturday morning we had a bus tour of some Paris highlights, followed by a guided tour of the Opera Garnier-what a showplace! to stop and imagine all the drama that has taken place there-on and off-stage-was amazing. 

Afterwards Skip and I explored the "Passages"-small alleyways filled with intriguing shops and stalls-great fun, even in the cold. Followed it up with a warm onion soup lunch. We enjoyed seeing the Scottish fans there for the Six Nations Rugby games-and yes, even in the bitter cold they were wearing their kilts! The rest of the afternoon included wandering along the banks of the Seine and seeing the variety of boats, and finding the Musee d'Armee which Skip was interested in visiting-but too late for a Saturday visit. On the way back to our hotel we did stop in the garden of the Rodin museum-wow, is it something to actually stand and see a statue like "The Thinker" in person! The garden is filled with some of Rodin's works and was a delight, even in the cold. 

Our Valentine's dinner was at a creperie near our hotel-very cozy and very delicious-especially dessert!! mmm

Sunday found me at a meeting but Skip was able to visit the army museum and see the dioramas that he'd heard about-very enjoyable. After I finished my meeting and visited an outdoor market, we met up to explore the Canal St. Martin. 

The canal and locks date from Napoleonic times, and it is possible to take a boat from a few places in Paris and travel up the canals-unfortunately we missed the boat, as the saying goes. But the canal is lovely to walk along-we had lots of company since it was a sunny, albeit cold, Sunday. 

Sunday evening we were treated to dinner at Le Train Bleu, a very nice restaurant overlooking the Gare de Lyon. Wonderful food, wine-and fun watching the traffic in the station. 

We left Paris Monday morning for our return home, via Chicago. It was a great trip-and short enough that I didn't really feel any jet lag-yay!! A great introduction to Europe for Skip as well.

Noqhekwane village (Poenskop on maps)

This village is located near the Ubimvibu River, across it from Port St. Johns. A friend of my guide’s, who lives here, was our guide for the visit (this is how he earns his living). The village is situated in the hills (looking very much like the glens of Ireland!!) and has a population of about 4000-although you would never know that because they are spread out over such a large area-some homes are accessible only by foot.

 

Many homes here are the traditional rondavel style, made with dried-clay bricks and thatched roofs. The home where we parked the car was putting up a new rondavel, a woman was in the yard bundling grasses for the thatched roof. These are one-room homes, sometimes with dirt floors that are polished using cow dung, while others have cement floors. Sleeping might be on a bed, although more often a grass mat that is rolled up against a wall during the day. The “kitchen” would comprise some shelves-perhaps a paraffin stove, although cooking could also be done outside on an open fire.

 

While many homes have water tanks to catch rain water, going to the river to collect water if there is no communal tap is also common-indoor plumbing is NOT available here. Some farming is done both to raise food for eating as well as to sell. (The roadside stand selling steamed ears of corn is fairly common in the area). In villages like these, the simple jobs of providing water and food can take up the day’s work.

 

As we arrived, the primary school had let out-our first sign was the “taxi” full (and I mean crammed!) of children being taken home-this would be people who could find the money to pay for the service. We also encountered a group of children (likely ages 6-9) walking home-carrying their brightly colored plastic chairs, which they bring to and from school each day. The primary school is in the part of the village we visited-but because of the size and spread of the village, some children may need to walk as much as 1-2 hours each way to attend school-the state which provides the education only up to age 13 does not provide transportation. Parents are expected to purchase uniforms, books, and any other necessities for school.

 

While in the village we visited with an “Herbal Doctor”-a traditional healer who uses herbs to cure your ills. This is considered a calling-the women (or men) are called in their dreams, they will then attend a school for several months until they have learned and demonstrated their abilities. After explaining the process of being called and educated, she took us to the rondavel where she does her consultations and keeps her herbs and the gowns she wears when she is working. One consults the doctor, but does not present a list of symptoms-the doctor is expected to visit with you, make a diagnosis and treat you appropriately.

 

After walking through the village, we drove down to the nearby beach on the (Indian) ocean. As we left the car and walked down toward the beach we encountered a group of village boys heading for an afternoon at the beach with their “cars”-wheeled things on a stick. These cars ranged from the single rubber wheel to the most elaborate wire mesh jeep and trailer. I watched the boys running near the water’s edge with these, then later saw them swimming in a sheltered cove. The boys were probably about 10 years old and were definitely having a great time.

 

On our way back to the main road, we saw a group of older (probably high school age) students walking across the hills on their way home from school. They had would have walked a good two hours each way-and recall that they live in the hills! Fortunately there are groups and individuals who are working to set up bicycle projects and other initiatives to make it easier for the kids to get to and from school-thus encouraging them to stay and further their education. Unfortunately, for many the value of education is lost in the efforts to get there and lack of support at home. One can only hope that this will improve in the future. Tourism is the primary income generator in this area (most people work in one of the resorts or guesthouses that dot the area around Port St. John’s). There are volunteer projects working to support education, especially at the primary level-much like the Head Start initiatives here in the states.

 

It was a good visit-I felt privileged to have a peek into another way of life. 

Au Revoir, Paris

Tonight is my last night in Paris before leaving tomorrow am to fly home. Since I love crepes, and was not up to a full dinner, I decided I'd like to have crepes for dinner tonight-which you might think would be easy here but apparently not too easy where I'm staying (and not wanting to walk two miles again-in the dark). However...I did manage to stumble upon a creperie a few blocks away. My dinner was a marvelous "crepe des Vosges"-buckwheat crepe filled with goat cheese, drizzled with light pesto and a tomato coulis-mmm. Followed by dessert-beurre, sucre et l'orange. I am so in heaven-should tide me over for a few weeks. My very favorite thing about eating in France is that the portions are reasonable-no matter what I've had, I've never walked away feeling "stuffed". I'll get off my soapbox now...

Since my original plans to post or at least to write nightly sort of fell by the wayside-I'd like to blame not having internet, but I think it had more to do with being so busy working, or seeing new places and people-anyway, I have lots more I'd like to share so will probably continue writing about my trip, even though it will be from the comfort of home. So although I'll be home tomorrow night, stay tuned for further adventures-or at least reflections on same.

au revoir,

Ro

Cape Town

I arrived in East London Friday afternoon, after two and a half weeks of rural (extremely rural, in some cases) Africa. East London has a population of over a million people-the largest place I’d been, other than passing through the Johannesburg airport. And since I simply stayed at a guest house overnight, I can’t say that I experienced much of it. But it was still a reminder that I was leaving the slower-paced and somewhat older Africa that I had so enjoyed. It was with some mixed feelings that I boarded the plane Saturday morning for two nights in Cape Town. I did consider that it might be a good thing in terms of slowing reacquainting myself to modern living.

Cape Town was wonderful-I would love to return to spend more time. I didn’t make it to Robben Island, and there are several areas that would be fun to explore. Cape Town is one of the sites of the 2010 World Cup-there is a great deal of construction going on and I realize there could be some changes (hopefully positive) before my next visit.

As I was brought into Cape Town from the airport, we went past the townships and many many tin shacks. The townships started with actual houses-but as relatives arrive, shacks are built to house them-and unless one finds a spectacular job, the options of living elsewhere are very limited. Unemployment was estimated to be around 20% by my guide.

My guide was interesting as well-she is English, but married an Indian years ago-during apartheid. She has lived in a township (illegally, of course-no whites allowed, she could have been arrested and jailed simply for marrying her husband). She provided another perspective for me-I feel that I have been privileged to have seen Africa through the eyes of different people and it has enriched my experience immensely.

The guest house that I stayed in is in the Waterkant area-formerly the slave quarters for the Malay slaves. Nearby was the “Bo Kaap”, neighborhood of brightly painted homes.

Paris, part deux

I arrived at Paris airport about 5:40 this am, made it to my hotel about 7...to find that (big surprise) I couldn't check in until noon. But I was offered tea and croissants, turned down the croissant since Air France actually not only serves food but it's actually not bad. Afterwards I decided to go for a walk to reacquaint myself with the area-I had stayed near here five years ago. I ended up walking about 5 or 6 miles (yes, I did get a tad disoriented at one point, but survived-good homing skills and a poor tourist map). 

After getting checked in and a brief rest, I headed out for lunch-which turned out to be scallops at an Asian cafe, followed by the world's best sugar crepe at a street stand. Oh, I do love the food here! I wandered back toward the museums, ended up at Musee d'Orsay where one of the featured exhibits was on a series of paintings that Picasso did over about 20 years, all after Manet's "Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe". One of the more fascinating exhibits I'd seen, to see clearly how one artists is inspired and moves on from another. This, from someone who has not particularly been a fan of Picasso. However...the Picasso museum is relatively close to my hotel, and I had planned to visit today but they are closed on Tuesdays-so that was on tomorrow's agenda already. Now, however, I am even more interested to see what is there, since I did really like a couple of his works "after Manet". 

The weather here is rather cool (and breezy, which isn't helping), but no snow, and I think before the wind it is still slightly above freezing. The last time I was here it was April and warm-so it's interesting to see the contrast on this trip. 

Tomorrow is my one full day here, it's going to be rather casual since the point of this stopover was to break up the journey home-not kill myself in trying to be "super-tourist". 

I guess I must have blended in a touch, anyway-someone stopped me and asked (in French) if I knew where the Tuileries were-which unfortunately I didn't, but it was fun to be thought a native-or at least someone who looked like they knew something.

Leaving Africa

This will be brief, I'm waiting for my plane to board but finally figured out the cut and paste routine for the blog-so I've added some and will try to add more from Paris.

This has been the most incredible experience. I have met wonderful friendly people, I've experienced the rural Africa as well as the city (to a smaller degree). I would come back in a heartbeat-although if I did I would feel duty-bound to explore other parts of the country...

More later, I miss you all and look forward to being home Thursday.

love,

Ro

Mapoch-Ndebele village 1.19.09

Mapoch is a rural village about 40 minutes outside of Pretoria. In 1953, under apartheid, the village was moved from its original location, resulting in a loss of grazing lands for cattle, as well as the homes they had had for years. In 2002, the government helped set up a “cultural village”-with the idea that the people could benefit from the tourist industry. Unfortunately, as is often the case-the thought was not followed up with funds or direction. The village was becoming rundown and of course getting nearly zero tourist action.

 

A few years ago a couple who run a company called Voluntours stepped in. Since then they have helped route volunteers from around the world through Mapoch. They have helped (immensely) improve a preschool (pics on my site) and set up a “bicycle project”, which has given some community members a way to earn a living (delivering everything from groceries, TVs, to running taxi service getting kids to school!!)

 

This was where I spent Sunday night. As we arrived, we crossed a bridge that is only one lane, due to the fact that it got partially washed out and this area is low on the list for improvements by the municipality. The power was also out (not a rare occurrence, I’m told) so dinner was by candlelight and I was grateful to have a flashlight. There was also no hot water.

 

In the morning I had tour of the village by one of the members. The 260 people who live here are all descended from one chief and two wives!! The “gogos” or grannies earn money by selling beaded items. The men and some younger women earn money by working in Pretoria-a two-hour commute each way on public transport (the only option if you don’t own a bike, most don’t have the money for a car).

 

The people were all very friendly, happy to show me around-and the kids of course loved having their pictures taken and seeing them afterwards! Hooray for digital! 

1.14.09 (Happy Birthday Erin!)

4:30 am (probably latest I’ll be sleeping in for a few days…)

 

Yesterday was great. We worked “the pit” from 6-10 with John, Lucky, Tsabo (very briefly) and ? Martha and I cleared for the hour or so before the boys got there-I shoveled, she manned the pick-ax. We got all the gravel in, the pipes laid, and maybe half of the dirt back on. I repacked the pipe from the tank (which we had jarred loose when we put on one of the extensions-probably need to seal it today. Today we’ll finish covering the drain field with soil. The metal is supposed to arrive today, so we are hopefully going to be installing the potties on that-which I’m guessing may involve more pipe-joining (fun!) Despite what we’re working on, as I told Martha yesterday, the point is that we are helping move the project along. As in, “every job is important”.

 

At Martha’s suggestion, I brought my ipod to “the pit”, and we quit a few minutes early and recorded the boys singing. First was the three of them (Lucky messed up so they want a redo) and then John doing a solo (hymn?) When I was on my way back from the job site Lucky found me and asked if I could record his brother on the guitar-so I got a third recording of from 5-8 of the kids singing-one girl, the rest boys (using the term loosely-many of these “kids” are closer to 18 or 20, John is about 30) I told them that today I would bring my camera over during one of the breaks and we could make a movie. (remembered later that they use a different video system, but I’m guessing the software will (hopefully!) allow for that after recording. Guess I’ll find out)

 

Rome had us quit at lunch, and took us to the Leribe Craft Center and Ficksburg. I met Wendy’s friends (and took photos) and bought a scarf, a few cards, and a small basket. In Ficksburg we hit up the internet café so I was able to read and send a few emails. The drive was wonderful-great scenery, we saw the ubiquitous cows and donkeys, also sheep which I hand’t seen earlier. It would be fun to come back again to be able to see (and photograph) more, but I’m not sure there’s much in the way of tourist services (as in, places to stay, at least right here) We saw lots of women carrying amazing things on their heads-probably the best was the three rolls of cheese puffs (bags about a meter long!), also the plastic garbage can-type thing and the crate full of stuff, including a bunch of apples!!

 

Today is our last work day-we leave here at 5 am tomorrow for Johannesburg) Tonight is a dinner with the nuns and the kids who have been working. I imagine I will sleep well tonight…

Sunday evening1.12.09

added more to my construction resume…septic tank/drain field installation! Martha and I worked on installing the pipes and gravel for the first one, then moved to the second which is completely “our baby” :S

 

John, Tsabo and two other of the “boys” (since John is about 30, the term hardly seems fair…) did the hard work of digging, although I did manage to move a few shovels full myself J

 

It was a tad challenging-the trenches from the tank to the field had been dug at what would seem to me rather sharper angles than would be called for-and were fairly long. Anyway-the net result was that we extended the pipes from the tank and had to have the boys do a fair amount of digging to expand the drain field. Hopefully tomorrow before 2 we’ll be able to lay the pipe, pour the gravel-and maybe (hopefully) cover the whole mess with dirt and seed it.

 

After work I went for a walk up the trail outside the school-toward the hills, although I wasn’t planning to head up. Three girls caught up with me and announced they were going to go with me. We had a nice walk, they of course wanted lots of pictures, which I indulged them with-(boy do I have some work to do on technique!!) On the way back we ran into a boy they knew, who pulled out his camera phone to take a picture of me (but wouldn’t let me take one of him). However…his phone was a RAZR, when I asked about where I might buy a charger, since mine wasn’t working, he offered to lend it to me JJ. He promised to bring it by tonight, which he did-so now I’m all charged and hopefully will be able to find a charger either at the airport or on Monday after the safari. Barring that I guess I’ll rent a phone-not really my first choice…

 

At dinner Rome asked for feedback on the project, everyone had good comments, also discussed whether she might do another and if so where it would be. It sounds like she’d stick with doing something for Holy Names nuns-which had options of Haiti, Peru and Bolivia. As much as I’d like to do something in Haiti, I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable there. We’ll see-it sounds like it would be two years anyway. I did ask her about the Leribe Craft Center-since tomorrow is really our only shot at doing something “outside”, and she suggested that perhaps we would break off work at 2 tomorrow J and go to the craft center. Keepingwhat my fingers crossed. It would be fun to be able to carry messages for Wendy-and also leave some money in the community, rather than leaving it all in South Africa…

 

Had dish duty today-I ended up deciding that we’re close enough to camping that I’m not going to worry too much about less than perfect!

 

Tops on today’s memories-the boys singing their way back behind Martha, then singing/dancing in front of the workrooms. I’m so glad I got the camera J

Thoughts from Lesotho (1.9.09)

added more to my construction resume...septic tank/drain field installation! Martha and I worked on installing the pipes and gravel for the first one, then moved to the second which is completely "our baby"

John, Tsabo and two of the other "boys" (since John is about 30, the term hardly seems fair) did the hard work of digging, although I did manage to move a few shovelfuls myself. 

It was a tad challenging0the trenches from the tank to the field had been dug at what would seem to me rather sharper angles than would be called for-and were fairly long. Anyway-the net result was that we extended the pipes from the tank and had to have the boys do a fair amount of digging to expand the drain field. Hopefully tomorrow before 2 we'll be able to lay the pipe, pour the gravel-and maybe (hopefully) cover the whole mess with dirt and seed it. 

After work I went for a walk up the trail outside the school-toward the hills, although I wasn't planning to go up by myself. Three girls (whom I hadn't met) caught up with me and wanted to walk with me. They wanted me to take pictures-it was pretty funny-I almost felt like a fashion photographer-one would strike a pose, then each of the others had to have the same pose. very fun! 

Lesotho

This is a short update, I'm in an internet cafe/barbershop in Ficksburg, So. Africa. I'll write more when I can use my laptop...

I'm having a wonderful time, working hard-and yes, I'm sure I don't want to go into construction! But the kids are wonderful, it's so great to be part of a real community effort. It is warm but not unbearable. We had a terrific thunderstorm the other night, and have had a few showers but mostly they don't last too long.

We are living and working on the campus of Holy Names High School near the village of Bela Bela. The building we are working on (dedication is Jan. 25...the pressure is on!) is on the campus and will be used for school activities and as a dorm, but will also be used as a community resource. Yesterday I met the village chief-she (!) was stopping by to see how things were going.

Tomorrow night we will have dinner with the nuns and students who have been working-should be a lot of fun and I expect I will be making lots of movies and photos.

That's all for now, more in a few days.

Johannesburg

Sitting in the airport food court in Johannesburg (O Tambo airport)-where you don't go through security to shop, eat, etc... Listening to a little boy and his sister play-he sounds remarkably like Sacha being a storm trooper/pirate..."rraarrrhhh"

I arrived this morning about 11:30 after a very chilly flight-turns out that the exit row seat next to the big door comes with its own air conditioning...but now I'm here in summer and I doubt that I'll be whining about the cold again for a few weeks...

I meet up with my group at 5 pm, so until then will explore the airport-it is always interesting to be in an airport that seems more "international" than SeaTac-maybe just due to more traffic?

Not much more to report today. 

Paris, part une...

After a long but decent flight, I arrived in Paris this morning-snow everywhere-it was beautiful, and seeing La Tour Eiffel in the distance was great. Temperature was a balmy -9 degrees-and yes, that's Celsius...

There was a bit of confusion regarding my gate-due to the error of the gate agent in Seattle, who printed a boarding pass for my original Paris-Johannesburg flight-which left here about half an hour prior to my arrival...Fortunately I happened to look at the boarding pass and noticed the wrong flight number, so thanks to a helpful gate agent, I am not only now on the correct flight-but scored an exit row seat! Go Air France!! It did mean another tour through security-where they want you to unload ALL of your electronics into the tray. Great fun for a photographer... I'm now at the correct gate, watching planes come and go. Hopefully the next post will be Johannesburg. 

Travel encourages flexibility

You have to love technology...I'm sitting at the kitchen table reading my email when in pops one from Air France (and yes, I'm glad I studied French, since it was all in French!!)...due to weather conditions in Paris yesterday, my flight out of Seattle is delayed by two hours...meaning I'm on a different flight to Johannesburg...and that I have a 12 hour layover at the airport in Paris. Which is not the worst place to be stuck...

So I'm reminded that one of the fun parts of travel is being open to new adventures and whatever happens. Look for a post from Paris...

Reality Mode

I leave for my "grand adventure" in two days-hard to believe but at the same time I think I'm tired of packing and repacking and could have cheerfully left three days ago. 

Since the actual building of the school started in November, we have received weekly updates on the status of the project, including pictures. (If you're interested, I'll try to post a link to the pictures thus far). The first update and pictures had me ready to hop the next flight-it made it all real. Today another reality was brought home in the latest update that arrived this morning. A number of the students in the high school have been helping with the building of the new structure (multipurpose, more another time). Initially they helped before and after school, but now that it is summer vacation a core group of about 20 have been helping every day. One of the volunteers organized an outing to reward the boys-they were taken to a store and given money to buy new shoes. Many of these boys had never "shopped" for anything before and the process of choosing and trying on shoes had to be explained. Some had money left after buying shoes and were able to buy shirts or in some cases small gifts for their mothers. (yay, boys! ;)) Mind you-each had been given 300 Rand-approximately $30. 

But the real kicker for me was the comment that one of the boys was given money to buy shoes for another boy who had gone home to Maseru at New Year's since he was getting too weak to work, having lost weight due to "the bad flu"...AIDS. I am aware that he is likely not the only student in this situation. Reading the statistics about the country is not the same as this... One of the volunteers is a nurse and gave us a presentation about health, in it she recommended reading the book "28 Stories of AIDS in Africa". I highly recommend it for anyone who would like to have a more detailed picture of the situation there.

So I'm off on Tuesday for the marathon flights (10 hrs x 2). In the meantime, I'm hoping to wrap up all those little details that need doing when you're leaving the country for three+ weeks...

Getting Ready

Almost seven months ago I was reading the current newsletter from Holy Names Academy Seattle-the school I attended from 4th grade through high school graduation. On the very last page, a very small bit under "Alumnae Events:Community Service" said "Volun-tourism to Lesotho, Africa-Make a difference in the World" The article mentioned a group getting together to build a new school/dormitory at one of the schools run by the Sisters of the Holy Names in Lesotho, Africa. I was immediately intrigued-and before I could do my usual activity of talking myself out of something interesting-went to the computer and sent an email to the person in charge of the group. Since then, I have attended meetings, gotten immunized, read up on Lesotho and South Africa-and generally tried to get as ready as possible for what I am told will be a life-changing experience. 

Now, when I was a girl in grade school, I remember donating and collecting for the children in this area-which was at that time called Basutoland. (When they received independence from Britain in 1966 the name of the country was changed to Lesotho). Not being a history person, I will be honest and say that I'm not really sure I have even heard anything about this country in the past (many many) years. But something about the cycle of that long-ago knowledge and the opportunity to do something to help now really appeals to me. I am a great believer in timing, and the fact that I found this opportunity at a time when I could actually offer something in the way of help is not lost on me.

A little bit about the small country of Lesotho. A small mountain kingdom, it is completely landlocked by South Africa, a poor country like so many in Africa-and like so many others, has a terribly high (30+%) rate of HIV/AIDS. Many of the children attending the school I will be working in, as well as others, are orphans. At 60 I have far surpassed the life expectancy for the people of this country.

So January 8, nearly seven months to the day since I read about it, I will be at Holy Names High School near Bela Bela, Lesotho. In the past months I have attended meetings, learned about the country, people and climate, gotten immunized and thought about what I might be able to do in terms of help. My job description includes taking photographs of the project-but I'm guessing I'll also be pounding some nails-or some such construction-type activity. 

Due to the generosity of my parents, I am not only able to give my time to this project, but also to spend some time traveling in South Africa after my work in Lesotho. I will be on a short photo safari, then spend about a week with guides, visiting villages on the Eastern Cape and around CapeTown. And to cap it all off, on the way home I get to break my marathon flight in half by spending two nights in Paris-whee!! I'm hoping to be able to post not only my observations but also some images from my travels.