After more than 60 hours of traveling (I left my house at 5am Saturday and arrived at Baylor at 6pm Monday), I am finally in Lesotho! One lesson my bumpy ride has taught me: international travels are heinously difficult without an U.S. passport (or rather, with a Chinese passport). I don’t think there was a single country in which my bright red passport did not warrant a second and more careful look.
However, once in Maseru, the final leg of my trip went fairly smoothly. Upon leaving passport control, I immediately spotted a Basotho man holding a BAYLOR sign. He introduced himself as Lesupi and informed me that he was one of Baylor’s drivers. I soon learned that Baylor employs several Basotho drivers to drive its doctors and visiting scholars so that they don’t have to maneuver the dangerous roads of Lesotho (dangerous mostly because they drive on the left-side of the road here). In the car, Lesupi told me: “First we go to Baylor, meet Dr. Mohapi and drop off your bags. Then, we go shopping.”
We arrived at Baylor just when the clinic was about to close. I met Dr. Mohapi and a couple of other doctors before I was whisked away to my new home, the Baylor Cottage, located directly behind the clinic. My roommate for the next two months is Erika Versalovic, a soon-to-be high school senior from Houston. As soon as I dropped my luggage in the living room, we were off to the grocery store.
Pick n Pay is a popular store with the Baylor doctors because it doesn’t close until 8pm, much later than the other stores around town. I soon discovered that grocery shopping after 60+ hours of virtually no sleep is not a good idea. Although I thought I got enough food to last the week, I learned throughout this week that the only really edible food I got was tea, sugar, coffee creamer, oatmeal, and eggs. I managed to get pasta without pasta sauce. I also got instant chicken and rice without the chicken. Hopefully, I will be more awake next week.
My next entry will focus more on the clinic and my first week here! Hopefully, that’ll be up tomorrow. Below are pictures of the clinic and my home for the next two months!
