Le Khaim! To Life!

One wonderful(?) part about Peace Corps is the many trainings that we have. Right now, I am on the way to another and had the chance to hang out with some PC volunteers this past weekend. Every day I was with my friend, she had to put more foundation under her eyes but we (I) just could not stop talking. Being in Peace Corps really forces you to think, to re-evaluate life, and yourself. It shows you just how much possibility there is in life. I think that is why so many people leave Peace Corps to do really great things.
I’ve been going jogging in the hills around my place (only after the sisters were assured by EVERYONE that I would not be kidnapped for someone’s bride—but I argued that, unless I started jogging, no one would be able to stuff me in an escape vehicle anyway) and it’s amazing how you just don’t know what is on the other side of the hill. You don’t know who is coming, who you will meet, who you will know, or what will be there. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been trying to plan what I would do with life after Peace Corps and it’s so true that I just cannot see what is coming next.
The next thing I’ve learned is that life is too short to waste but long enough to really do something with. This is partially due to the nuns; without biological clocks and the life structure involved with marriage and child bearing, they have long strings of years to just continue developing. I love living with women who, at forty, feel comfortable getting another degree, who, at fifty can start a whole new project, and who, at sixty and seventy are still working hard, being useful, and learning. I came thinking, all right, you’ll be 26 by the time you are out, now you are stuck, you need to figure this out and etc., and although I need to move on in life, my life is not over and will not be until I die.

There are also some things that I thought before hand and have now been confirmed. First of all, there are two types of help: one in which you feel good and the other in which people are empowered. I find that the latter is not particularly glorious, is quite often humbling, and doesn’t always win Time magazine’s person of the year. It is small scale, personal, and involves mentoring, discipling, or whatever else you want to call it. Before I came here, I spent a few days with some friends from Lesotho, Reno and Nancy. Reno worked for the Canadian government building boreholes in villiages for about ten years while Nancy, home with three small children, started homeschooling. Now, twenty years later, many of Reno’s boreholes have fallen into disrepair and are no longer used. Nancy, however, turned the home school into an elementary school, which became the nation’s best school. The teachers she trained learned how to think, to make decisions, to organize time, and to learn. Many went on to higher positions and some became high ranking government officials. May I never forget Reno’s (who is now reffered to in Lesotho as the husband of Nancy) advice—it is not about buildings, about your expertise and your wonderfulness and you cannot change the world—it is about those few people that you take under your wing and teach to see things a bit differently, about the slow process of life change, skills transfer, and horizon opening.
Now I face the beginning of a new school term and getting down to work. I will be teaching typing and computers (which are new as of this year), BASIC math, BASIC English, Life skills for health, and starting the baking project. I also want to visit outstation parishes on the weekends by foot—don’t worry guys, the sisters had to make sure it was REALLY safe first—and see life. I now have some basic things to teach—I want to start with biosand water filters and hand washing. All along, let me not forget Reno and Nancy, that if I just do stuff for them, it will be lost but if I can really teach thinking, making their own money (baking), improving their own health (water filters), encouraging these girls that they are worth more than the cows their fathers want to get as bride price for them, that will be truly change. The problems that I see here are not caused by a direct lack of things and outside expertise, but a lack of empowerment and a general belief that you can do nothing to improve your situation. These things take time and, just like successful parenting, require a loss of my illusions of self importance.