Images in reverse order
1. The Singer Ladies see themselves on film with Paddy
2. Singer sewers sing
3. More singer sewers
4. Me giving a sewing lesson
5. Fruit and veg shop,
6. Chemist shop! Wierd roots and dead rats.
7. Lesotho lady seed seller
8. Farewell Ko Chang. Sheila Malone and Fiona
9. Ko Chang. Home sweet home
10. Ko Chang. Bliss
11. Ko Chang. My favorite beach
Saturday 8th December 2007 Maputsoe Lesotho.
Time to catch up on the blog, after about a 2 week interval and many eventful happenings. Here I am in Lesotho and it's a million worlds away from S.E. Asia. The people are a different colour and shape, hair so curly instead of so straight, women so big and buzom instead of so tiny and slim; the food, culture,customs and music all completely new and contrasting. But there is also the common thread of humanity that makes us all so similar too, that recognition of each other, the smile that connects us when we make eye contact. We are all people,creatures with the possiblity of being shining extraordinary creative stars or absolute monsters. Here life is hard in different ways and enduring poverty is made even harder by the Aids epidemic which is killing so many here. It's a vicious circle, the disease increasing the poverty and suffering which in turn adds to the level of ignorance and fear and allows it to spread so wildly. In S. E. Asia I was disturbed by sex tourism and prostitution; exploitation of women, young girls and young men and boys; poor, vunerable, disempowered people who sell themselves for sex in a vain attempt to improve their lives. Many of the young women truely believe that to find a Western man will solve all their problems, some just try to earn money to support families. Aids is certainly becoming a huge problem especially in Thailand where prostitution is so established as an accepted part of life. But even more disturbing here in Africa is the fact that the number of rapes and assaults of women and girls are enormous and this is a significant factor spreading Aids. Some believe a story started by traditional (witch) doctors that having sex with a virgin will cure the disease and so rapes of very young girls, even babies have increased. Ignorance of how the Aids is spread and the social stigma attached a disease which is passed on by sex so that people will not even talk about it and try to pretend that other things have killed their loved ones. Many Lesotho men work away in the mines of S. Africa and bring Aids back from prostitutes there and so pass it on to their wives and communities. It's a sorry story in a country that already has so many problems to overcome. On the other side of all this are so many absolutely lovely people with such potential.Back to Ko Chang in Thailand now. It was quite a paradise and I felt very relaxed and at peace with myself there. The days passed so quickly and I wanted to stay longer but before I knew it the time had come to leave. Swimming, kayaking, walking, pottering about the place exploring on a moped, eating yummy food in the little restaurant at the place I was staying overlooking the sea, spectacular sunsets, chatting to people who passed in and out of the place, playing the odd bit of music with Franz, my German flute playing neighbour and young Tristan from England with his backpackers guitar. Good memories now. But time to leave for this venture to Africa finally came and so I had to pack my bag and head away again.Early morning on the 30th November I took the communal taxi from Bai Lan to the port and so to the mainland for the bus back to Bangkok. In the taxi that morning were 2 young women from Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare and so we started to chat about Willy Clancy week, the trad. music festival that happens in that small town every summer. One of the women says "I think I know you, did you do face painting and sell donuts there years ago?" I told yes and so it unfolded that she as a young 6yr old had brought her younger brother Joseph to me each day of the festival to have his face painted. I remembered them well, the little fella being so cute and even still had their names. "You're Sheila Malone, I have a photo of Joseph at home somewhere." How's that for a mad small world happening. So Sheila and her friend Fiona and myself travelled together to Bangkok and spent a very enjoyable evening there before going off our seperate ways next day.My way was a long long uncomfortable flight to Johannesburg via Kuala Lumpar, arriving at 5am in the morning. Joburg was somewhat of a shock even though I had read about how awful it was. Suddenly to be in such a heavy atmosphere after friendly easy going Thailand took some adjusting to. I had booked a place in a guesthouse and arranged to be picked up at the airport because I had heard that it was just not safe at all to walk about the place. But I had no idea how much. The guesthouse sounded wonderful from the Lonely Planet Guide and also Hostel Bookers website but it turned out to be a bit of a pit, but ok as a place to sleep for one night and recover from the flight. The area of Joburg was one of the heavily guarded white suburbs where all the houses are fenced in by razor wire and electric fences with signs threatening armed response to intruders. White people just don't go about downtown which is a complete no go area, word has it if you do you will almost certainly be attacted and robbed. All shopping is done in guarded suburban shopping malls. Most of the white people I saw were not at all appealing specimens, overweight, unintelligent looking piggy eyed beings with years of attitude towards black people behind them. Next day I was to take the bus up to Lesotho and arranged to be dropped off at the bus station by my hosts. They told me the bus would be fine as the bus stations had lots of security and guards keeping an eye on things, and also that I had no need to book a seat and would be fine to buy a ticket when I got there. But they were wrong, the bus was full. So I phoned Colleen who is coordinating volunteer of this "Twinning of Co. Kerry and Lesotho" project in Maputsoe who told me of a minibus taxi station where I'd find a minibus taxi to bring me up here. I found the place on the Lonely Planet map and then went to one of the security guys to see how I should get there. He said "It's 5 mins walk, but you cann't walk there because it's too dangerous.You have to take a porter with you" What to do? I wandered about the bus station looking for one of these porters, then asked a couple of ok looking white fellas on a bookstall. One of them who turned out to be a really interesting chap who lived in that no-go area said "Right you cann't walk there alone, you will be robbed immediately, you will be fine with me because I live here and I'm known and I speak zulu." I'll walk you there. And so I was delivered safely to the minibus, squeezed aboard, the only lekhooa (whitey) to be seen amongst large bottomed Lesotho ladies, old men, kids, luggage and all and off we set to Ficksburg just over the border from Maputsoe. A very fine friendly lady sat next to me took me under her wing, shared her homemade cakes with me, chatted away about Lesotho and life and read with interest what the Lonely Planet had to say about her country. When we arrived she shepherded me out from the crowded bus park up to the road where she said I would be safe. I saw her a couple of days later in Maputsoe and she greeted me like an old friend, Marietta is her name. I'm here with Colleen and a young guy called Brian who is voluteering with the project as a builder. They have both been here for several months and have done an impressive amount in that time. Brian has built an extension on to a small community centre, has got the walls up on a house belonging to a local family which burnt down and now has moved on to be putting a small extension, wheelchair ramp and paved path on the house of a handicapped fella who has been house bound for years on account of not being able to get in and out with the chair. It will transform his life. Colleen oversees all the projects that have been set up here. There are 2 other volunteers here just for a short term like myself, Paddy and Fiona from Waterville in Kerry, who have raised money in their community to build a vocational classroom to be used for things like woodwork training at a Secondary school here.We stay in a comfy little house in a secure compound with big electric gates, electric fencing and nobody goes out wandering after dark because again it's not safe. I find that very unpleasant. But the town in daytime is friendly and quite vibrant. There's lots of street vendors selling all manner of wierd and wonderful stuff, traditional African cures in the form of strange bits of root and dead rats and things, decorated sticks for herding animals, charcoal cooked maize, traditional Lesotho sun hats and produce. All the shops seem to be run by Asian shopkeepers, either Indian or Chinese looking in origin. They all look quite wealthy. The workers are the local Basotho people most of whom do not look at all well heeled. There's lots of very obvious poverty, people dressed in rags and living in appauling shanty housing.This week I've been having a great time teaching sewing to a women's sewing group. They have been given a couple of sewing machines by this project but so far have had little training in how to use them. They are a group of about 10 women between the ages of 37 and 75. They meet in the house of one of the women and she has a fairly good level of English, so we can communicate. They are trying to make school uniforms for some of the orphan children that this project supports. I've been showing them how to use all the controls on the electric machine like the zig-zagger and how to do button holes and things like making a paper pattern and put a trouser zip in.They are so keen to learn and it's been a delightful experience for me to work with them. What a bunch of amazing characters they are! They burst into song while they work, wonderful harmony acapello singing and their faces come alive as they sing and dance. Paddy has a good quality camcorder with him, and yesterday came up to video them singing and sewing. The Sosetho sewing singer sisters..... maybe we can send a copy to Singer sewing machines and get some more machines and equipment donated...they are surely a deserving group of women. Next week we will be busy running a summer camp for some of the orphaned kids. That's it for this chapter folks. A long one! Photos to be added later, no time just now.
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