Dear Readers, I apologize for my long hiatus from posting. It has been almost two weeks, and I promise to try and be better about blogging in the future. It is a really really long post so read in stretches 🙂

Hopefully, you all remember that in the week after I first arrived, I tutored Masianokeng high school students in the subjects of math, chemistry, biology, and even the odd ones like writing and Shakespeare. (I kid you not about Shakespeare; it was hard enough learning it in sophomore year. I cannot imagine learning it in a foreign language like the students are!) It was a wonderful week. I learned a lot about Lesotho from the students, and they in turn learned a great deal about the United States. But aside from personal interactions, it was extremely satisfying to be able to open the floodgates of my knowledge bank. Most of you that know me are aware that I don’t pride myself on my intellect. I consider myself easily below average on quickness of perception and reasoning. I am the one who sits awkwardly while everyone is laughing at a joke’s punchline, namely because I don’t “get the joke.” However, I have great confidence in my knowledge bank. I know a fair amount from my years of Quiz Bowl and having extremely motivated and interested students who “pick my brain,” to use a common colloqial phrase, is very rewarding. We discussed topics ranging from stomata and volume to ionization energy and genocide, and I felt astounded both by the curiosity and intellectual aptitude/intelligence of the students. It was a joyous time.

However, the week of June 7th to June 13th was the week that Masianokeng students had to take exams. Alas, our time of frolicking and tutoring had come to an end. Ann and I therefore resolved to work on our camp. (I hope you all remember that it was a career guidance camp!). As part of our camp we wanted to get mentors from the community to come and talk about their occupations, serving as real-life engaging examples that would inspire our students to feel that they too could achieve success. Our mentors were mostly based at the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative Clinic and consisted of fairly everyday professionals: a data analyst, an accountant, an administrator, an information technology professional, a doctor, and a nurse. One outside Baylor professional served as the overall Educational Secretary of Lesotho’s Anglican schools, a fairly high up position. We went to their workplaces and asked them how they attained their positions: about what they’d done in secondary school, about their everyday work, about college, and finally any advice they had for upcoming professionals in their fields.

An amusing highlight of this week would be the creation of our side research project. Ann and I are intensely interested in the role of the Chinese diaspora currently present in Lesotho. Prolific businessmen, they have been the target of local resentment as well as admiration. Textiles are Lesotho’s major export, and the factories are largely owned by the Chinese. Tensions seem to arise from Chinese lack of linguistic proficiency in Sesotho, issues of labor and compensation, ‘culture clash’, and Basotho insiders irked by the Chinese moving onto their “turf.” Ann and I seek to interview Chinese businessmen, their Basotho employees, members of the press, maybe of labor unions, and finally members of the Basotho Chamber of Commerce.

In pursuit of this quest, we started at what seemed to be the most logical place, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China (yeah I know that saying the Chinese embassy sounds better, but I felt I should give China the respect it seems to desperately crave). I called the Embassy in advance after at first asking Ann to do it in English. She replied that they would have to understand English as that was one of the lingua francas of the world. Point taken. However, while they might understand my English, it was pretty difficult to say that I understood theirs…After an interval whereby I employed my “Speak softly and carry a lot of patience” English, I was able to comprehend that we were welcome to come to the Embassy and speak with a representative at around 2pm.

Relieved, we departed and arrived at the Embassy which proved to be extremely amusing, mainly because of its assertively Chinese architecture. I felt like I was approaching either the Forbidden City or a very big Chinese restaurant. However, we were immediately stopped at the gate by the Basotho guard who was unaware that we had permission to enter. Therefore, he asked me the name of the guy that I came to talk to. Only problem was that i’d forgotten it! Nettled, I lied and said that I could not pronounce his name because I don’t know Chinese. He asked me what it sounded like…and so I told him Fang Kai Ni Di Xi, which I think is actually a Wang Lee Hom album (Chinese pop)…Reassured by my “mastery” of Chinese, he allowed us to enter.

So we sat awkwardly in the lobby which was slightly dark and smelt vaguely of garlic or sesame or something. I’m not being racist folks, just tellin it how it was. Anyway, Ann and I just sat there until our contact arrived! Mr. Wu…*cue ominious music!*

However, suspenseful scary music aside, Mr. Wu was a nice man. He balked when we suggested voicerecording him…and that was the end of that particular idea. However, I tried typing what he was saying while we spoke. He offered some intriguing insights, particularly that the People’s Republic was attempting to look after the interests of Taiwanese businessmen because Lesotho had recognized the PRC. That was of interest to me because it showed that China was taking its pro-unification policies seriously.

Nonetheless, while he was a nice man, it seemed fairly clear that he was to put it mildly, amusingly nationalist. After first asking Ann if she was KOREAN, he seemed very interested in the fact that she was of Taiwanese origin. Here’s how it sort of went.

Mr. Wu: “So, we’re getting along fine now between China and Taiwan. You should come visit the PRC.”

Ann: “Oh, I think you’re kinda misunderstanding. My parents are from Taiwan, but i’m from AMERICA.”

Mr. Wu: (continues obliviously): “Yes, there’s lots of cross straits trade now. Really, China has gotten a lot better! The new Taiwanese President is very good, not like the other one who is in jail now. Have you been back to China?”

Ann: “Yeah, I go back to..”

Mr. Wu: (interrupts) “Yes! The country is beautiful now, no? Shanghai is even better than New York !

Ann: “uh huh” (Gives help/exasperated look)

Another exchange I thought particularly amusing…

Mr. Wu: “So I have always been curious. Why gay marriages? Your country seems too have so much freedoms. So many people asking for things. It is much simpler in China. The government smooths things out”

Me: *maintains diplomatic face while attempting to inaudibly clench teeth*

Anyway, other than that, the visit went well, and we’re going to try and ramp up our investigations into the Chinese Business Community here. Back to talking about teaching!

Our students are A. very good and devoted, and B. HILARIOUS.

Example 1. We were trying to work on both public speaking skills and academic writing. Therefore, Ann and I arranged a sort of Mock Debate. Students were given topics (Terry Schiavo and Headless Fetuses) and in their groups created a statement arguing their side. Then, judges would act as inquisitors and ask questions as the groups defended their arguments.

On Terry Schiavo

Tsepo (Judge): You state that Terry Schiavo is still living and thus entitled to life.

The Stars (Their group name): “Yes.”

Tsepo (Judge): But if she’s just sitting there frozen all her life, won’t her life be boring?

Me (thinking): “I’d never thought of it that way before!”

In other news, Ann and I discovered her amazing neighbors Lima and Mobashshar 2.5 weeks ago. We ordered South Asian food, and for the small price of about 10 dollars Ann and I got basmati rice, 6 samose, and vegetable manchurian! It was AMAZING and a more than welcome tasty reminder of home. They also invited us over to their house another time and gave us kheer, rasgulla, some kind of Bengali meat dish, and more samose. It was svadish food, and we talked about a lot of interesting topics: Education in Lesotho, the South Asian community in Lesotho, Bangladesh, Microfinance, and service efforts Rice could try to offer. He gave us the contact information of his brother who works at BRAC, a really prominent Bangladeshi Microfinance Institute, and I hope to find out about BRAC and its hopeful work in Sub Saharan Africa, maybe even in Lesotho. Sab se bada shukriya aur donobad (I think that’s how you transliterate the Bengali version of Dhanyavad) madad aur khanne ke liye!

In a slight shift of topic, Ann talked about our HIV/AIDS testing project in her blog. However, she had it on her BTB blog, so many of you might not have read about it. Ann, Cindy, and I had decided in Houston to have health as a slight focus of our camp. In a country where over 30% of the population has HIV/AIDS, a little knowledge goes a long way. Therefore, we decided to persuade our students to get tested for HIV/AIDs at Baylor’s clinic and test alongside them for solidarity. We arrived at Baylor on Friday morning, and Baylor’s social workers had a good presentation on HIV, how it is spread, treatment, prevention, etc. Unfortunately, Ann and I had already gone over it the previous day with our kids, even giving out really cool Livestrong type bracelets I had bummed off of the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services (GO ARKANSAS!). They really enjoyed the bracelets, which would probably be the first time anyone ever enjoyed anything Arkansas has produced (Monica Lewinsky doesn’t count! Oh, wow what an awful joke… ). Anyway, our students listened and at the end of the presentation it was time for testing.

However, here’s the kicker. Initially only about 8 of our students would agree to go for testing. It was a profoundly sad moment for me. The majority of girls went for testing, but only one guy consented for it. Ann and I tried persuasion through logic: “doesn’t it make sense to know and you can get free ARVs at Baylor! The results are confidential!” And emotion: “think about how you’ll feel if you give someone you love the disease later on in life!” But our pleas fell on deaf ears. This was one of the few times I have felt so helpless in my life. As Ann and I sat glumly outside the room, I mentioned to her that I felt I would be a piss poor politician if I could not convince someone to do things that the facts so clearly pointed towards. We tried to figure out what we could do to convince them and how. I felt I’d tried everything, even essentially lying to the students. When the students had asked me if I felt afraid, I said yes. But the fact of the matter is that I was not. I’ve never had a serious girlfriend, never used any heroine, and had been screened for HIV/AIDS when I was donating white blood cells 6 months ago. The likelihood of me having it was essentialy zero.

I even lied to the students again and told them there was a girl I liked who I didn’t want to give HIV to if things ever heated up between us. But that was again a lie…there is no girl, and I don’t have AIDS so I couldn’t give it to the fictional girl…Perhaps you all may judge me poorly for that, but I still think trying was worth it.

As we pondered our impasse outside, we came to the crucial realization. While both of us were good teachers, we were not fundamentally relatable. Ann is Chinese. I am Indian. Both of us are from America. What would we know of the social stigma of HIV…the feelings of community backlash…the secret fear that consumed individuals?

While the social workers tried to persuade the 12 students, we went to ask Ntate Polelo and M’e Mamarame, the Baylor professionals who had come on Career Day, for help. As we sat and waited with our other students for testing, we looked up and saw 7 more kids walking down for testing.

Our mentors had persuaded the majority of them to get tested 🙂

An extremely important lesson I learned from this experience was to realize the limits of my own abilities. There are some things I fundamentally cannot change. But an important part of being a hopeful future leader is learning to accept defeat and try new approaches as well as delegating and swallowing one’s pride.

Finally, I’m getting to my “wind down.” Almost done with this post. However, I think a brief explanation is in order. One of the reasons I did not update my blog the first week was because I was so intensely following the Iranian election and the results therafter. With a passion I scarcely knew, I found every single blogpost I could get my hands on, loaded every video I could with Lesotho’s weak bandwith, and read until I was green in the face (get it? Mousavi colors?). I’ve realized how important and universal people’s rights and freedoms are to them, from the disgust I felt my students express about corruption and governance, to the struggles ongoing in Honduras and Iran. There is little I can do for those fighting and even dying for their equality under law besides pray. The struggle in Iran has left people my age arrested, tortured, and even killed, leaving me wondering about my own fortitude. When the time arrives, will I have the strength to do what is necessary? Elders of previous generations mock those of the present day and say we don’t stand for anything. The events of Iran and Honduras show that judgment to be misplaced. My only question is whether I can find it in myself when the moment comes. This is perhaps appropriate to blog about on July 4th.

Final funny/random points of the weeks.

1.Some students were being slow to leave outside one day, and Ann said “come on! Andalay!” The students looked at us puzzled. Ann asked, “why are you guys being slow now?” And they reply “we were wondering who Andalay was…” Which is an important lesson that common phrases in America obviously confuse here.

2.At a break one day, I taught some of the kids how to do the Cha Cha Slide. I think it was a hit. My 6th grade skills have come back to be useful. The video will be uploaded later

3.Ann frequently says “Meh” as an expression meaning frustration or resignation. However, in Lesotho “M’e” means a sort of like ma’am/excuse me for women. So people turn around, and Ann has to not say it 🙂

4.Since a lot of the students were interested in medicine/science, I taught a random lesson on medical imaging so if you ever come to Masianokeng High School, expect to be enlightened on X-rays, CT, PET, MRIs, and ultrasound scans 🙂

5.This is the fobbiest moment. I was walking back at night once, and I was on the street alone. It was dark, and I couldn’t see anyone. My cell phone started playing Jai Ho randomly, and I broke out into our SAS Dance on the street. Truly, I am keeping our dance’s spirit alive. I should probably enter this on mylifeisdesi.com, no?

Check out this funny video if interested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_c-yvc73nM

and see photos here. http://picasaweb.google.com/AnnChou90/Lesotho02#5346871829059302242

Hoping you are all doing well, and I will be in Houston July 18th if you want to hang out!

-Karthik