Sunday, January 6th

Urgh – this day began the night before – at 10:30pm Sam woke up crying and vomiting.  We suspect that the bad grapes he ate earlier were the cause.  Virtual midnight baths and a screaming Sam made for a good start to the day.  He spent the rest of the night waking up every hour or so moaning and whining in his half-asleep state.  Poor boy!  Eventually, at 5:45 am he was awake for the day and so were we.  I got up to shower and when I came out this is what I found on the edge of the bed waiting for me…

It is my birthday today, you see.  They sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me sweet drawings that they drew for me.  Craig had already given me my birthday present.  Sam was much happier and I was glad for that!

We went up to the Letsunyane church for this morning’s service.  It is about an hour’s walk from Ramabanta, but we were fortunate enough to go up in Hugo’s bakkie.  Craig drove us, Lisa, her son Bryce, Bruce (Ross’s son) and Simon (who was to preach this morning) so that the kids didn’t have to walk that far.  Also, that way Craig could take the kids back early, because church services here last a good few hours!

Simon and the kids in the back of the bakkie.

Craig did well again with his driving skills over some interesting terrain (although nothing like what we had driven on yesterday!)  Hugo decided to take his bakkie a bit further than where Craig had stopped (we walked the last 10 minutes or so).  Well, he too got stuck and ended up ripping off his tow hook in the process!  It was quite a spectacle to watch – most of which I didn’t want to watch because the car looked like it was going to roll.

Here is an old bakkie that DID roll some years back – you can see what type of roads we’re talking about.

We arrived in good time and had some time to chat to kids outside.  They were all fascinated with our photographic equipment and wanted to see the photos I took.  Most of them could speak reasonable English.  One little 12 year old boy I was chatting to took me by surprise.  Clearly, I had picked the naughty boy to chat to.  I said, "Dumela" (hello) to him and he replied with some unintelligible SeSotho.  I said, "I don’t understand, what did you say?"  He replied, "Do you want to sex me?"  I caught my jaw before it dropped to the floor and replied, "that’s not a very nice thing to say.  You should say "hello back!""  He just laughed, although his friend was a bit perturbed.  I chatted a bit more with him and all was well afterwards.  I think word may have got to one of the elders about his inappropriate behaviour, because soon after he sat down for church, he was dragged out by an elder! 

He is the one in the red:

Tired bunch after having walked the hour up the mountain to get to the church.

Karen enjoying bonding with some of the girls while we waited for the service to start.

The church service was truly long!  In a simple rectangular building, with glass windows just recently been added by St James from our last visit, it is humble and poor.  Yet, the people sing with gusto and are warm (as seems to be the case everywhere here).  Our girls managed to sit through the first hour of the service, but we left soon after that because Sam was too antsy by then.  It was a great experience for them to be exposed to a different culture and language all worshipping the same Lord and Creator King!  (About those windows: the hail from the winter broke some of the windows, so Craig suggested to Ross that they used polycarb to replace those panes.  Ross told the congregation that if the elders agreed, we’d like to do that – glad that Craig was there with such a wise suggestion!)

The church inside.

The traditional garb that some of the ladies wear – a throwback from when the church was first introduced many years ago.

Simon is the on the extreme right.  The minister of the church is in the middle.  The lady seemed to be the songleader.

Kiera sat with Uncle Flo a lot of the time.  She loves him!

On our way down, Bruce carried Katie and Craig carried Kiera – fireman style!  I had Sam on my back.

Bryce, aka Rock Rabbit, didn’t need any help getting down that mountainside!

We returned to some lunch and a good long nap.  The return of the team from the church service (at 3pm) and the game of cricket that began soon after woke us up.  Craig went off to play cricket, while I went to take down some of our washing and hang some more.  Yes, chores don’t stop – not for holidays nor birthdays!

After cricket we all hung around chatting and enjoying each other’s company.  Craig chatted to Mervyn C for a while – all the while fashioning himself a sticky block crown…  The Chief (Morena Makweba, 81 years – he is Chief of Chiefs in this area and is spending his time with us here at Ramabanta.  He is also the advisor and grandfather to the king of Lesotho, so he is quite well respected here in Lesotho) asked Craig for a picture for himself too!  Here they both are…

January 5th, Saturday

Today was a beautiful day – sunny and warm to begin and then thundering and lightening in the afternoon.  Truly spectacular.  Unfortunately, I have no photographic evidence.

We began the day with a short outride for the children.  What fun!  The kids loved it.  I’m really proud of them – they’ve approached every new experience with enthusiasm and an adventurous spirit.  Horse-riding was high up on their most-loved activity list. 

One horse was a little skittish – shied at cars and motorbikes, so they decided not to let the kids ride that one.  So I got to have a quick ride too.  That was fun.  I’ve not been on a horse in at least 10 years, but, as they say, it’s just like riding a bike. Off we trotted to join up with the children.  I think that was the second most exciting experience for the kids – seeing mommy riding a horse all by herself!

Waiting to ride the horses (The horses belong to the villagers.  Word goes round that we need X number of horses and they bring their horses for us to ride.  This is just one of the many ways Ramabanta supports the villagers).

Kiera – each child was led by one of the village boys

Katie – couldn’t be happier!  I foresee expensive extramurals in our future – or at least begging for said expensive extra-mural!

Given half the chance, even Sam would’ve climbed on that horse!

The village kids are warm and friendly. Susannah is too!  This is a great photo of the natural relationships that are forming.

Me on the skittish boy.  Not the best posture – but I was in the middle of teasing one of the kids about flopping about in the saddle! 

Straight after horse-riding, we climbed into the back of Ross’s bakkie (pickup truck for you Americans; or a "ute" for you Aussies).  It’s a two-by-four 3l diesel with diff lock.  Craig was super keen to see the Maletsunyane Falls and so off we went. Flo Visser hitched a ride with us with the plan to be dropped off at the Lodge to fish while we found our way to the waterfall.  What a ride that was!  Two hours to the lodge on seriously bumpy roads.  Again, the kids did me proud.  They laughed and cheered all the way, despite being seriously tossed about in the back!  They got bored after a while of driving, but no whining did we hear.  They amused themselves by hanging out the windows shouting, "Dumela!  Khotso!"  (Hello!  Peace!)

And they fell asleep a couple times too:

This sign is indicative of much of the routes to various places – understated of course.  It should read, "dozens of mountain peaks, dozens of hair-pin bends …!"  23km takes about an hour in this place!

We arrived at the lodge for a quick wee-stop and then headed for the falls – approx 1 hour away according to the Lodge manager.  Well, 1 hour and 20 minutes later we still hadn’t seen the falls.  We were beginning to drive on a seriously bad trail.  Craig got a crash-course in 4×4 driving (he was brilliant – I was never worried, although he was!).  Eventually we got to a part of the trail where Craig noticed that there were just no more tyre tracks.  Eventually we found a local who understood English enough to inform us that we’d missed the falls by about 1/2 hour! So, around we went.  We made good time and eventually saw the majestic falls (in a flash by, because we were going to be late to pick up Flo).  Beautiful!  Turns out that we probably took Ross’s bakkie to places it’s never been.  Craig was super grateful for the diff lock and diesel engine which made the whole experience a bit easier.

Sheep – herded past the lodge where we stopped.

Flo, returning from his fishing expedition.

The lodge is just past the village of Semonkong.  It’s one of the larger villages.  Whereas the other villages are mostly thatched and rock huts, Semonkong had many shanty-town type dwellings, built entirely of corrugated iron.  Little shack-shops lined the main stretch of dirt that took us through the town.  The weirdest thing was driving through this haphazardly built town and discovering a Pep store right in the middle of it all!  This was by far the wealthiest looking building in the town.

Yes, another phone place – this time a vodacom shop!  Again, this was one of the better built stores!

A typical village:

The beautiful and majestic falls.  These falls are the second largest single free falling falls in the world.

We arrived home by 5:30 – having left at 11am.  We discovered that in our absence, the King of Lesotho had visited Ramabanta.  He came for some tea.  We actually passed his entourage – Craig commented that the convoy must carry someone quite important.  Little did we know that it was the King and we would miss his visit.  The kids who were at Ramabanta at the time were quite unimpressed because he didn’t look like a king because he had no crown.  None-the-less, those who were at Ramabanta sang a couple of songs to him and had their photos taken.  I was sorry I missed it!  But, c’est la vie!

We also missed this beautiful rainbow, but thankfully I got a picture from Alison’s camera….  This is right above our room.

After that it was supper, bath and bed for the kids; supper, chat and bed for us!

Ramabanta,the place where we are staying is apparently named after the first Englishman to have passed through here.  It is situated in the beautiful Maluti mountain range.  I haven’t got all the details, but Rose says that it was originally a trading post, established in the 1903.  There was only a manager’s house and the shop where trading of skins etc took place.  About 6 years ago, the owner, Ashley Thorn, decided to turn it into a guest lodge-adventure centre.  Many people come here as a base for quad-biking and off-road motorbiking.  A wonderful woman called Rosemary (Rose) runs the centre.  A softly spoken woman with a generous heart and wonderful hospitality – she has a great love for people, especially the people of Lesotho.  Ashley asked her to run the centre when he started it 6 years ago. 

Here is sweet Rose…

Ramabanta is high up in the mountains of Lesotho and is surrounded by many little villages of warm, helpful people.  Our plan while we are here is to get into contact with the people and share the gospel with them.  We will have the opportunity to join the church service nearby (apparently, that goes on for HOURS!), play sport with the nearby villagers, play with the kiddies nearby and show the Jesus film even higher up in the mountains.  A real taste of mission-life for our kids and hopefully something we can do in some way or another throughout their lives to give them a love for missions.

We will also have an opportunity to be taught – each morning for the week days Mervyn will teach us on the topic of wealth from a biblical perspective and each evening from Flo on the topic of Christian families.  We are assigned to smaller discussion groups where hopefully we can get to know a few people better and discuss issues more deeply. 

We woke to our first morning here in Ramabanta – beautiful, sunny and so welcoming.  Breakfast, followed by singing together and then Mervyn’s talk…  The pictures will tell the rest of the story.

breakfast with dad

Susannah, Kate and her friend, Lindsey

Lindy (our pastor’s wife) and their foster daughter, Poppy Honey

Mervyn

Anthony, Simon and Nico

Our small group in discussion – Winston, Leon, Sylvia, Mandy, Kevin and Craig

While the parents were listening to Mervyn the kids were listening to Carmen (filling in for Melissa who joins us tomorrow as the children’s worker) – Carmen has the kids wrapped around her little finger.  She loves them and they love her.

Katie took the camera for a "spin" and got some very interesting shots (grass, toes and grass, brick and grass) and some great shots too – here is one of her more artistic shots of her brother.

The afternoon saw us all having a rest – and all woken up to a huge thunder and rainstorm.

While we were having talks, the kids were looked after by Carmen and Kirsty, but the babies were looked after by the serving ladies here.  They are warm and loving with us and the kids.  We are trying to learn some Sesotho words.  So far I’ve learned "dumela" (hello), "sala kathle" (stay well/goodbye), "khotso" (peace), "pula" (rain), "nala" (prosperity).  The last three words are part of a long greeting that is used quite regularly.  Hopefully more words will follow.

Okay – so camping is HARD work.  It took us from 6am until 10:30am to change, eat breakfast and pack up.  Packing up taking at least 90% of that time.  But, it was still fun!  The kids helped a bit and when they weren’t helping, they were playing in the dirt making up games with twigs, sand and leaves.  Kiera even made a pet frog out of a young leafy twig!  Who needs toys?

Packing up The Hotel- now you can see just how big it really is!

We set off for the Spar at Ladybrand to buy a few supplies and then it was a short 5km drive to the border.  It was really exciting for all of us, but mostly for the kids who have never been to another country.  The border crossing was especially interesting and elicited a few questions from the kids like, "what is a passport?", "why do they want to look at it?", "why do we need a stamp?", "how will they know that we’re not bad people and let us in?" 

driving to the border…

All of us had to get out to present ourselves at the border office.  Sam was fast asleep and happily kept sleeping right through the whole process.

a funny sign

crossing into Lesotho – we drove straight through this toll booth and only then discovered that we needed to get our passports stamped again on the Lesotho side.  This turned out to be fortunate, because Craig was able to go in and get our papers sorted out on behalf of us all – they felt sorry for us and let Craig do that.

Immediately past the border – some things are still the same (the Shell garage sign in the background for example) and yet some things are so different – such as the mielie lady in this picture! (Those are toasted mielies they’re selling)

We saw so many interesting things on our way to our destination… one which fascinated me the most was all the telephone booths every km or so – simply a tin structure around a public cell phone system… here are a few

The second most common sight was the donkeys – some ridden, some not…

water has to be collected from a central point and carried home…

The countryside of Lesotho is lush – every shade of green imaginable carpets the mountainsides.  Little rondaval village huts dot the landscape and the third most common sight is men and women harvesting mielies.

The sign to our destination – Ramabanta Trading Post Adventures…

The rooms – beautifully thatched and although rustic looking, actually extremely comfortable

our room – king size comfort here!

and the views are spectacular!

The kids wasted no time at all exploring the area with their friends – here are the girls with Bryce

the serving ladies welcomed us with traditional dress and song – beautiful