My name is Matt Yates and I have been the Team Leader in Roma for the past six weeks. Having spent the first few weeks based in the capital Maseru, the sight of Roma (with its rolling hills, gigantic mountains, and, unlike Maseru, a lack of horn-loving taxi drivers) was both uplifting, and slightly intimidating.
Fast forward 6 weeks and I am now settled into life in Ha Mafefooane with the lovely Lepota family who have kept me well fed (I try to imagine that pap is really mashed potato, as I eat quantities that would scare Bodger and Badger) and always provide great company. From my house I am a two minute walk from the Chiefs house, the best fat cake shop in Lesotho, and the glorious mountains that tower over the village. I know feel part of a warm and caring community, who are always ready to help (whether its old ladies telling me to wrap up warm, or kids teasing me that in the summer months I will bake like a potato!).
The ICS Skillshare programme is, for our group Q10, focused on three key themes; the inclusion of people with disabilities, life-skills, and HIV/Aids awareness. As I type my volunteers are running the first sessions focusing on HIV/Aids awareness. This will be done through energizers, games, and sports which in some way link to the topic at hand, there is then a debrief which gives the children the chance to explore the topics in more depth. Observing and partaking in many of the activities and debriefs it is apparent that the children already possess progressive views on topics such as people with disabilities, they are also always ready to learn and explore other opinions.
Ultimatley our sessions, like The Bluebells sang, does really make you feel young at heart...even if my back sometimes aches after a game of football. The childrens enthusiasm is infectious, their creativity unlimited, and their football abilities far surpass that of me and my volunteers.
I have been very lucky to have such a great team of volunteers; whose every action is a battle cry against exclusion, peer pressure, and HIV. I hope that my next group of volunteers are as brilliant as Richard, Dolly, Kat, and Dee...
Richard:
There is no word in Sesotho for "embarrassed".
Good morning, afternoon or evening; for Im sure that you, unlike me at the moment, have round the clock internet access. My name is Richard McLaren and I am currently halfway through the International Citizenship Programme in the vibrant and truly insane Kingdom of Lesotho. My opening statement will tell you a lot about the Basotho people and the mountain kingdom they inhabit. Even in the children you can see and abundance of extroverted laughter and confidence.
Today (Tuesday) we had two sessions, one at Maphotong Primary School and one community session at Bana Pele, a short walk into the centre of my village Ha Mafefooane. Maphotong is slightly further away and involves a scenic route along a mountain from my house. Although, all of Roma is beautifully scenic. I arrive at the school just in time. You would think me used to shout of "Lahore" (white person) but I still turn my head and smile to every laughing face. I meet my partner, Kat, at the gate and we quickly begin.
The main purpose of the ICS Skillshare programme is to teach lifeskills and HIV awareness through the medium of sports and games. So far the children; ageing from 3 to 18, have been more than receptive to our messages and we have a particularly good discussion at the end of our activities at Maphotong. Later, I am home eating some delicious bread made by my host mother who is absolutely wonderful; forever smiling and wondering why I am not cold in our house at night (I never am, being from the North West!).
Before long it is time to go to Bana Pele, and I lug the kitbag over the stream and through the grounds of houses, greeting everyone on the way. Fifteen minutes after the session is meant to start we begin (the children are usually late, African time is a concept that has to be seen to be believed). The session goes slightly less to plan- the game that we designed to demonstrate stigmatisation of disabled people falls flat on its arse as the kids do not understand my explanation. A quick rethink and we restart with a game they all know. A bit exhausted and but happy I leave for home after giving several children shoulder rides along the way. I walk through the door at a little after 6pm, when it is already totally dark. Tea is pasta and a meat from an animal that I dont want to ask about; regardless it is very tasty and I eat it all whilst we watch Rhythm City (what I expect is the least ridiculous of South African soaps, but still a good three levels about Eastenders). I have been somewhat hooked to it, to my own shame. I say my goodnights and am in bed by 8pm, lulled to sleep by the soft and then hard pitter-patter of rain on the iron roof, accompanied by frequent lightening flashed and truly collosal thunder. The last thing I can remember is a smile on my face, England and Lesotho are simply universes apart.
Dolly:
Hello, my name is Dolly Ogunrinde and I am an ICS volunteer. I am currently volunteering in Lesotho with Skillshare International and working in partnership with the Olypmiafrica Youth Ambassadors Programme. The placement in total is 10 weeks long and I applied to do ICS in order to get more of a in death understanding of development work overseas. I am currently at university studying Economics and Politics so the placement has fit in perfectly in my summer holiday time. My time in Lesotho so far has been incredible. In a strange way sometimes it is quiet hard to believe I am literally on the other side of the world living in a semi rural village called Roma. A village surrounded by mountains, a village where cattle roam around all day and village where I am woken up every morning by my cow, three pigs, six chickens and two dogs, (not to forget my eight puppies as of last week). This is a very drastic change of scene for a girl from London.
Day to day life in Roma is very different to what I am used to. At home I have to a bit that I am a bit of an organisational freak so adjusting to ‘African Time’ wasn’t very easy. For example when one of the volunteers came to visit Roma a couple of weekends ago, his taxi had to make a diversion and the diver went away. He was then told the driver would he back eventually, he could be 30 minutes….he could be six hours. The pace of Lesotho is much slower than f central London, (that is the people I mean, not the driving on the roads). That slower pace really is one of the most wonderful things about Lesotho, people stop in the streets to greet each other and talk. No one ever seems to be in a rush to get anywhere, everyone wonders down roads enjoying the music on the streets.
By far the best thing about Lesotho are the Basotho people. Before coming here I have to admit, I had never even heard of Lesotho before. It is a small country land locked in the east of South Africa. For such a small country it really does have such a rich culture and distinct sense of identity to it’s neighbouring South Africa. Basotho people are incredibly kind and love to talk. My in country partner Limpho has thought me all sorts of things from traditional Basotho dancing to how to make traditional steamed bread outdoors over firewood.
There have been so many things I have seen out here that I never would have had the chance to see back at home. For example visiting Limpho’s cousin in hospital a day after she had her baby boy, going to a traditional funeral of a chief in a neighbouring village, having to stop a session because a hail storm broke out with the hail the size of small rocks, lightning and thunder storms so load and strong that it lights up the night sky to be as bright as day and the brightest starts I have ever seen glisten in the night sky. All in all the experience so far has definitely been one that I will remember for a very long time whilst teaching me that actually, the world is a very small.
Limpho:
My name is Limpho Tsakoa from Roma. I have volunteered from January 2014 with OYAP and I'm now a volunteer in ICS placed in Roma.
In ICS we run sessions with different schools and different communities. We usually run the sessions six days a week, running three sessions a day. On Thursday we failed to do our morning session which started at 10am because of bad weather. For our second session at 1:30pm we managed to run only energisers and set up cones for our activity...then the heavens opened up; a storm had been brewing but we did not anticipate the huge hail which put an end to our session.
Luckily the storm calmed and we managed to finish our final session of the day at Mangopeng; we have begun to work with two volunteers from Germany who are based at the Leratong Community Centre. We performed well, and managed to complete both energisers and an activity.
Kat:
Hi!
My name is Katleho Ratia, I am 20 years old. I live in the district of Maseru, in the beautiful and peaceful valley of Roma. I am a friendly person who likes sports with all my heart, I am also very easy to talk to. I am an ICS volunteer on the side of OYAP Roma. I love my work very much. On Friday we had visitors from the UK, at our session at Tloutle Primary where we were given all the students from the school! We managed that big number very well, though at first we were a bit freaked out. Our visitors were Ms Jobo who is the ICS manager in Lesotho, Katie the ICS Programmes Officer, and Brian the ICS Director. The three of them were so impressed to see how well our session went.
Fast forward 6 weeks and I am now settled into life in Ha Mafefooane with the lovely Lepota family who have kept me well fed (I try to imagine that pap is really mashed potato, as I eat quantities that would scare Bodger and Badger) and always provide great company. From my house I am a two minute walk from the Chiefs house, the best fat cake shop in Lesotho, and the glorious mountains that tower over the village. I know feel part of a warm and caring community, who are always ready to help (whether its old ladies telling me to wrap up warm, or kids teasing me that in the summer months I will bake like a potato!).
The ICS Skillshare programme is, for our group Q10, focused on three key themes; the inclusion of people with disabilities, life-skills, and HIV/Aids awareness. As I type my volunteers are running the first sessions focusing on HIV/Aids awareness. This will be done through energizers, games, and sports which in some way link to the topic at hand, there is then a debrief which gives the children the chance to explore the topics in more depth. Observing and partaking in many of the activities and debriefs it is apparent that the children already possess progressive views on topics such as people with disabilities, they are also always ready to learn and explore other opinions.
Ultimatley our sessions, like The Bluebells sang, does really make you feel young at heart...even if my back sometimes aches after a game of football. The childrens enthusiasm is infectious, their creativity unlimited, and their football abilities far surpass that of me and my volunteers.
I have been very lucky to have such a great team of volunteers; whose every action is a battle cry against exclusion, peer pressure, and HIV. I hope that my next group of volunteers are as brilliant as Richard, Dolly, Kat, and Dee...
Richard:
There is no word in Sesotho for "embarrassed".
Good morning, afternoon or evening; for Im sure that you, unlike me at the moment, have round the clock internet access. My name is Richard McLaren and I am currently halfway through the International Citizenship Programme in the vibrant and truly insane Kingdom of Lesotho. My opening statement will tell you a lot about the Basotho people and the mountain kingdom they inhabit. Even in the children you can see and abundance of extroverted laughter and confidence.
Today (Tuesday) we had two sessions, one at Maphotong Primary School and one community session at Bana Pele, a short walk into the centre of my village Ha Mafefooane. Maphotong is slightly further away and involves a scenic route along a mountain from my house. Although, all of Roma is beautifully scenic. I arrive at the school just in time. You would think me used to shout of "Lahore" (white person) but I still turn my head and smile to every laughing face. I meet my partner, Kat, at the gate and we quickly begin.
The main purpose of the ICS Skillshare programme is to teach lifeskills and HIV awareness through the medium of sports and games. So far the children; ageing from 3 to 18, have been more than receptive to our messages and we have a particularly good discussion at the end of our activities at Maphotong. Later, I am home eating some delicious bread made by my host mother who is absolutely wonderful; forever smiling and wondering why I am not cold in our house at night (I never am, being from the North West!).
Before long it is time to go to Bana Pele, and I lug the kitbag over the stream and through the grounds of houses, greeting everyone on the way. Fifteen minutes after the session is meant to start we begin (the children are usually late, African time is a concept that has to be seen to be believed). The session goes slightly less to plan- the game that we designed to demonstrate stigmatisation of disabled people falls flat on its arse as the kids do not understand my explanation. A quick rethink and we restart with a game they all know. A bit exhausted and but happy I leave for home after giving several children shoulder rides along the way. I walk through the door at a little after 6pm, when it is already totally dark. Tea is pasta and a meat from an animal that I dont want to ask about; regardless it is very tasty and I eat it all whilst we watch Rhythm City (what I expect is the least ridiculous of South African soaps, but still a good three levels about Eastenders). I have been somewhat hooked to it, to my own shame. I say my goodnights and am in bed by 8pm, lulled to sleep by the soft and then hard pitter-patter of rain on the iron roof, accompanied by frequent lightening flashed and truly collosal thunder. The last thing I can remember is a smile on my face, England and Lesotho are simply universes apart.
Dolly:
Hello, my name is Dolly Ogunrinde and I am an ICS volunteer. I am currently volunteering in Lesotho with Skillshare International and working in partnership with the Olypmiafrica Youth Ambassadors Programme. The placement in total is 10 weeks long and I applied to do ICS in order to get more of a in death understanding of development work overseas. I am currently at university studying Economics and Politics so the placement has fit in perfectly in my summer holiday time. My time in Lesotho so far has been incredible. In a strange way sometimes it is quiet hard to believe I am literally on the other side of the world living in a semi rural village called Roma. A village surrounded by mountains, a village where cattle roam around all day and village where I am woken up every morning by my cow, three pigs, six chickens and two dogs, (not to forget my eight puppies as of last week). This is a very drastic change of scene for a girl from London.
Day to day life in Roma is very different to what I am used to. At home I have to a bit that I am a bit of an organisational freak so adjusting to ‘African Time’ wasn’t very easy. For example when one of the volunteers came to visit Roma a couple of weekends ago, his taxi had to make a diversion and the diver went away. He was then told the driver would he back eventually, he could be 30 minutes….he could be six hours. The pace of Lesotho is much slower than f central London, (that is the people I mean, not the driving on the roads). That slower pace really is one of the most wonderful things about Lesotho, people stop in the streets to greet each other and talk. No one ever seems to be in a rush to get anywhere, everyone wonders down roads enjoying the music on the streets.
By far the best thing about Lesotho are the Basotho people. Before coming here I have to admit, I had never even heard of Lesotho before. It is a small country land locked in the east of South Africa. For such a small country it really does have such a rich culture and distinct sense of identity to it’s neighbouring South Africa. Basotho people are incredibly kind and love to talk. My in country partner Limpho has thought me all sorts of things from traditional Basotho dancing to how to make traditional steamed bread outdoors over firewood.
There have been so many things I have seen out here that I never would have had the chance to see back at home. For example visiting Limpho’s cousin in hospital a day after she had her baby boy, going to a traditional funeral of a chief in a neighbouring village, having to stop a session because a hail storm broke out with the hail the size of small rocks, lightning and thunder storms so load and strong that it lights up the night sky to be as bright as day and the brightest starts I have ever seen glisten in the night sky. All in all the experience so far has definitely been one that I will remember for a very long time whilst teaching me that actually, the world is a very small.
Limpho:
My name is Limpho Tsakoa from Roma. I have volunteered from January 2014 with OYAP and I'm now a volunteer in ICS placed in Roma.
In ICS we run sessions with different schools and different communities. We usually run the sessions six days a week, running three sessions a day. On Thursday we failed to do our morning session which started at 10am because of bad weather. For our second session at 1:30pm we managed to run only energisers and set up cones for our activity...then the heavens opened up; a storm had been brewing but we did not anticipate the huge hail which put an end to our session.
Luckily the storm calmed and we managed to finish our final session of the day at Mangopeng; we have begun to work with two volunteers from Germany who are based at the Leratong Community Centre. We performed well, and managed to complete both energisers and an activity.
Kat:
Hi!
My name is Katleho Ratia, I am 20 years old. I live in the district of Maseru, in the beautiful and peaceful valley of Roma. I am a friendly person who likes sports with all my heart, I am also very easy to talk to. I am an ICS volunteer on the side of OYAP Roma. I love my work very much. On Friday we had visitors from the UK, at our session at Tloutle Primary where we were given all the students from the school! We managed that big number very well, though at first we were a bit freaked out. Our visitors were Ms Jobo who is the ICS manager in Lesotho, Katie the ICS Programmes Officer, and Brian the ICS Director. The three of them were so impressed to see how well our session went.