i.ronhic: A week of goodbyes

Oh hi!

This has been a very busy week. It was the last week of my internship and my last week in Lesotho, so I had to finish up all of my work. It was also my last chance to do things I have wanted to do. I'll go over a few highlights:

On Tuesday I took Katleho and Masekhoane to see Ice Age 4: Continental Drift at the only movie theatre in town. It was their first time to go to the movies, and they really enjoyed it. Monday night I told Katly that we were going, and she was so excited. After some time she came to me and asked, "What are we going to do if Khoane poos?" I told her it wouldn't be a problem because she could change her sister. She said, "No, you have to wipe her." I said, "I think you can do it!" She obviously wasn't satisfied, and I wasn't either. I hadn't thought about the possibility. I thought about it and figured it wasn't very likely, so I told Katly that we would play rock paper scissors to decide who had to wipe her if she pooed. She thought it was a great idea.

We went to Pick 'n Pay first, a grocery store, and got some treats to eat in the movie. The movies aren't so popular here; we were actually the only three people in the theatre. And it was kind of nice--Khoane is so young that I didn't have to pay for her to come in. So we had free reign of the place. The movie was very entertaining. I have enjoyed all the Ice Age movies.

After the movie we went to Spur (a place kind of like Red Robin). I picked Spur because it is in the same shopping centre as the theatre and because it is the only restaurant with a play place for kids. (When I asked Mme Moorosi where a fun place to take them would be, she had no ideas. There are no parks in Lesotho, just some soccer pitches here and there.) I ordered food for myself and them, and they went and jumped on the trampoline/jumping castle things. When the food came we ate together, and then they went back to play. After a little while, Katleho came to me and said, "We have to play rock paper scissors." I knew what she meant, but I was not happy to hear it so I said, "What?" To which she responded, "Remember you said if Khoane is going poo we have to play rock paper scissors?" I laughed and called Ntate, who came and saved the day and took us home!

Katly and Khoane at the play place at Spur

Thursday I had the privilege of meeting with the mother of the first Masianokeng Branch missionary and the new senior missionary couple the Holts. The Holts were giving Mme Mofammere the details of her son's return information. He comes home August 16th, so I won't see him. It is kind of funny, I always miss the Mofammere family. Pulello, the returning missionary, was baptized two weeks after I left Lesotho in 2009. His brother Kanono was baptized two weeks before I arrived in Lesotho in 2008. And now Pulello is coming home from his mission about two weeks after I leave in 2012. It sounds like Pulello had a great mission, and his mother is so excited to see him again.

Thursday and Friday I worked super hard and got a lot of work done at Itjareng. I had to redo some work that I lost because of a virus problem on Wednesday with my flash drive. At least I was able to recover everything. I finished everything I had set out to do, and I left an Action List of items for the Administrator to follow up on my work. Some of the work I did has to be approved by the Executive Board before it can be implemented. The business cards I designed just have to be printed. Also, the wireless internet will be installed next week, so I talked him through turning on automatic updates (which are now turned off to save megabytes) and installing antivirus software. I think they are doing really well. The new administrator is an awesome guy.

On Friday morning I took pictures with the instructors and the trainees. Some of the trainees gave little speeches thanking me for my help. It was really a cool experience. I gave them all a copy of my business card so they could contact me. They were all so happy to receive the card, though most of them have no email address and will never contact me. It was touching to see how much they appreciated me.

In the afternoon the staff (the instructors together with the office staff) came together to bid me farewell They sang a song for me, an existing Sesotho song with one word--Thuso--my Sesotho name. They sang for 4 or 5 minutes and danced. Then they gave me with a gift--a plate with the Itjareng logo and all of their surnames. It was really kind of them to prepare something like that for me. Mme Pascalina made everyone laugh by telling me she wouldn't cry then, she would start crying the next day.

It is crazy that my time is drawing to a close. I will still write twice more before I arrive back home in Utah; I'll be traveling around my old mission areas and visiting people for the next two weeks. Then it is back to posts about dating, gender equality, or whatever thoughts I have or events I participate in.

I'll close with some pictures from my last day at work. Then I have to get going--today is the Masianokeng Branch Open House for the new church meetinghouse.

Until next time!

Sala le Molimo,

Thuso Moorosi