Africa Trip: Lesotho
The summer following my senior I served as the assistant to Dr. Scott Rosenberg for the History class he took to Lesotho, a country in Southern Africa. Dr. Rosenberg did his Peace Corp work in Lesotho and later did his dissertation work there.
Aside from the class the students were taking to go on the trip, another major focus was to work with Habitat for Humanity. We helped to build homes for a village that Habitat for Humanity was in the process of constructing. We dung foundations and pits for out-houses and made the bricks to build the homes. While we were working in the village we had the opportunity to work along side some local volunteers. This was a group that was a part of a national project to increase volunteerism in Lesotho. They were the same age as us and they were the best source for us to learn about the Basotho (the people) culture.
Other parts of the trip included going to the National University to attend lectures on topics such as the national economy, the AIDS epidemic, and the history of Lesotho. We went on several hiking trips, went to the only museum in the country, visited an orphanage for children infected with AIDS, and we went to a game park.
The trip was one of the most important experiences of my life. I was truly able to see the world from a completely different perspective. The people I met and the places I visited will remain with me forever.
The Habitat for Humanity work site and the local Volunteers
The AIDS orphanage and the children we met
The band, choir, and people we met in surrounding villages
The National University and museum
Morija Mountain we hiked (view from the bottom, middle, and top)
