On Wednesday 12 October, at around 4 pm, my African adventure began at Freiburg main station. My father accompanied me to Lesotho until Sunday the 16th – partly to get to know the country, which until then he had only known from my stories and from television, and of course also to meet Kingsgate Primary School and my host family and to make sure I was well accommodated.
After a small hitch at the Lufthansa check-in – my return flight is not booked until the end of June and I was only going to receive my visa in Mafeteng – we were able to relax in the lounge before our flight and then go to our departure gate shortly before 10.
After a quiet flight we landed in Johannesburg at 08:40.
Now we had to run! Boarding for our connecting flight to Maseru closed at 9:10, and we still had to run through the whole of Terminal A (international flights), pass through customs and security for transit and then, one floor down, with belts and open backpacks in our hands, run all the way back to our connecting flight. Completely out of breath, we still made it to our gate in time.
After a short bus ride across the apron we stood in front of our plane, which looked tiny compared with our jumbo jet from Frankfurt to Johannesburg – and it really was: room for about 30 passengers.
After a one-hour flight with an incredible view of the endless expanse of South Africa and the breathtaking mountains, we landed at Moshoeshoe I
International Airport in Maseru, where probably fewer passengers are handled each day than at many a German bus stop. But its “size” has its advantages: entry is incredibly quick and comes with the friendliness of the Basotho that I had already experienced on my last trip.
In our rental car we then drove to Kingsgate Primary School, where we were warmly welcomed by Mateboho Masiu, several teachers and Antonia, my host mother and also a teacher at Kingsgate. After checking into our room at the Lapeng Habu Bantu guesthouse, where we stayed until my father left, we drove to my host family. After a relaxed dinner with everyone at the Golden Hotel, I fell into bed dead tired.
On Friday my father and I tried to get a SIM card for my phone and my internet stick, which turned out to be an impossible task, as there was not a single Econet SIM card available in the whole country (apparently due to supply problems). So I now have a Vodacom SIM card for my phone, but it is too expensive for internet use… That is why even today (1 November) I am still waiting for the SIM card for my laptop. It is also the reason why I have not published a blog post until now, and I really apologise for that… From now on I will be in touch more often!!!!
In the afternoon we drove with the teachers to Malealea Lodge, with truly beautiful scenery. In the evening we went for pizza with the teachers at the Golden Hotel in Mafeteng… The pizza, which would make any Italian turn in his grave, tasted surprisingly good.
Later in the evening we were invited for tea by the family of the kind lady from whom I hope to get my SIM card in the near future and from whom I also got my Vodacom card. The whole family – of Indian descent – is extremely friendly; I got on well with their 18-year-old son, who goes to school in South Africa, and was invited to meet up with them at the weekend.
On Saturday morning we got up early to set off at 7 for Maliba (pronounced “Madiba”) Lodge, three and a half hours away. In the end we left at 8.30 – punctual by African standards. After a stop in Maseru at KFC and a big shopping trip for 20 people with two full meals each (five large KFC shopping bags – yes, such a thing exists), and after another hour’s drive, we arrived at Maliba Lodge in the middle of the breathtaking landscape of Lesotho’s highlands, with a wonderful view down the long valley and of the majestic green mountains, with antelopes climbing up the steep slopes…
Then the time had come: it was Sunday, and I had to say goodbye to my father until Christmas. We drove around a little in the morning, and in the afternoon we went to my new family to drop off my luggage before I accompanied my father to the airport…
The next few days were quite difficult, as I struggled a lot with homesickness and the completely new surroundings. In the first week I visited all the classes to get a closer look at how the school day and lessons work. On Monday my residence permit was also approved until 30 June 2016, which was much easier than I could ever have dreamed.
On Friday 21 October I moved to the CTC, where I had already stayed on my last visit. I do not think the reasons need to be given here. I can only say one thing: they have nothing to do with my host family, who welcomed me into their family with a warmth and hospitality that is by no means a matter of course, even by Lesotho standards. I still visit and meet up with my M’e Antonia, my Ntate Marcel and my host brother Thabiso.
Saturday 22 October 2016: 0800 at the entrance gate of Kingsgate Primary. Strange things are happening. A bus is standing at the entrance. Bass-heavy South African house and dance music is booming out of the open door and windows. The teachers are cheerfully laughing, singing and dancing. So are all the Grade 7 pupils. A sound system is hastily loaded into the belly of the bus – as it later turns out, to fill the peaceful, idyllic town of Morija, 30 km from Mafeteng, with music. All day long!
It is the farewell trip for Grade 7 before they finish primary school and get to keep cramming at all sorts of different high schools. After the final exams last week, that now seems a long way off. Today, in the here and now, there is laughing, singing and dancing, and all worries are simply forgotten. The bus, bouncing up and down to the rhythm of the bass and the dancing bodies, gives the residents of Morija a sense of foreboding, because Kingsgate comes every year in October… At least that is what I read in the horrified, chalk-white faces of the people standing by the roadside who apparently forgot to leave Morija in time, or did not make it, in the spirit of “Just leave the old and frail behind and run for your lives!” And so all the pupils and teachers!!! danced, picnicked and celebrated until sunset.
I also met Anna, a volunteer from Freiburg and a friend of friends – it really is a small world. You can find her blog here.
By 18:30 the whole spectacle was over… We were on our way home to Mafeteng. But anyone who thinks the journey home was quieter because everyone was getting tired is very much mistaken… There was dancing on the bus until the very last moment.
I used Sunday to sleep in and recover from Saturday.
Last week I received my timetable, and with the teachers’ help I now teach maths and life skills in Grades 1 to 6.
In the afternoons I either meet my host family or go out with one of the teachers, especially Thabelo Tseetse, a student who is still doing her teacher training at Kingsgate and with whom I get on very well, as I do with the other teachers too. After all, the age difference between 19 and 21 is not that big…
Every evening I fall into bed by 9 at the latest, dead tired but happy…