Lesotho Infinity And Beyond: 21 September 2016: Cutting it shorter and shorter

Let’s start off with something exciting, shall we? I’ve spent good chunks of my days planning my post-Lesotho travel. First of all, let me profess my love for all Google-produced things, in this case Google Flights. After some extensive searching, I’ve realized that almost all the countries outside of Southern Africa have expensive and intensive visa procedures, so after I’ve done South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, I’ll probably fly up to West Africa, then pop through Morocco again before getting a cheap flight across the ocean from Spain. All told it’ll take a few months. After I finish, I’ll have been to all the countries in Southern Africa. Woo!

Well now let’s move into the BS du jour that seems to be so prevalent in these recent days. Today at school I tried to ask my principal about how the site visit went with the PC education director last week. She totally avoided my question like a politician and changed the subject, saying that PC has no authority over me anymore; the school board does, and I need to be out by the end of the month. Yes, I said, I am prepared to be out of my house by the end of the month like we agreed, but I have located housing at the orphanage for a few weeks because I’m not prepared to entirely leave the village in only one week. She just gave me a face that said, “Why?” I once again expressed my desire to stay and teach until exams. She explained that the Form Cs would start taking their exit exams as soon as they get back from the week-long Independence Day break at the start of October, so I wouldn’t be needed for them after the end of this month. What about the Form Bs, I asked, who I also teach? She “assured” me that the other math teacher would take over those classes for me. Just to confirm, I asked if she meant that I should not only stop living in my house but also stop teaching at the end of September. Yes. I didn’t want to show any negative reaction to this latest act to shorten my time here, so I simply said ok and just walked out, probably rolling my eyes in disbelief.

What I still can’t understand is why she is insistent on booting me out earlier and earlier. First I had assumed that I would stay until the end of the school year at the end of November. Then we had agreed that I’d be out by mid-November, then it was mid-October, now the end of September being out of my house, and now the end of September also stopping teaching. Ever since February, at every step, I fought to stay, and I guess now I’m stopping this effort of trying to fight because it’s pointless to keep pushing when I’m up against so much resistance That and it’s impossible to have any kind of rational discussion. Why boot me now, when you could have done so any time up to six months ago? Because of the house? I found new housing. Because of losing the grant I started to build new classroom? Why not boot me in February then? I’m starting to think that there’s either a personal problem that I don’t know about or that I’m acting as some kind of threat to them. At this point I want to try to demand some straight answers. I know it might be a futile effort, but viscerally, I just want to know why, and I can’t leave saying that I didn’t try to figure out why all of a sudden their attitude toward me just went south.

Now, my tasks are to try to scope out some answers, talk to the other math teacher about taking over my classes, figure out how to move all my household items to the new house for the new volunteer, move my remaining stuff to the orphanage, buy another Basotho blanket, and ship stuff home.

Oh, and to top it all off, today being Wednesday, it was supposed to be the best lunch of the week: cabbage and egg. Instead, it was the worst lunch: slimy samp. I took three bites and give the rest to my pet vacuum also known as the Bo dog, who enjoyed it way more than I would have. It’s a small thing, but it just felt like a kick while I was down.

But it turns out that the day got much better, as when I graded the Form Cs practice exams, one of my best students wrote on his test (if they have extra time, for my entertainment and theirs, I suggest writing/drawing on the back of their test so they don’t get too bored) that maths was his favorite subject and it made him happy. That definitely made me smile. Then after lunch, the kid running the HIV/AIDS awareness club and a few other members of the club led a presentation in the Form B classroom for all the other students. From what I understood, it was informative for them all, except they had trouble controlling the noise level of the audience. Story of my life. Now you know how hard it is.

Lastly, I just finished reading The Poisonwood Bible, which is a story about an American family from Georgia who move to Congo with the dad who is a missionary, and it talks about all the unique challenges that come with Americans living in Africa. Even though it’s about Congo, there are some things that are the same all over Africa, and I definitely felt like I could relate to a lot of it. I highly recommend it!