I would like to share a story about life in Lesotho. This topic is closely related to another, namely, how useless Danielle and I would be on Survivor Man (or some other reality television gimmick where people are thrown out onto an island so that other people comfortably sitting in their living rooms can try to vicariously live through their adventures).

So Danielle and I get home after a day out with Smita visiting a clinic in Butha Buthe. We’re tired, hungry, and cold. Lucky for us, the power goes out. Lucky for ME, Danielle is much hungrier than I am, which is what probably drove her to suggest building a fire in in our house in this tiny little stove she’s got. “Her students have taught her how to do it before and she seems like she knows what she’s doing” – these are the thoughts I should have been thinking if I were to give some kind of logical support for what happened next. Instead, what I was actually thinking was this: “Wow that sounds really cool. Those guys on the street are always building fires inside of tires and stuff. The guard outside has a fire going too! Wheeeee!!!”

Yes, my brain tries to kill me sometimes, and when it happens, I should probably do something about it, not try to build a fire in my kitchen. So Danielle busts out her little stove (the only consolation I give myself for not stopping the crazy is that the stove was very cute) and we get some sticks, wood blocks, and paper. Now, we really have no idea what we are doing. I have been at many a camp fire so I should know better (really I should. I’ve even asked how to build fires and watched fires being built. I also have spent most of the times around fires staring at flaming marshmallows or being hypnotized by the pretty sparks so I’m guessing all the useful knowledge got smothered in smores and conversations about whether Nutella or peanut butter is better – Nutella definitely wins by the way). We proceed to just throw all the flammable looking things we can find into the stove and I start lighting matches (I really enjoy doing this, which what may have prolonged my fascination with the whole situation).

Obviously it is an epic failure because we have no idea what we are doing. The stove is smoking, we are breathing in the smoke, and I feel my lungs and nose start to really dislike where the whole thing is headed. 15 used matches and 5 destroyed-dried-up-plants-outside-our-house later, the lights flicker back on and we survey the mess. I took a picture too but I think my words can paint a good enough of a picture. If you can imagine 2 clueless girls standing in a kitchen surrounded by the debris generated by desperation and for me, a little bit of pyromania, you don’t need a picture at all.

I estimate that Danielle and I would survive around like 4 minutes each in the wild. If given access to a cute, little wood burning stove, we could extend that estimation to like 9 minutes, tops. On the bright side, we did a really good job of gathering all our supplies to make our fire of failure. Maybe we can be successful hunter gatherers instead! Yay for versatility and adaptability (and some self-delusion, but life just wouldn’t be as interesting without it now would it?).

And here are some videos to entertain you:

Walking on the side of the road (really it’s more entertaining than it seems): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-LbUworYeo

Nthabiseng on her inspiration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Muf6iQ3Vn0

Ntsali on her inspiration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO1AMaJ40Yc

I promise a more substantial post sometime this week, maybe after my lungs start functioning properly again.

On a more serious note though, definitely check out Nthabiseng and Ntsali’s videos. They were both winners of the career guidance camp’s scholarship contest and I think you can see why from these videos. They have a way with words, definitely, but even more than that, they have a new sense of confidence in themselves and in their abilities to bring positive change to their country. I truly believe that it is their generation that will make all the difference – previous generations left and never came back or have been lost to HIV/AIDS.

Nthabiseng and Ntsali are just 2 of 7 scholarship winners – I hope I can share a little bit more about each one of the winners in my next post. For now, enjoy the videos 🙂