Joys

Lucky for me life is not just about learning to trust God (see last post).  Learning to trust him, for me, involves too much struggle.  So I am grateful for the day to day joys that life and living offer and which distract me from the challenges of spiritual growth.  Little children surely know how to bring joy to life.

Our friends, the Lepheana's have four little ones in their house hold, one a niece.  At a past time in their lives they had not the opportunity to support their oldest daughter to go on a school trip to Thaba Bosiu, the historical "mountain fortress" of Lesotho.  They now live but a thirty five minute drive away.  Without a car that is still a long way, but to their daughter's young mind that distance should not be an inconvenience.  A statutory holiday was coming up, May 1, when the girls would be out of school.  It was still warm, the forecast was looking good, and it seemed a great opportunity to offer to take the family to Thaba Bosiu.  (Just dont tell the kids lest they be disappointed if the weather changes.)

When the day arrived, Ntate Kuena was not able to go.  He was needed at his work.  The kids, however, were washed and dressed and ready to go when I drove up.  They had been told the night before of the trip and there was no way they were going to miss it.  But without Ntate Kuena, I wondered about the challenge of getting four little ones aged 10, 7, 3 1/2 and 2, up Thaba Bosiu.

Off we went.  What a delight.  Only one, "I'm tired," on the trail up to the plateau top.  The little guy (actually three weeks shy of age two) spent some time on his mother's shoulders on the way but the other three scrambled up on their own. 

What a tough mom, eh!  She got me to the top

We made it! A view at the top.

Then we spent three hours wandering around on the top, making sure we didn't miss one sight that the oldest daughter's school mates had told her about.  Towards the end of the time the three year old was weary but still not complaining.  She got a short ride on my shoulders where she nodded in and out of asleep.

I'm just three, but I managed on my own.

I think the biggest joy for me was a few days later when I heard about what happened when the family was back at home.  There, the older ones shared with all who would listen about their trip to Thaba Bosiu.  The three year old, the niece, as she snuggled in bed with her mother that evening, was not falling asleep.  She was recounting every detail of her day's adventures.  My joy was having been able to facilitate a day that provided them with such special memories. 

Another day, another family.  This time a trip out of town for a picnic.  In a land with few native trees, this trip was to a location with an wooded area of imported trees.  Playing in leaves, big piles of leaves, is a memory from most childhoods, but not in Lesotho.  Here were lots of leaves, leaves the like of which the little ones along on this trip had never before seen, let alone  played in.  Unfortunately they were a bit reticient about leaves and though they did get into throwing some back at me, it was their mother who, for the first time in her life, experienced being buried in a pile of leaves.

Oooh, what's with all these leaves?

Mom??!??

Forget the leaves, can we get back to the food?

Blessings come in so many ways.  What a blessing and source of much joy to be able to provide memories for others, especially when they are children, or children at heart. 

~ Benno ~

The Hand of God??

A few weeks back, in a moment of self pity and discouragement, watching the new and fancy cars zipping past my pre-2000 Honda, I was asking myself, “If the rich in Lesotho don’t seem to care about the poor in their own land, then why should I?”  How is it that humankind everywhere, when our own needs are met, can so easily overlook the other?  Such thoughts do come now and then.  They don't linger long, but they can be discomforting.  Which brings me to the Mustard Seed.  Where to for this little organization?

In April the board members were wrestling with the question of where they felt God was leading the Mustard Seed.  Below is a summation of their thoughts of where God is leading.

- God has greater plans for the Mustard Seed.

- Seeing girls suffering without education has to make us want to serve more girls.

- Provide school fees ourselves for girls not accepted for the government bursary.

- Find our own land/place, a permanent home.

- Enlarge our territory, enlarge our hearts, but it is God who will provide.

The Mustard Seed.  Where to?  How does God speak?  Is it the collective wisdom and thoughts of a group, our board?  If it is, then the Mustard Seed may be facing God sized growing pains in the near future.  Their sense is that we are to reach out to more girl orphans struggling to continue their schooling.  This year we are involved with about 18 girls.  A couple from the past have moved on, while about six new files have been opened.  Is it feasible, possible, to consider working with 50 girls next year?  Something that big is just too scary for my faith.  

How does God speak?  Are events that have occurred since those April deliberations the hand of God?  Another way of Him speaking, calling us to trust in Him, and that He will provide?

A group of local individuals have been working with orphans.  Their focus is to help orphans to understand and know God, the one who loves them and wants their best.  They do this through regular meetings with the children and helping the children develop income generating skills though jewelry making.  Circumstances had led them to a place where, if they were to continue, they were in need of a registered organization under which to deliver their program, Jewels of Hope.  They approached us, the little Mustard Seed, and asked to partner, or more correctly, to come under the Mustard Seed.  

The vision and mission statement of the Mustard Seed includes providing income generating skills to our participants.  A group of trained local people, with financial and administrative support from an Australian organization - a program ready to hit the ground running - through circumstances and past contacts, God brings to the Mustard Seed.  Today we have: a signed agreement with Jewels of Hope in South Africa, a group of workers familiar with the program, and strong support from Pioneers of Australia.   There is still much work to be done and relationships to be further developed, but together we are preparing to start up a Jewels of Hope project that will involve 20 participants, some of them current Mustard Seed girls, but most, new referrals from schools and chieftain's offices.  The tentative start up month is September 2012.  At that time participants in the Mustard Seed programs will swell from 18 to about 35.  With God at the helm, working with 50 girls next year may entail fewer growing pains than I had envisioned.

This school year the applications on behalf of orphans to the government sponsored bursary program far outstripped the available funds.  The funds available met less than half of the need.  Some of our applications were amongst those not funded and at the  Mustard Seed we are asking, “Do we stretch our limited funds to also cover school tuition fees?”  In early May we did pay the second quarter fees for one girl in a special situation.  A few days later she shows up at my house.  She reports that her primary school principal has found a private donor.  Yesterday I was able to speak with the donor's contact in Lesotho.  Indeed this donor (from Germany!!!) is prepared to cover the tuition and exam fees for this Mustard Seed girl for her five years of high school!  The Mustard Seed will continue to provide support as well as funds for uniforms, school supplies and some school related activities.

God is not limited by my lack of faith, and I wonder if he chuckles at my amazement that resources for one of our Mustard Seed girls is coming from somewhere I had never anticipated, Germany.  

"Provide school fees ourselves for girls not accepted for the government bursary."  This was one of our board members thoughts on where God was leading us.  With German resources covering the fees of one girl, the Mustard Seed can now "provide school fees" for the last of our girls not approved for the government bursary this year.

Ah, but yet I doubt.  Do I declare that this is the hand of God showing me he is able to provide?  What if he does not provide next time?  Or what if the Mustard Seed steps out 'in faith' and funds more girls next school year and then runs out of money?  Lord, "help thou mine unbelief!" (Mark 9:24).

Lord, when I see the new and fancy cars zipping by and I despair and lapse into discouragement, may I not forget that you still care, and may I have the faith to beleive that you are able to provide for those struggling in Lesotho.  Lord, help thou mine unbelief!!

~ Benno ~

Travelogue Lesotho

For the last three or four years Wendy has been saying, "I want to see Sehlabathebe National Park."  Someone had told her it was one of the most beautiful places in Lesotho.  Me, I only thought of the long, difficult drive to get to that far south east corner of Lesotho.  But finally I succoumbed to her persistence and we made plans to travel to Sehlabathebe National Park with some friends here in Lesotho.  It so happened our son Byron was here at the time so we enjoyed his company as well.



Leg 1:  316 km - 6 hours driving.
We stopped off in a little village where some friends live.  This time instead of taking our stuff across on the ferry (aka leaking row boat), Allan, our fellow traveller, tossed all in the back of his 4x4, sent Byron wading across the river to scout the way, engaged his diff lock, and headed across the river.  

Byron pointing the way.

It was nice not to have to pack our stuff up the long climb from the river, but chicken that I am, I still took the ferry both ways across the river.  We enjoyed the visit with our friends, spent the night in their tent, and then continued on the next day.


Leg 2: 129 km - 6 hours driving.
What a day this was!  Good thing I was again stopped at a police check point.  With no signs we missed a turnoff, and the kind officer amicably provided us with directions back and didn't even ask to see my drivers licence.  For the most part the road was a reasonable dirt road, one section winding along the Lesotho/South Africa border, the watershed atop the southern Drakensberg.  

Lesotho on the left : South Africa on the right

Along the way we made out but one rusted old sign that suggested we were going in the right direction but with asking directions a couple of times, 5-plus hours later we came to the entry gate of Sehlabathebe National Park.  The road we turned off onto, at least initially, appeared to be little more than a rocky creek bed.  Ten minutes down this road we came upon a beautiful set of building.  Here at last, we thought, relieved.  However, these beautiful buildings were an educational and conference centre build some years back but still not being used.  The guards directed us back to a turnoff we had not noticed and to another road, which turned out to be better than the beginning stretch.  We wound along this narrow mountain road for another 40 minutes, as the the evening shadows lengthened, wondering if there really was a light at the end of the road.


There was.  The staff employed by the park came out to greet us, and though they had not been told we were coming, showed us to our rooms, the kitchen and common room.  In short order they had a fire going in the common room to ward off the chill of the high mountain evening.  In the warmth of the fire the memories of the long and winding drive began to fade.  


Sehtabathebe National Park
The park turned out to be everything that we had been told to expect.  Remote, wide open, beautiful vistas, and with the most intriquing rock formations.  After the two day trip in, I was relieved that we would have three full days to enjoy the sights and solitude before having to contemplate the drive home.


We hiked.  We read. We ate. We relaxed.  We hiked some more.  


We enjoyed the roaring fire each evening, and thought - "Yes, this is a wonderful place." 

Why this scene conjured up "Camelot", I don't know.

A long abandoned shepherd's hut nestled under an overhang.

One of many arches.

A steep scramble.

Tucked in a valley nearby. 

Below, South Africa bathed in clouds.

Morning majesty.

Ice on one of many little ponds.

Leg 3: 130 km - 7 hours driving. 

On the way home we took an alternate route.  The first hour saw us out of the park and the next two hours of driving was an adventure.  We knew we had to get over some mountains but the road seemed to run into a wall.  We could not fathom where it would go, but continued to crawl and bounce along.  Back and forth up switchbacks.  Across to a different mountain face and more switchbacks.  Now around a corner and back to the initial mountain face, and there it was, the top.  Barely room to park to take in the view, and then the road plunged down the other side.  It had taken 3 hours to drive the first 39 km.  

And this was the supposedly the better part of the road.  The map showed the 4x4 only section was still to come!!  Fortunately the 4x4 only section had been upgraded.  While it was certainly the smoothest section, it also had some of the steepest grades.  On one long grade, I was down to first gear and even then the Honda could barely maintain it's speed.  Wendy and Byron were preparing to bail out to lighten the load if necessary, but we inched our way onward and finally crested the grade.

Along this stretch of road was some of the most barren and desolate areas I have seen in Lesotho.  I was relieved to leave that section of country behind and enter a section where villages and fields again appeared.  In these fields we passed numerous little stacks of grain drying in the sun, ...

and in one field, workers, using the breeze to winnow their recently threshed grain.  

Leg 4: 180 km - 4 hours driving
The last leg back to Maseru cut across the middle of the country.  Wendy and I can now truly say that we have traversed most of the length and breadth of the country.  The road wound in and around mountain after mountain.  The least winding part of the road was when we were again driving on or near the top of a mountain ridge.  Lower down erosion has created deep clefts in the mountain sides meaning in and out, in and out.  Up high the curves were long and sweeping.  But up high, we had to watch for those who shared the road with us.

Road congestion.

Back in Maseru

There is one last section of Lesotho that Wendy and I could yet traverse to say that we have made it totally around the perimeter of the country.  It is about a three day hike from Sehlabathebe to where we were when we climbed the highest point in Lesotho.  While we were in Sehlabathete, an intrepid American hiker showed up.  He had just completed the three day hike, having spent one night invited in to a shepherds hut by the ubiquitous herd boys.  I am not sure we will give that hike a try as the logistics of the vehicle drop off and pickup would be something of a challenge.

~ Benno ~

Passports

Someone recently informed me that the passport office in Lesotho is just now processing passport applications that were submitted in 2008.  People have been waiting three plus years to obtain their primary indentification document.  In Lesotho their passport is important to apply for anything from a water or electrical hook-up for one's a house, to a driver's licence, to a job.  One of our goals at the Mustard Seed is to obtain primary ID documents for out girls, including birth certificates and passports.  Waiting for threee years or more just was not encouraging though.  


There are a couple ways to force the issue of getting a passport.  One way I won't elaborate on.  The other way to expedite a passport application is to have a commitment in South Africa.  A letter from an employer in South Africa saying one has been offered a job there and your  passport application goes to the top of the list.  Not far behind, is travel to South Africa to attend school, or even to participate in a school field trip.  Many schools plan trips to South Africa in part, I suspect, to enable students to obtain their passports.


Each year at the Mustard Seed we recognize girls who performed well in the previous school year with a field trip.  This year we planned our trip to South Africa.  We approached the passport office with our plan, and again I felt we were given amazing grace.  We were treated like a school planning a school trip.  Yes, there was waiting in lines, there was seeking to connect with the right officials, multiple trips to the passport office with and without the girls who missed a couple of days of school in the process.  But the day before we were due to leave, and only about four weeks after we began the process, I picked up the passports for three of our girls (the fourth girl had previously obtained her passport via a school trip) .  It was a rewarding moment, to actually have obtained passports for some of our girls.  

Hydro plant visitors centre.

We were off.  I had the girls up early the next morning.  We had a long first day's drive to reach our tour of a South African hydro-electric plant.  I suggested they sleep on the way, but they were too excited.  They did not want to miss any of South Africa.  Over the next three days we took in the hydro plant, two South African National Parks, and the outflow of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.  

Relaxing along side a mountain stream.

A trip with me always includes a hike.
Clambering up a ladder at Golden Gate National Park. 

Inside a sandstone cave/overhang.

On the two nights of the trip I thought we might lose a couple of the girls - down the drain.  We in the west often do not fully appreciate the joys of turning a tap and having hot water.  Hot showers for the girls lasted for 30 minutes or more, evening and morning!  One of the girls stated that the long hot showers, morning and evening, were the highlight of her trip.


For another girl, her highlight was visting the outflow of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, a water diversion project.  Water that flows out of Lesotho at its south west border, is diverted north to provide water for the Johannesburg area.  The South African government pays Lesotho for diverting water that naturally flows into South Africa to a part of their country that has a greater need.  The water is a source of considerable revenue for the Lesotho government.  I was surprized by the pride this girl felt in this Lesotho project and her delight to see where the water emerged into South Africa after running through kilometres of underground tunnels through Lesotho.  

Water from Lesotho flowing into South Africa

It was a delight for me to see the girls enjoy so many things that I take for granted - spending time splashing in the water of a clear mountain stream; hiking and exploring the incredible geography of another park; stopping alongside a road to watch baboons, zebras and other wildlife.


But the most profound impact for me was the response of one of our girls as she held her passport.  I have spoken of her before - a girl who lives at a mission and has no family members who seem to care about her.  She looked at her passport, something that gives her identity, and told the chaperone that she had never dared dream that one day she would have her own passport, that she would be deemed significant enough to receive such a document.  


I was again reminded that it is often the seemingly small things that can positively impact and enhance the esteem and sense of worth of our girls.  Passports.

~ Benno ~

The Top of the World - Well, the Top of Lesotho

We made it to the top of Southern Africa.  Thabana Ntlanyana is the highest point south of Kilimanjaro, and it is the highest point in Lesotho.

Thabana Ntlanyana has been a hike we have wanted to do for the past couple of years.  We made it to the area in late 2010 but were rained and snowed out, at the height of summer (not unlike the risks of summer in the Rockies).  Wendy has two colleagues that are runners, and they had dreams of ‘running’ to Thabana Ntlanyana, so together we planned a trip.

Wendy had to convince them that hiking in to the highest point in Lesotho, 3482 meters, would be a bit different than going for a 3 or 5 hour run.  On the agreed upon day we loaded up (down) our vehicle and began the journey.  Food, day packs, sleeping bags, tents, blankets, more blankets, and we were off.  Off, in Lesotho, means winding roads through innumerable small villages, over incredibly high mountain passes, and along roads of every sort. 

Winding roads.

Wendy's colleagues got in a little run at one of the passes. 

Roads of every sort included smooth, modern, tar roads; roads more potholes than road; a section of paved highway with a stream, 15 inches deep and about the same width, winding it’s way down the middle of the road; gravel roads with water filled potholes four feet across, 6 feet long and up to 20 inches deep.  Then there was the 4x4 only section of the road which I pushed our little Honda CRV over.  At times my passengers would get out.  It is amazing the difference that 500 pounds less makes in getting up steep, rocky grades.  Nine hours of driving later and we arrived at our destination for the night.

Road hazards.

Wendy and I got our little tent pitched easily enough, while our hiking colleagues struggled with erecting a tent that had been lost deep in a closet for too long to remember how to set it up.  After supper we had a snug and restful sleep in our little tent, while their’s was buffeted by the wind and treatened to blow away.  It was cold - with ice forming on the puddles and frost on the vehicle. 

The next morning we drove to the trailhead and were on the trail just before 7:00 a.m.  The reports I had read gave hiking times of 8-12 hours.  Later our hiking colleagues suggested that I had set a pretty tough pace, but I didn’t want to be getting back after dark.

The mountains here, devoid of trees, make for such a different hiking experience.  Nothing gets in the way of the views, though I find the views wanting compared to the views in the Canadian Rockies.  We wound along a valley, then up a long steep slope.  We stopped at the top and enjoyed our first views of our unremarkable goal. 

The goal, elevation - 3482 metres.

Down off the ridge into another valley and then the hike up a steady slope and we were at the top of Lesotho, and higher than all but a dozen or so peaks in the Canadian Rockies.  But what a difference.  No snow, no ice, no ankle busting scree slopes. 

3491 meters in the Alberta Rockies.

Additionally, the herdboys with their sheep, traverse the same mountain slopes and show up seemingly out of nowhere, past experience telling them that hikers stop at the top and eat, and they are likely to get handouts.  

The top of Lesotho.

Wendy with her Basotho colleagues.  A 'high' point for them they said.

On the way back we met more herd boys.  One young fellow with his mamokhorong, (a simple instrument made of an old tin container, a bowed stick and a single string) sang and played us a number of tunes.  Then it was the final push back to the vehicle. 

   

We arrived at the vehicle weary and worn 9 ½ hours after our departure and with plenty of time before dark.  The next day after the nine hour drive back to Maseru I was ready for a couple of days of rest.  But we had been to the top of Maseru, and for this attempt we had had a perfect sunny day with not a hint of rain to threaten our trek to the top of Lesotho, Thabana Ntlanyana.

~ Benno ~

Mustard Seed - The Future?

We are well into the new school year here in Lesotho.  This means our Mustard Seed girls are back into their school routines. With uniforms and school supplies purchased for those that needed them, things have slowed down a bit in terms of getting the girls’ school needs met.  Well, mostly …

In late February we finally received the decisions regarding the applications for school tuition grants that the Mustard Seed had helped caregivers prepare.  The outcomes were mixed.  Two of our applications were not approved, and not because of anything lacking in the applications, there is just not enough funds to meet the need.  In one district over 700 applications were received for the 300 tuition grants available.  In another district, the administrators decided they had enough funds only to cover students entering their first year of high school.  The result is that many orphaned children in Lesotho, not just our Mustard Seed girls, face the disappointment of not being able to continue their education.  So in terms of meeting our girls’ school needs, we have some big decisions about the tuition costs. 

For us at the Mustard Seed it means in part considering how we will work in the future.  Yes, some of our girls were approved this year but other families we worked with were only disappointed.  And the families that we work with have few or no alternate resources to pay the fees so their granddaughters or nieces can attend school, so the disappointment is acute.  With less than half of applicants being approved, what do we do for those families we have supported to apply?  Do we tell them, maybe next year?  Or, sorry?  The reality for many families, even with one or both parents, is that there are insufficient resources to send all or even any of their children to high school.  Why should the girl orphans we come in contact with be any different?  But that feels like giving up, in addition to being uncaring.  So at the Mustard Seed we will begin talking about our response at our April board meeting.

Maybe as an organization we have reached a point where we have to ask, "Do we go bigger or go home?"  Do we do just keep doing what we have been doing, and see a few applications approved each year.  Or, do we begin the arduous task of fundraising so that irrespective of funding, or lack thereof, from the government of Lesotho we can see that girl orphans that we work with have the opportunity for a high school education?  Do we we seek to find the approximately $70 Cdn per month to keep a girl in school (tuition, uniform, books, adequate nutrition, as well as emotional and peer  support).  That works our to $840 per year, $4200 (not adjusted for inflation) for five years of high school to see a girl through to graduation.  If so, then for how many girls?  Ten?  Twenty? Twenty-five?  Fifty?  Think of us and if you are into praying, pray for the Mustard Seed board as we consider what our response will be.

Meanwhile most of girls we are supporting, now numbering seventeen, are busy with their high school studies.  Another has applied to the national university, and yet another who has completed high school is working while considering the next step in her education.  I am especially encouraged with the efforts of a number of our high school girls who are working very hard on their school work including joining small study groups with like minded students committed to doing well.  Our Maths tutor this year, another of Wendy’s former students, is also doing an excellent job preparing the girls for greater success in what is such a difficult subject here.

The Mustard Seed, starting small, and as God leads, looking to our future.

~ Benno ~

Licensed to Drive

In late December 2011, my Alberta driver’s license went missing.  Being in Lesotho, stopping in at the local Alberta licensing centre to obtain a replacement was not going to be a viable option. 

It was two days before we left on a trip to South Africa.  Wendy, not wanting to risk me experiencing the inside of the South African traffic violation system, banned me to the back seat while she and Dylan, who was here at the time, took over the driving duties.  Once back in Lesotho, it was a stroll down to the local Lesotho Mounted Police Service detachment.  I explained my situation, reporting that my wallet had gone missing.  The interviewing officer took my statement, and then on the bottom of a sheet of paper wrote out my investigation number, stamped it with the detachment stamp, tore it off and handed it to me. 

"If you get stopped just show the paper and your passport to the officer," I was instructed.  I had a temporary driver’ license.  I was informed it was good for a few weeks, and was given a few broad suggestions on how to obtain something more permanent.

Yikes, what now!  Would I have to apply as a learner and go through the Lesotho licensing process to get back on the road.  My temporary license was good for Lesotho, for a few weeks, but what if I needed to go to South Africa.  Off to the licencing office I went and waded through the inevitable queues.  The supervisor listened to my story and shook his head.  I did not want to go through the apparently long and wearisome Lesotho licencing process he assured me.  Just get something, anything, from back home that confirmed I was a licensed driver he suggested.  Maybe then something could be done.

The joys of the Internet!  And the ability to scan documents.  Between my brother in Alberta, staff at his local Alberta licensing centre, and the Internet, I was able to print off a copy of my driver’s abstract.  Then it was a few more trips to the Lesotho licensing office where my abstract was perused by a number of officials.

“It doesn’t have an original office stamp.” 

“Hard to get over the Internet,” I explained. 

“Go see the Superintendent of Traffic,” I was directed. 

“No original office stamp,” I was informed. 

“Yes, ... the Internet you know.”

But favour was with me through out the process.  The Superintendent waived the official stamp and stamped my abstract with her own stamp.  The less than helpful clerk muttered and mumbled, but accepted her stamp.  My picture was taken, thumbprint printed, signature signed, and within another week I had what will be a special souvenir to bring home from Lesotho.

Oh, and my temporary license:  I was stopped at more road checks during those few weeks, than in all of the previous year.  On one trip alone we went through five check stops.  Those for which Dylan was driving he was waved through.  Those for which I was driving ... it was produce my scrap of paper.  During the four weeks, only one officer questioned my scrap, and that was because after two weeks why did I still not have my replacement.

Licensed to drive.

~ Benno ~