Greetings from Lesotho #1

March 16, 2006

Hello!

I'm here - safe and sound, happy and SO excited. My long journey went very smoothly, I had great luck at every step of the way. Arriving at the Montreal airport, I was told I would have to check three of my bags and pay an extra $225, plus extra for the heavy weight. I found a friendly check-in fellow, called Christian, and he let me put everything through for no extra cost, and checked it all the way to Maseru, my final destination. I had a wonderful stop-over in Zurich, Switzerland. Kathi Fleig (my uncle Matt's former nanny) picked me up and drove me to her apartment where I had a much appreciated hot shower and a delicious breakfast (museli and fruit - very similar to Grandpa's famous oatmeal!). I spent the day touring Zurich - a bus tour, a train ride up for a wonderful view and a hike to the very highest point in Zurich. It was cold and windy, my bag was heavy, but I knew I had to hike all the way to the top. The view was wonderful! I managed to find my way back to the airport on public transportation, I was very proud of myself! The airplane rides were perfect - I had a personal TV, with movies, TV shows, games, flight info...at demand. All in all I watched 4.5 movies (including Serendipity - Charlie will be happy!) Arriving into Maseru, South Africa on a tiny prop plane was incredible.

The sky was blue and clear and the sun was shining. Walking into the small airport, I thought I would burst with excitement. Carloyn Kennedy was there to meet me and we had no problem getting through customs. We drove (on the wrong side of the road, a strange feeling) to Leribe/Hlotse, the location of the Help Lesotho office and the place where I'm staying until Monday when I head on a 4 hour ride to Mahlekefane, up in the mountains. I met other Help Lesotho volunteers and staff and then headed to the St. Mary's compound (fenced in with a guard at night). There, I met Peg and Sister Maria, who had prepared a welcome sign, fresh flowers and dinner for me! I had a lovely evening catching up with Peg and meeting the sixteen sponsored St. Mary's girls. They were working on their homework in their dormitory. I showed them the route that I took to get here on a map. They asked why I didn't just cross the Atlantic Ocean, an obviously much more direct route. I explained the need to re-fuel. They said that I should have just swam. I said it was very far, and they said, "But lahoa (white person) is very good swimmer!" They were a spunky bunch ranging in age from about 13-16 and they call me "Aussi Shauna" (meaning Sister Shauna, because I don't have children). I was greeted with hugs from these girls who I had never seen and felt very welcome.

Peg and I returned to the guest house that is operated by the nuns and I found a bed with clean sheets and fancy pillows, with a lamp next to my bed. After chatting with Peg, I hit the hay. Filled with nervous excitement and about a million thoughts running through my head, I was unable to sleep for quite some time. Once I finally did fall asleep though, I slept like a log. I woke up at 1p.m. Lesotho time (5 a.m. Ottawa time), had a warm shower under a tiny bit of flow, and headed "downtown" with Cliff and Mel, two Help Lesotho staff members.

Things are wonderful here, the people are so friendly and everything is being met by my thrilled eyes. I'm so excited...I'm anxious writing this e-mail as I feel that I cannot express everything that I am seeing in a clear enough way. I hope you're not expecting profound words and deep reflection at this point. I'm still on a "honeymoon phase" where everything is novel, new and thrilling. We went to a wood shop where we ordered a table and bookshelves for the new office. It's incredible how different things are here, but how so many are the same. It's just like what I expected, although it's not as DIFFERENT as I thought it would be. It's what I pictured, almost exactly. We'll see if that remains true as time passes and I learn more.

You are all in my thoughts, and I want to thank you all so much for the support, encouragment and help in getting me here. I couldn't have done this without you. I will be in town until Monday and will try to e-mail again before I head into Mahlekefane - with no electricity or running water and certainly no e-mail! Happily yours from a tiny internet cafe in "downtown" Leribe,

Shauna
(I am pretty embarrased that my first e-mail contained my name written as Shauns, not Shauna. Bear in mind that it was a typo, not an attempt to make a nickname for myself!)