Horse-riding PCV

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So, we got busy with guests and travel and work again and my endeavor to get caught up on this blog got sidelined again. My apologies. I now return to August of 2010 to resume where I left off...

While my wife, as Peace Corps' Country Director here, regularly gets to visit the sites where Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) work, I seldom do. Something about keeping my day job...

However, I was fortunate enough to get to visit two volunteers' sites this past August. The first is a Resource Teacher. That is, she is a resource to other teachers, providing them with guidance and assistance in improving their teaching. She travels from school to school in her area, helping the local teachers as needed in improving the education they provide to children such as these:



In classrooms like these:

In places like this:


Where the school houses look like this:


The children pictured directly above are actually in a pre-school, and they are called linkunyana (deen-KOON-yahn-uh), or little sheep...

The classrooms I saw were bare but clean, crowded but not too overly so. I have heard some are, though, with 50 or more students in a class. As I understand it, Lesotho suffers from a perennial teacher shortage. Hence, the need for PCVs as teachers.

The students seemed largely engaged, and occasionally even enthusiastic, despite what to me was the most salient fact of their classroom environment: no temperature controls. The teachers all tend to wear coats while teaching, though the children do not. Lesotho winters do get cold - cold enough for snow. And many of these children walk a long way just to get to school, as there are no school buses (though some take local buses).

The teachers, including resource teachers, also travel quite long distances at times. Indeed, in order to get around, as she serves several schools over a fairly broad area, this particular PCV needs some form of transportation - as walking would simply not suffice. Given the terrain, the most logical solution is a horse. This, she rents.

After meeting some of her students, and her ride, we got to see her house, with its minimal but cozy kitchen:

And, of course, we met some of the creatures who share that particular plot of land with her:


And they did, of course, feel free to stroll by any old time...

And no wonder. Who would not want to enjoy this view with her? I mean, really...