Everywhere I go people need help building things. My school needs a new classroom building, a new water supply, the orphan garden needs a shelter and kitchen, the primary school a new everything! At the end of April I helped my deputy principle to write a grant to the US Embassy asking for funds to build a new classroom building. The grant is for R50,000 and the approximate cost of a new two classroom block is around R200,000 so if they will even consider us is up in the air. My classrooms now are very crowded and my form D math class has 70 students. Whether I want to put in the effort to raise all this money on my own for a new classroom I am not sure and I am not sure it would make a big impact on the functioning of my school.

Lynn is helping my school to build a new water system for the school because sometimes water runs out during the dry season and the school water use puts a lot of pressure on the surrounding communities water supply. I am really excited to help because of my background and it is something I actually know something about unlike teaching haha! The surveyor is looking at possibly connecting a source to the school with an organization close by that does plant preservation for herbal medicine. Hopefully I will get a chance to talk to him the next time he comes out and help out by writing a project proposal.

The orphan garden is an amazing place. I visited their last weekend with Liteboho (my closest Basotho friend) and Caitlin. Liteboho organized some really fun small games for the kids. One involving strings and stacking cups to try to teach team work and another goofy circle game where one kid went in the circle and said simple English phrases about having a ball, dancing with it, and passing it to another person in the circle. The kids loved it and it was really fun to see their confidence grow as the game progressed and they went into the circle alone. The orphan garden is an uplifting place and I feel such a positive energy when I am there and the bo-mme are incredible people. All the kids old enough to carry a shovel help with planting and preparing new plots. They are asking me to help them to build a new building to house the orphans when it is cold and a place to cook. It is possible that I will be able to apply for grants through PEPFAR and hopefully will learn more about this in June at an in service training. Lynn the picture of the baby cow is for you!

During my first few months at site I visited the local schools other than mine to introduce myself and get familiar with the area. The principle at the primary school asked me if I could help them to get a library and I said that is something I might be able to do! Through the organization African Library Project donors in the states who do a book drive to raise 500-1000 books and $500 for shipping and match them with communities in Africa to build libraries. In Lesotho their partner organization is Peace Corps and many volunteers work on setting up libraries. The application for the library is almost finished and I have been visiting the primary school often to get them to write letters asking for the library and saying how they will support it and discussing the project with the lead teachers. The primary kids are way cuter than the high schoolers! I asked East Lansing Public Library to help support my project and while they don’t want to do the whole thing they are willing to supply 100 books. So if you want to help me with my library let me know!

Since being back from break I have been working with the local hospital to organize two events at my school. The testing event went really well and the painting of the AIDS ribbon is going to happen but being pushed back to next term.

The HIV testing event was coordinated at my school by a group called SolidarMED who do HIV and AIDS testing and counseling. The organization is Swiss and a Swiss doctor and his family live at Seboche Hospital and run the organization. A group of three counselors and two nurses came to my school for a week. Each day they visited one grade, Form A – Monday, Form B – Tuesday, etc. They spent the whole day giving HIV lifeskills lessons in Sesotho which allowed them to get across to many students that I was not connecting with in my lifeskills lessons because of language. Then throughout the day the students could go to the library two at a time and get tested. Many of my students where so scared to get tested but were eager to do it. Rightfully so they should be scared, a positive test means the stress of knowing the disease is going to kill you, discrimination from your peers, and feeling like your lost. However, about 180 of my students got tested about one third of the school.

The students probably learned more in that one day of school than any other day all year. However, many of the teachers did not welcome the visitors. They complained it was taking away from class time, though they skip their classes regularly, and was doing nothing for the students but causing stress for the students who tested positive. It was a good opportunity to talk to them and share perspectives on HIV and thoughts on testing. Overall the event went really well and I am really excited about the work that the lead counselor Ntate Khotso is doing and working with him more; he is caring, fun and really believes in what he does.

The second project that I tried to put together this term was to paint the Qholaqhoe Mountain AIDS Ribbon. It was built in 2001 and is a landmark for the community and everyone knows its history. Unfortunately time got cramped and I wasn’t able to organize the event details with the hospital fast enough. The idea is that SolidarMED will do a community testing event on the day of the repainting and I will organize students and community members to take part. Hopefully students will perform poetry and dramas to begin the event and the painting of the rock will commence during the open testing event. The hospital is willing to fund purchasing the paint. The ribbon is huge! About 20m in diameter and sits about an hour hike up the mountain. It fell through for now but will hopefully happen in the spring once it starts getting warmer and the days longer.

Since being back from vacation I started a work out club at my school. We meet on Mondays and Wednesdays after school for about an hour after school. Our normal routine is to do an activity called card work out. I use a deck of cards and each suit is assigned a different exercise for example hearts is push ups, diamonds is burpies or down ups (we call it push up jumps the translation is easier!), spades is sit ups, etc. It keeps everyone involved when a lot of guys are there and we don’t have much equipment. I also bring a jump rope and a resistance band. The resistance band is a favorite by the guys they make up all kinds of crazy exercises with multiple guys pulling on it at the same time. We also do other activities like competitions of pushups, wall sits, or calisthenics running back and forth across the hall. Usually at the end I have either a football or a Frisbee and we go outside and practice throwing. I also got a volleyball sent by my parents which has been a huge hit!

It has been a really enjoyable part of the week and the older students love it. It gives them a chance to do something besides sit in the same seat and copy notes. They need some other kind of activity in their day. It has been more difficult to keep up as the semester has gotten near the end and things have gotten busy and the days are short and the students don’t have much time to get home before dark. The space that we use for the club is the newly built hall which rarely gets used for any other activity even though we have 70 student classes and the space would be well served as a classroom or two. It has been really fun and I need some new exercise activities to keep them engaged so if you have ideas let me know but hopefully I can keep it going next term!

It has been some time since I posted on my blog! I have been having technical difficulties, mycomputer and Africa are having a difficult time!

Vacation

Over Easter holiday me and 12 other volunteers traveled first to abackpacker on the coast of the Indian Ocean and then up to the Durban, SouthAfrica. It was an awesome time filledwith 1st world luxuries like restaurants, showers, and bbq’s. The first hostel we stayed at called theMantis and Moon had an awesome vibe with boardwalk paths through a jungleenvironment with a lit up pool and treehouses. I tried out surfing by just renting out a board from the hostel. It was not much of a success, mostly spending2 hours getting smashed by waves! It waswonderful to hang out with my friends for 5 days and escape the loneliness ofmany weeks at site. Durban has all themakings of a big city. We spent most ofthe time on the beach with its huge boardwalk. Caitlin, myself, and our newly found friend from the Netherlands Tomaswent to UShaka marine world aquarium and water park which was a solidtime!

It was nice to finally get out of Lesotho and see South Africa. My house in Lesotho is not far from theboarder and the majority of our taxi ride to Durban. However, the landscape is so different thanin Lesotho. The spaces are wide open andit is not a never ending village as the low lands of Lesotho seems. There is development and rest stops that arethe same as a US interstate. Howeverthere is always the reminder that poverty surrounds you whether it be streetchildren as you leave the bar, the suburbs with every theft deterrent possible,or dilapidated metal shack settlements where poverty from the distance appearsfar worse than my rural Lesotho village.

Back to Teaching

Returning to school has been a challenge getting back into the swing ofthings. A teacher at my school is outfor maternity leave for an unknown length of time and I am covering her threemath classes in her absence. So comingback from break had all the anxiety of the first day of school because 3 out ofmy 4 classes were new. It took me out ofthe flow and I have had to readjust. However, it has allowed me to interact with a lot of students that Ipreviously only saw infrequently for life skills lessons.

Education in Lesotho is centered on end of the year exams, everythingdepends on it. Students take externalexams, meaning nationally or internationally standardized, at the end of form c(10th grade) and form e (12th grade). Everything is built up for these two testsand they mean everything. Unlike at homestudents often don’t pass to the next grade. A student who makes it straight through high school without repeating ortaking a year or multiple off because finances, babies, or home challenges isextremely rare. Some of my students inmy 11th grade class are 23 years old, older than me. Additionally passing a grade only depends onpassing English and a set number of other subjects. This means that a student never has to passmath and can still graduate, and this often happens. A major struggle I have is teaching studentswho are way behind grade level and it often seems hopeless to catch them up.

Everyday teaching is filled with highs and lows, frustrations andsmiles. I am focusing on stayingpositive and doing the best I can and trying to build friendships.

Other Projects to Stay Busy

Beyond teaching I have taken on 3 small secondary projects since beingback from vacation. The first is aworkout/training club at school. Acouple of guys asked me if I would help them exercise so on Monday, Wednesday,and occasionally Friday we turn the school hall into a makeshift gym. It has taken off from the two guys we startedwith and this week there were 20 students jumping around completing push ups,burpies, and sit ups to the sounds of a Lupe Fiasco album. It is quite a sight! I will try to take pictures next time andpost. I have also tried to startteaching them the ways of American football and ultimate frisbee also ahilarious sight!

My lifeskills classes have been cut while I cover for teaching math butI am working on organizing an HIV testing event at my school all of next weekand a community event on May 12th. The community event hopefully will be a combination of performances fromstudents doing HIV/AIDS related poetry and dramas, a community testing event puton by the hospital, and the painting of a large concrete AIDS ribbon on the topof Qholaqhoe Mountain. Hopefully thehospital will sponsor paint for the event and we will repaint the ribbon thatis hardly visible now and was originally created in 2000. A lot is still up in the air withcoordinating with the hospital so it is still a work in progress.

My third out of school project right now is to apply for a librarythrough African Library Project for one of the primary schools in myvillage. The principle is really excitedabout the project and we are starting to work on the application. The African Library Project organizes donorsin the states to organize book drives and financial donations to ship books to startlibraries in Africa. More info as theproject progresses!

I had pictures to upload but between my computer crashing, a computer virus, and the slow connection at the internet cafe no luck so next time!

The Bopang Lerato ECCD is my village pre-school located about a 5minute walk from my house. The center isrun by two bo-mme, Mme Malenyora and Mme Mantoleng, and currently attended by58 preschool children. The school isvery bare and they lack many supplies. The school building was built by a Peace Corps volunteer who served at QholaqhoeHigh School in the 90’s. Mme Malenyorawas really excited to have me visit and I spent time playing with the studentsand watched them perform their songs. Every time they stand from their chairs they recite “I am STANDINGUP!”. With the assistance of some of theparents they have started to design some play structures and really want helpto build more. It is really exciting tosee that they have already had that initiative and I am excited for thepossibility of helping. Additionally,their inside space is really bare and could use visuals on the walls. With the help of my students we hopefullywill be able to paint drawings and teaching aids on the walls to make theenvironment better through a drawing contest or something next year.

Running here is a very differentexperience then at home. You can’t justput your ipod in and cruise. Everyonewants to say hello and stop you for a greeting. My normal route takes me out of my village and onto the main road whichruns adjacent to the mountain and has amazing scenery. The following pictures are some sights when Itook my camera on a run.

Form B student named T'sepo hauling water

Form D student Ntona, head Prefect at school.

Basotho transport!

Herd boy with his cows

Following the taxi

Superman! Neighbor boy who is always hanging around with me

Qholaqhoe Mountain

Return at sunset

Located a village to the north of where I live is an orphangarden project that is run by woman in the village there. The project is supported by Lynn a PeaceCorps volunteer here from 2007 to 2009 who stays in touch with the communityhere and provides the orphan garden with financial support. Her along with her sister inlaw Pic have beenvisiting for the last 2 weeks. Theybrought me a care package of oreos and snacks which was amazing.

The orphan garden is operational on Saturday when many orphans and double orphans from surrounding villages come to the garden to eat a meal and play together. I visited the garden for the first time on Saturday. It is an inspirational place to see the care that these few Bo-Me are able to provide to the children. Everyone pitches in to tend to the garden and help out.

My best Basotho friend named Liteboho pronounced (DE-TE-BOO-HO) has the idea of starting a group to go to the orphanage and organize activities to teach the orphans about life skills and play games and dramas with them. I think this is awesome and we are trying to organize some youth and school kids to be involved.
On left Liteboho and center Mme Lynn

Orphans lining up for Saturday meal.

So what is a normal day like teaching math and life skills in rural Lesotho?

Pretty much no day is ever the same! Everything is always getting interrupted, changed, or postponed I have learned to go with the flow.

My mornings I wake up around 6 and have breakfast, coffee and oatmeal or cereal with long shelf life milk. I listen to music or BBC broadcast and check sports scores on my phone. I wash up a little bit before school but I don’t fully bathe that often usually once a week. It takes me about 15 minutes to walk to school from my roundavel

Assembly at School

School lasts from 7 am to 4 pm with an hour lunch from 1 pm to 2 pm. The students have study the first and last period (each period is 40 min) of the day. The class schedule is a big convoluted matrix and the schedule of classes is different every day. Students sit in the same class all day and the teachers rotate. I teach usually about 5 periods a day but some days are really busy (Thursday) and others slow (Monday). When I am not in class I sit in the staff room and plan my lessons for the next day or mark student’s assignments. You have to mark fast because you have to return students notebooks with assignments from the previous night to them before class that day.

Lunch is provided to students at school. It consists of a Basotho staple papa (maize meal) with either beans, peas, or cooked cabbage depending on the day. I eat lunch at school, it is not bad. Lunch is also the time clubs meet. I have been helping with English Club doing poetry and debate.

Life Skills Class - Who is your role model?

Form B3 Math Class

Entrance to staff building with other teachers.

School Grounds

Form D math students at afternoon assembly

After school I usually stay around school until about 5 pmeither helping students with math, finishing planning lessons, or chatting withteachers. I have started to do mathstudy hall and once a week we have movie club and watch a tv show (Glee andChuck) on my laptop with older students.

When I get home I am greeted by this crazy child namedSortle or better known as Superman. Hecomes flying from his house and runs up to me wanting me to swing himaround. My evenings are pretty relaxed Iwatch tv shows, read, and make dinner. Ioften will go for an evening run which is especially wonderful aroundsunset. My dinner staples are soup, riceor noodles with vegetables and cheese or sauce, and omelets. Iusually fall asleep reading sometime before 10 pm and then wake up and do itagain!

This week in my life skills class I asked my students to respond to the question: How has HIV been a part of your life and/or changed your community?

The following are three of the more heart wrenching responses. This first poem is from a smart hard working student in my B3 class. The class is all students who have failed last year and it is really difficult to motivate them but this student is a bright spot.

HIV as a part of my life

It changed me, and

Turn me like a Skeleton,

I’m now looking older than

My age, all trousers and

Shirts I have are now

Not fitting me, I’m no

Longer good at all.

This virus seems like it’s

Sucking all my blood,

I can now compare myself

With a thin

Small finger.

It totally changed me and

This virus it’s sucking

Me.

Oh! Yea I have changed

The color and now I

Look black like grandfathers.

All I know is that it

Changed me so much.

All about me is that I’m HIV

Positive, and I seemed like a mad

Person, who needs help and care!

I shivered when I finished reading this poem. Not only this student but the boy who sits next to him also wrote me a story saying he was HIV positive. Both are the two brightest in my math class and took me very much by surprise.

When I was young

HIV became a part

Of my life, because

I was listening to the

People who are saying

Sex is nature.

I didn’t listen to my

Parents when they told

Me don’t do sex before

Marriage, and use condoms

When you do sex.

I think my parents don’t

Want me when I hear this

Nice sex

Today I am HIV positive

Because of refusing to listen

To my parents

Oh HIV go away

We don’t want you

You are a killer, how many

Peoples you have kill?

You are our enemies go away

We don’t want you.

Go away HIV go away HIV go HIV.

Four years ago my uncle was HIV positive he go to the testing council at Newstart, Botha-Bothe where he got that information that he is HIV positive. The members of Newstart told him to go and take ARVs but he refused. By that time my parents were working outside the country at Kimberly. So I advise him to go and fetch those tablets and he told me that those people are lying because he didn’t have unprotected sex with someone in the world. One day he became sick and I was supposed to give him help because I was only one staying with him. I tried to help him by all means, when I decided to touch him with plastic gloves when he was bleeding but he told me that I hate him and I just touch him by hands and his HIV affect me also.

Wow, Nthabiseng I am really sorry about your uncle. I want to know more.

Is your uncle still alive?

Who do you stay with now?

Tell me more about what you mean in the last sentence, are you positive?

No, now he is not alive he died last year at December by that time he was terribly infected by that virus, he was suffering from several things such as diarrhea, TB, and he was spitting blood coughing. My father died during the middle of the year of 2008 and I have just left with my mother and she is still working. I am just staying alone at my place now because even my grandparents are also died during the Lifaqane Wars. Yes I am also positive because by that time no one was taking care whether I can be prevented to that disease or not I was not going even at testing council, but when I tell my mother about this she take me to the clinic and I test and they said I am HIV POSITIVE and my mother was ashamed of me but there was nothing to do by that time, so I take the tablets from the clinic every month to treat this because it has no cure and it is dangerous. I was thinking that I am going to die but I realized that I can’t die because of that. I try to avoid it by all means and I don’t want to pass it to others. I don’t want even to be married because I will pass it to my husband and I don’t want to have babies because they are going to be born with it and die young.

These stories from my students has somewhat changed my perspective of my service. No matter how frustrated I get trying to get students to correctly add fractions I can only sympathize with the difficulty of their situation and can only view from the surface what it is truly like.

I live in a thatched roof roundaval next to my host ntate. Our yard has a chicken coop, small fields, trash burning pit, and latrines. I am planning on starting to develop a flower and vegetable garden after new years. My house is modest but nice; the thatched roof is quite during the rain and regulates the temperature amazingly well.

The water pump is located about 100 yards from my house and the school is located up the hill about a 10 minute walk from my house. The water is occasionally out and only comes on very early in the morning if we have not recently received rain. The views around Qholaqhoe are excellent and my house is located under Qholaqhoe Mountain for which the region is named. I have been spending much of my first couple of weeks in village working on arranging and fixing up the inside of my house including painting the walls. My house is equipped with a two burner propane stove, full size bed, armoir, table, space heater for winter, and cooking cabinet.

For Christmas most of the volunteers that live in the North half of the country met up at a volunteers house in Katse. The place is a big tourist destination because of the dam and reservoir. The dam which was built in the 90’s supplies most of the water demand for Pretoria and Jo’burg in South Africa as well as a large amount of the electrical supply for Lesotho. The scenery in Katse is beautiful and we would joke that you would never guess that you were in Africa looking at the landscape. The view from the top of the mountain above Katse village is incredible. The elevation changes are drastic. The location is completely supported by the dam and tourism business and the place has the feel of a ghost town. There is a segregated feel with the wealthy and touristy Katse Village and lodge next to the normal Basotho village. It was a wonderful place to visit and a true Christmas under a Southern Sky with swimming, boat ride, camp fire, hiking, good food, and great friends.

I am now settled into my new home for the next two years. I live in a roundaval with a thatched roof and have only an Ntate for a host family. Ntate Tankiso is a shepherd and spends his days tending to his fields and livestock: two cows, three chickens, two donkeys, and a small flock of sheep. Ntate Tankiso speaks very little English and my Sesotho is not that great so our conversations are basic but we get by. However, he is very helpful and kind and wishes me a goodnight every evening. Moving to a new site has been lonely as I don’t know anyone here and am now the only American. But I have started to make connections with people and get out in the community. Replacing a volunteer right after they COS creates a different dynamic. In one respect it is great to have the way already paved for you and already have a good sense of what has happened in the community. On the other hand the excitement of having a new volunteer is less and precedent has already been set by the previous volunteer. A man in the village named Liteboho is attempting to start a tourism operation at the waterfall a short walk outside of my village. Liteboho and Bokong both just graduated from high school and are working to secure funding and work with the tourism agencies to develop this site. They took me to see the waterfall and cave area and tell me about their ideas. The place is beautiful and calm. Their ideas are grand and they envision info centers, displays, and pony trekking but they truly do have a sincere love for the place. The waterfall is located at the very end of a ravine that is surrounded by large rock faces. The bottom is cool and forested. It has been dry for this time of year and the waterfall only has limited flow but has a huge drop.

The stream flows through the bottom of the ravine and there are many rock outcroppings for a rest.Hiking up the side of the rock wall you come to a huge overhang cave. The place is a spectacular place to sit and look out over the valley as there are birds galore that fly through and the elevated outlook provides the perfect viewing point. Bokong and Liteboho envision bringing visitors to the cave and teaching them of the lifestyle of the Bushmen. There is not a whole lot that I can do to help these two guys to make their dream of a tourism venture happen. The idea is far fetched probably because of the remoteness and lack of infrastructure. But they are making contacts and have tourism officials from South Africa coming to visit the site and want me to go back with them when they visit.

On December 11th I was sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and no longer a trainee. The ceremony was held at the Makola High School. The Bo-Mme cooked a huge feast including a slaughtered cow and bathtubs full of potato salad. A stage was set up and speeches were made by dignitaries from the US embassy in Lesotho, Lesotho Ministry of Education, Peace Corps, and the village chiefs. The school children at the schools we taught at performed traditional dances and school choir songs. I had a traditional Basotho top made for the ceremony and most of the girls had traditional sheshweshwe dresses or skirts made for the occasion. Pictured above is all of the members living in the Makola training village and below the four guys in the ED 12 group.The day after swear in was move out and goodbye day. MmeMatisetso dressed me in a traditional blanket and my Basotho hat I received as a gift and said tearful goodbyes. With all of my stuff packed I was ready to move to Qholaqhoe (the Q’s are clicks in Sesotho) and get started as a real Peace Corps Volunteer!

From October 15th to December 11th, 2011 was the first phase of Peace Corps service. During this time the 23 trainees in my group including myself lived with host families in semi-rural villages approximately a half hour outside of the capital city of Maseru.First Day in VillageImmediately upon arriving in Makola, my host village, a mob of children chased the bus screaming and waving at us! We stepped out of our bus immediately into a welcoming ceremony with children performing traditional dances and each of the trainees getting introduced to their respective host mothers. It was an emotionally overwhelming experience after having traveled and sat in airports in anticipation of arriving for nearly two days.Host moms through luggage on their heads and children teamed up to carry trainees luggage and tromped it across the village to our new homes. My host sister spoke nervous broken English and tried to introduce me to the family, her English is much better than she let on the first night. My family gave me a Sesotho name ‘Thabo’ meaning joy and happiness and we hugged and stared at each other for some time none of us knowing really what we were supposed to do next. My Sesotho name has stuck and rarely am I called Kevin even by other volunteers it is usually Thabo or T-Boss, a nickname I am quite fond of. After all of the buildup I was finally in Africa, alone in a tin roof shack after traveling half way across the world wondering how in the world I ended up here.Life with a Host FamilyHaving a host family in Makola was an incredible experience. Having a Basotho woman take you into her home and treat you like a son was wonderful. My host mom MmeMatisetsoMapiloko would often say to me “Thabo my boy, Thabo my child!” Families in Lesotho are different in terms of the connectedness between immediate and extended families. Because of the Aids epidemic (23% of the population in Lesotho is positive) orphaned children are often taken in by relatives. Pictured below is the majority of my host family. From left to right back row Ntate (Father) Papano, Mme (Mother) Matisetso, Abuti (Brother) Rena, Aussi (Sister) Mamoletsane and front row Abuti Tlotlitso and myself. Not pictured Abuti Koenane.The tradition in Basotho culture is that a woman’s first born child is given at birth to be raised by her mother, the child’s grandmother. The mother also takes the name of that child and are literally called mother of so and so. Using my Sesotho name if I was the first born I would be named Thabo and my mother would take the name Mme Mathabo.For the first four weeks of training I ate with my host family. Mme Matisetso and Mamoletsane would prepare food for me and I would sit in the living rooms in the evening studying Sesotho and helping Koenane and Mamoletsane study English and Science. The traditional meal in Lesotho is papa and moroho. Papa is a tasteless corn meal that is usually cooked over an open fire in a big three legged pot. Moroho is mashed up greens with much salt, Basotho love to cook with too much salt. Other staples were bread (bahobe), eggs, chicken, carrot salad, beat root, rice, sorghum porridge (lesheleshele), and beans.Pictured below is my host family house. I lived in an attached room around to the left. Basotho woman are very clean, overly so. Mamoletsane would sweep the dirt in front of her house and I would complement her on how tidy the dirt looked. The building to the left is a water storage and cooking room and the main entrance to the house is on the right and enters into the kitchen/living room.I brought a soccer ball with me from the states and it was in use every second that the boys were not in school or doing chores. I often would kick it around with them at night on the road in front of the house and occasionally started massive soccer games at the nearby field.My host family taught me how to do all of the household essentials for living without electricity and water. This included baking/steaming bread, doing laundry by hand, preparing bath water, sweeping the house, and the very specific way for making the bed. Living without water and electricity is really not bad at all and I got used to it really quick.Exercise Africa Style Running and working out in village was a crazy experience because you would immediately be hoarded by children. While running down the road I loved it, having a child scream your name, come tearing down the hillside, and run barefoot next to you through the village road was an incredible lift! Me and other trainees would occasionally do cross fit like workouts on the soccer field and the kids would race us and imitate our down-ups and push-ups. The Training Aspect of Training Everyday I would walk 25 minutes up the road to the church which we were using as the training center. The beginning of training was mostly presentation sessions on health, safety, education system, and Basotho Culture as well as daily Sesotho sessions. We had three language facilitators that lived in the village with us also with host families and led the language and cultural trainings. The second half of training was mostly classroom practice teaching at the high school in Makola. We would prepare lesson plans and teach class while being observed and get feedback on our teaching performance. At the end of training was a language assessment which you had to score at a certain level in order to be sworn in as a volunteer. Other aspects of training included gardening, trips to Maseru and TY, and site visits with current volunteers and our future sites.

East Lansing Resident Begins Peace Corps Service in LesothoKevin Koryto, 22, of East Lansing, Mich., is busy packing his belongings and saying goodbyes as he prepares to put his knowledge and skills to work as an international Peace Corps volunteer.Kevin has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Lesotho Oct.12, 2011 to begin pre-service training as a science education Peace Corps volunteer. Upon graduation from volunteer training in January, Kevin will teach secondary school physics, chemistry and biology, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention efforts.His path to Lesotho began with passion and a desire to do something different, Kevin said.

“This experience will be meaningful to me, and if I didn’t take this chance, I knew I would regret it,” he said. “Those closest to me have been very supportive of my pursuits. Choosing Peace Corps over graduate school was difficult, but they stood behind me.”During the first three months of his service, Kevin will live with a host family in Lesotho to become fully immersed in the country’s language and culture. After acquiring the language and cultural skills necessary to assist his community, Kevin will be sworn into service and be assigned to a community in Lesotho, where he will live and work for two years with the local people.After completing his service as a Peace Corps volunteer, Kevin said he planned to pursue a master’s degree in ecological engineering and to work in the field of storm water management or ecosystem restoration.Kevin is the son of Michael Koryto and JoAnn Merrick and a graduate of East Lansing High School in East Lansing, Mich. He attended Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biosystems engineering in 2011.During his time at the university, Kevin was president of the Michigan State chapter of Engineers Without Borders and traveled to Honduras to work on a clean water project in 2010. He also received an Outstanding and Distinguished Service Award from the College of Engineering for work as a mentor, club leader and undergraduate researcher.Kevin has the opportunity to serve during Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary year in 2011. While in service, he will receive all living expenses, full health and dental coverage, and a $7,425 transition fund upon completing service. After Peace Corps, Kevin is eligible for non-competitive federal employment advantage and Peace Corps Fellows/USA graduate programs offering financial assistance.Kevin joins the 326 Michigan residents currently serving in the Peace Corps and more than 6,564 Michigan residents who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.About volunteers in Lesotho: More than 2,170 Peace Corps volunteers have served in Lesotho since the program was established in 1967. Volunteers in this Southern African nation work in the areas of education, youth and community development, health and HIV/AIDS awareness, and business development. Many volunteers working on HIV/AIDS prevention and care receive support from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program. Currently, 93 volunteers serve in Lesotho. Volunteers are trained and work in Sesotho.About the Peace Corps: President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps March 1, 1961, by executive order. Throughout 2011, Peace Corps is commemorating 50 years of promoting peace and friendship around the world. Historically, more than 200,000 Americans have served with the Peace Corps to promote a better understanding between Americans and the people of 139 host countries. Today, 8,655 volunteers work with local communities in 76 host countries. Peace Corps volunteers must be U.S. citizens and at least 18 years of age. Peace Corps service is a 27-month commitment.

Less than 7 days until I leave for Lesotho!

Welcome to my blog! The purpose of which is to share stories and happenings from my Peace Corps journey in Africa to my friends and family back home.

What I Will Do:My primary assignment is to be a secondary science teacher at a rural high school. I will be teaching the equivalent of approximately 8th to 11th grade in the fields of biology, physics, and chemistry as well as possibly math and english. Lesotho has been hard hit by the HIV/Aids epidemic with 23.6% of Basotho older than 15 years old testing positive for the virus, the 3rd highest national percentage worldwide! My secondary projects outside of teaching will be focused on HIV/Aids prevention.

I want to be useful to my community in anyway I can. Hopefully I will be able to incorporate my interests and previously learned skills to aide in coaching sports (Basotho like soccer and volleyball), development of student clubs, water and ecosystem projects, and appropriate technology.

Why I am Going:The main reason is because it gives me the opportunity to chase what I have a passion for, to put my abilities to use helping those who really need it. Other reasons I am jumping ship for Africa include: - Personal challenge and growth - Timing and regret - now or never - Desire for meaningful work - A need for adventure

Where I Will Be:During the first two months (until December 15th) I will be completing training. I will be living with a host family 15 km or so outside of Maseru (capital of Lesotho and only major city). There are approximately 30 other volunteers in my training class. It is referred to as community based training, volunteers live with host families to learn home skills cooking, conversation, washing, etc. and come together as a group for language (Sesotho), cultural, and job/skill training.

After training I will be placed in a rural/semi-rural community and begin working at a secondary school. Where I will be placed is determined by a matching process during training.

How I Will Get There:The journey to Lesotho is no easy jaunt! I leave from Lansing airport at 5:00 am on Wedn, October 12th and fly to Philadelphia connecting through Detroit. Peace Corps staging, forms and presentations, takes place that afternoon. At 1:30 am we bus up to New York JFK to catch the 16 hour flight to Johannesburg on South African Air followed by a short flight from Jo'burg to Maseru. Wheew!

How to Keep In Touch:My goal is to keep in touch via facebook, this blog, and email (korytoke@gmail.com) as much as I can. During training this may be limited but once I get placed my access should get better! So during training write to me and I promise to write back! My initial address is:

Kevin Koryto, PCVU.S. Peace CorpsP.O. Box 554Maseru, 100Lesotho