Four encounters on my last day in Lesotho

Encounter 1

C-O-M-E-O-U-T!
C-O-M-E-O-U-T!

The chanting was coming from behind double-doors to my left. As young women wearing dress unusual for women in Lesotho streamed out of the room to go to lunch I stopped in my tracks to listen to a participant explain to an employee that it was a workshop on sexual orientation (actually, since they were speaking in Sesotho I heard "blah, blah, blah, sexual orientation.") In Lesotho! Fantastic!

Encounter 2

At breakfast I had heard some people speaking Swedish in a corner of the restaurant. Since they were white, and there were 2 black toddlers with them chattering to each other in a foreign language, I assemed they had adopted these children, especially since there are very few Swedes who have ever heard of Lesotho, let alone been there. I went over to talk to them and it turns out I was right. There were 2 families and they will live 200 km from each other so the children will have the opportunty to meet in the future. The couples said they were on their way home after 2 weeks of "adventures." Seeing as how they had never been to Africa, I can imagine the adventures they had dealing with the administration of adopting a child. Even getting a taxi in Africa for the unitiated can be an adventure!

Encounter 3

After breakfast I walked down to the golf course to play a round of golf. One of my colleagues had kindly arranged for me to borrow a set of ladies clubs for the day. In Africa you always have to have a caddie, whether you want one or not. Mine was a nice kid who knows that I don't like a lot of unsolicited swing lessons while on the course (on the driving range is another story). They call women of a certain age "Meh" (like the "Ma" of Ma Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana). So he would politely try to encourage me or compliment me based on how well I was doing, ever mindful of his tip I am sure (unlike the unwise ballboy in Bangladesh - there you had to have a ballboy AND a caddie. God forbid the player or the caddie should have to look for a ball - who actually said to me: "Maam, you are very good on the green, but you are very bad on the fairway." He obviously wasn't thinking of his tip. But I digress). Anyway, at one point when I was having a bad streak but trying to look on the bright side, I said to my caddie: "Well, at least I'm not duffing the ball." To which he responded in all seriousness, "Oh Meh it makes me so happy you are not duffing the ball!" So there you go. I made one person happy yesterday!

Encounter 4

After an exhausting 18 holes on the brown, dry course, I stopped by an open-air crafts market. There is a cooperative of women living with AIDS that makes beautiful jewlery out of recycled glass. There was a Peace Corps volunteer there who is helping them with their finances and marketing. He agreed that Lesotho is a pretty cushy place to be stationed. Its certainly very different from my post in Chad over 20 years ago. It's such a beautiful country. It's surprising its not overrun with tourists.