Perhaps the most interesting thing to happen in a while was when I was walking back to the school after changing into my shorts and tshirt to do a yoga session that Mary Beth was leading. So as I was walking past, these women in a little house called me over to say hi. One of them asked me if I was a boy or a girl (which isn’t weird here. None of the kids have hair and sometimes it’s hard to tell if they have a neutral-looking face. Sometimes the only distinguishing characteristic is if they are wearing earrings or wearing a skirt with their school uniform. Also it’s important to address people as ausi [sister] or abuti [brother] or ‘me [mother] or ntate [father] when you greet them, so people want to know). In my case, I’m a white person with short hair, and they expect non-African females to have long hair. I also don’t wear earrings and I was wearing a big shirt and a sports bra, which squishes down my already small boobs. As such, one of the women asked, “but where are your breasts?” to which I replied that they’re there, just small. [Cultural note- breasts are not really sexualized or taboo to talk about here- they’re just another body part, and honestly I think that’s how it should be everywhere.] When I reached the classroom we were going to do yoga in, I told some people the little encounter I just had, and one girl was really shocked and wondering why I was laughing about it instead of being offended. If you can’t laugh at stuff like that, you won’t be able to survive here or anywhere, really.
A few days ago, a bunch of the current volunteers came to our training to explain their experiences with them not being the heterosexual/white/rich American that most people here think of when they hear “American.” There were some Chinese- and Indian-American volunteers who said that they get assumptions about their respective races all the time. Since many shops or businesses here are Chinese and Indian run (and these businesses are very much looked down upon, thinking that they are taking money away from the Basotho businesses), they have a hard time because people think they are exploitative business owners or that they are just plain scary looking (esp. by children, because a lot of the rural kids have never seen someone who looks like them). The Black Americans had interesting perspectives also, saying that they are often held to a higher cultural and linguistic standard, expected to already know Basotho culture and Sesotho. They do enjoy avoiding the harassment that the non-African heritage volunteers experience like constantly being asked for money and getting “lekhooa” [white person] yelled at them. A volunteer who jokingly said that he was asked to come to the panel to represent the typical white volunteer said that you can never really escape the assumption that you are a rich Afrikaner. It’s hard to convince people here that you don’t speak Afrikaans. Some Basotho just ask him for money because they don’t really know what else to say to start a conversation. The only interaction most people have had with white people is from rich Afrikaners with servants and such. People automatically assume an inferior position when they are with him, but he has to convince them that, as a volunteer, he is probably worse off financially than most people he comes into contact with. Also, he said that a lot of people say that they want to be white or that they want to live in America. The other volunteers commented that they either laugh it off, remind the people that they would have to be away from their families, or simply convince them that they have a better live in Lesotho with the means they have than they ever could have in America with the same amount of money. One said she just rattles off numbers- rent is equivalent to R8000, then you add water, gas, food, etc, and it is clear that America isn’t the land of the easy life and easy money. If they actually have real aspirations and the potential to make it happen, you can direct them to the American embassy where they can find scholarships and whatnot.
He also reminded us not to take ourselves too seriously. We’re gonna get into bizarre conversations and have strange, horrible, and amazing experiences. Just roll with it and be able to laugh at yourself and your situations. I really need to remember that.
In other news, I have appointed myself as Peace Corps Personal Trainer (or PCPT, since PC always has an acronym for everything), and will soon start, with other people’s help, holding workout sessions after training just like how Mary Beth does yoga sessions. They’re gonna be mostly instructional and not as intense as something like boot camp, so we are calling it sandal camp. Catchy, huh? No sandals required. Then after training is over we will send out workouts over Whatsapp (a messaging app that everyone in Lesotho uses).
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