Now that I am back in the US and my jet lag has almost
subsided (I start yawning at 9:30 instead of 5:30), I finally have had the
chance to write this last post.
The past week has been hectic; we left TTL in a rush due to a medical
emergency and as soon as I arrived back in South Bend I had to begin preparing
for my master’s project defense, which I successfully completed and passed…what
a relief! I’ve been thinking about
this last post for a while, and there are so many things I could write
about. But I think I’d like to
keep it short and sweet, highlighting some of the things I learned during my
adventures in Lesotho.
To start, there are sooooo many things related to health and
development that I could talk about.
During my time there I had long discussions with the fellows about ways
to improve TTL’s outreach in Lesotho and here in the U.S. (feel free to visit
their website and donate at www.touchingtinylives.org!) We also often discussed ways in which
the people of Mokhotlong could gain capacity, one of them being through local
markets. Almost all goods and
resources in Lesotho are exported, mostly because the infrastructure is so poor
in the rural areas that tourism doesn’t bring in any money. But as they continue to improve the
roads, or possibly even build a huge hydroelectric dam in Mokhotlong, there is
so much that can be done to improve the livelihood of the people there (starting
with a displacement strategy for the villages that will get completely flooded
from the building of a new dam). Unfortunately, though, one thing I did learn about being in a developing
country is that entrepreneurship doesn’t really exist there. I talked with several people about
improving agricultural practices or teaching women to knit the wool sheered
from all of the sheep and goats, both things that could lead to markets or
improved capacity for the people in the villages. The problem is that people in these situations are often
afraid to try something new because if it doesn’t work, well, they simply have
nothing to fall back on. I
realized while I was there that it is so easy for us to come up with these new
ideas for development, but uptake in communities is difficult because unlike
us, they don’t have loans to start out with or savings to fall back on – their
entire subsistence lies in the fields and gardens they grow, or in the joala
they sell. As depressing as this
may sound, it is one of the things that excites me most in global health and
development work because it is a challenge that not many people are willing to
take on, but should. And when you
see organizations like TTL accept these challenges and succeed, that is truly invigorating.
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| Khatse Hydroelectric Dam located in the center of Lesotho. |
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| A rondavel in a community that has run out of rocks to use. |
When I first arrived at TTL I put up a post about the babies
in the safe home and my family (mostly my dad!) has been begging me for an
update since. Well here it
is! There were 13 children in the
safe home during my first two weeks in Mokhotlong, but by the time I left there
were only about 7 or 8. It seemed
as if every week another child I fell in love with was healthy enough (really, chubby enough) to be reunited with their
families. I would selfishly get
sad every time another child left just because I loved playing with them so
much – their smiles just melt your heart!
But watching them go was also uplifting because I knew that TTL had
given them a chance at life, which they might not have otherwise had. My prime example of this is the little twins
who broke everyone’s hearts 5 weeks ago.
The sister and brother came into the safe home at 6 weeks old, only
about 4 pounds each. Their bones
were all protruding and they were simply lifeless, distant little
children. As the weeks went on I
watched them grow and by the time I left their progress simply amazed me. I remember being in the safe home one
night holding a baby who was making my arms tired, but I couldn’t put him down
because making him smile was just too cute. I realized that I didn’t recognize this baby, so I turned
and asked the Bo’me (the women who work in the safe home) who he was. Turns out, he was the twin boy! I was in complete shock; he looked like
a normal-sized baby, unrecognizable from when he came in…pretty
remarkable. As we all know, his
sister entered the safe home in much worse condition: she needed a feeding tube
and barely had enough energy to make a sound. As you might also imagine, the safe home gets pretty noisy
when all 8 babies decide to start crying at once. When this round of crying started one afternoon, I heard the
voice of one baby lying on some pillows having yet to be picked up. I went over to grab the child and to my
surprise it was the twin girl.
Now, you’d think it’s kind of sad when a baby cries, but boy was I happy
to see her letting out some screams!
It was the first sign of her progress toward being a normal, healthy two
month old. I held her for a long
time that afternoon, being a total BH (“Baby Hog”) as my family would say. I couldn’t help taking in her progress:
she babbled a bit, waved her arms and kicked her legs non-stop, and her cheeks
were filling out – there might’ve even been a little chubbiness to them! Holding her and reflecting on her
journey thus far really made every trip into the safe home and into the
villages worth it. Not going to
lie, just writing about her story is putting a smile on my face.
Her first few week in the safe home
A few weeks into the safe home.
5 weeks in the safe home - chubby cheeks!
Healthy and growing twins!
Teaching one boy how to count and spell his name in the safe home.
I had a professor once say that being in global health your
goal is to “work yourself out of a job.”
Eventually, we’d like to reach a point where our on-the-ground support
is transferred to the local people…even to a point where every child is no
longer at a risk for malnourishment and every adult can receive medicines for
fully treatable disease…we’d even like to see a time where diseases like
HIV/AIDS are eliminated from our world entirely. But so far, our work is far from over. The things I saw in Lesotho were eye
opening, in both good and bad ways.
There were a lot of happy times while I was there, but there were also
moments of deep sadness at the sheer condition of life in Mokhotlong. If I wasn’t inspired enough to be in
global health before, this trip definitely put me over the edge – there is so
much we can do in this world to help others, so why not do it?! I am so excited to graduate with an MS
in Global Health two weeks from today, mostly because I know that I have the
knowledge and skills so to go out and advocate, educate, and personally make a
positive change in the health care and lives of others. I can only hope that the stories from
my journey have inspired you to take a look at your own life, realize how lucky
we are as Americans, and see how capable we are of helping others even in the
simplest ways.
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| An outreach worker counting a young girl's pills. Some young children on outreach...   |
To be honest, I really wasn’t ready to leave Lesotho
yet. As much as I missed my family
and friends (and cheeseburgers!), there was still so much more to learn, so
much more to do. I am so thankful
that I got to experience such a wonderful country and culture, and got to meet
some amazing people and work with such a unique organization. I definitely couldn’t have asked for a
better field experience…. I’m already looking forward to my next visit to the
Mountain Kingdom (mom and dad, I hope you are on board!). I’m going to end this final post by
leaving you with a list of a few of the most notable things I
learned/discovered in Lesotho...
2. Time is not a thing…when you tell someone to
meet you at a specific time, expect him or her to be at least 30 minutes late.
3. Don’t call people “silly”…they will get
offended! If you want to say they
are playful, tell them they are “funny.” (Silly can imply sexual promiscuity.)
4. Before attempting to drink from a community
water source, ask how it works first.
Otherwise, you may end up like M’e Kokenyana, covered in water for a
long drive on outreach.
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| Just after the water shot out upwards and sprayed her in the face! |
5. Fully expect to fall asleep to the sweet sounds
of barking dogs, and fully expect to wake up to the calming sounds of cows
moo-ing.
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| My new alarm clock. |
6. When someone sneezes and you say “God bless
you,” don’t be surprised when they say, “What?” Blessing after a sneeze is just not a thing there. (If you are like me, though, you will
say it to everyone anyway…spread the love!)
7. Kids are never actually in school. Maybe it’s because there are very few
classrooms at the school, but I swear every time we drove by a school they were
on lunch break or recess. An
American child’s dream!
8. When you order pizza, be prepared for it to
taste like bar-b-que sauce. Weird,
I know. But you have been warned...
9. Church is 4 hours long. No, that is not a joke. I went once while I was there, and it
took about 1.5 hours just to finish singing and dancing as people donated change
to the congregation.
10. Basotho
love all things gospel music…as well as Usher, Akon, and the song, “I’m sexy
and I know it.”
11. Speaking
of music, a JoJo is not a 90’s pop one-hit wonder, it’s a water storage
device. The JoJo’s are pretty
cool, they are huge tanks that capture and store water runoff from building
roofs…innovative and environmentally friendly!
12. Lu’s
and Li’s are pronounced Du’s and Di’s…don’t ask why.
13. Speed
bumps are actually called “Humped zebra crossing”…just read the signs!
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| I wasn't kidding! |
14. Don’t
eat too many makoenya’s…you will gain some kilos!
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| Colleen and I eating out makoenya! |
15. Sing,
dance, and pray to start every day.
Even at work. You will be happier, and it really gets
those endorphins going!
I hope you enjoyed my blog and that you enjoy the pictures and video below. I will miss writing about
Lesotho almost as much as I will miss the country itself. If you have any questions or want to
hear more about specific things I’ve written about or didn’t write about, feel
free to email me at ann.m.polcari@gmail.com….Until my next adventure in
Lesotho, salang hantle!!
Some cute kids singing and dancing!
Welcome to TTL!
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| The safehome |
The TTL gardens and living quarters.
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| TTL has its own rondavels! |
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| Flying a kite made of plastic bags and sticks with an older safe home child. Toys are almost non-existent in Mokhotlong.  Welcome to Mohkotlong!  |
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Street of shops  |
Inside a shop
The shops on Sunday
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Hanging in an old tractor with some Basotho kids!
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