Time to say goodbye!

On Sunday, our last day in Lesotho, we had breakfast all together at the hotel. After that we did the check out and started our journey back to Johannesburg.

Abang came with us until the border, and made sure that the three trouble makers (Paraguay team) were able to cross safely the border. After that, we thanked him for all that he did for us during the week, and hoped to see him soon (either in Paraguay or United States).

We arrived at Johannesburg International Airport around 3pm, it was time to say goodbye to the group. Some of us would stay a couple of days in South Africa, others would go to Europe to spend time with the family while other would go back home. Either way, it was the end of our trip as a group, we gained a new family here in Lesotho, Paraguay and United States, and I think we will all share and cherish these memories.

Touring around Maseru

Saturday, was the day to see and experience a little bit of the city. In the morning we got the opportunity to visit the house of Tumisan Moshao. He is a 17 year old orphan, whose house was build in April 2019 by a group of volunteers from Habitat St. Vrain Valley.

We got the opportunity to talk with the chief of the community, who explained to us and Tumisan was working at the moment and was still living at this house. He came later on, and was very excited to see us, and very happy that we still remembered him and decided to pay him a visit.

Also, we got the opportunity to walk around the community. The landscape in Lesotho still impressed us, with its beautiful mountains and vivid colours. We could not stop taking pictures!

After the visit to Tumisan's house, we had lunch with Habitat's Lesotho team. After lunch, the three offices of Habitat (Lesotho, St. Vrain Valley and Paraguay) exchanged certificates of appreciation, this was an historic moment, since it is the first time that three Habitat offices gathered together during a Global Village trip.

Last stop was Thaba Bosiu Cultural Village, were we learned about Lesotho's culture and history

Day 5 - Closing ceremony

Final day of the construction! This day we only got two hours to finish the last arrangements of the house.

This day we only had two hours before the closing ceremony. We were expecting the entire community to join us, as well as journalist from local news channels.

We got split into two groups, one that would focus on the last arrangements of the house, and another one that would focus on the cooking.

The ceremony, was beautiful, it started with the girls of the community performing a dance.

Later, it moved on with a prayer, afterwards we had some welcome words of the Community's chief. The ceremony had Abang as host where he explained in Sesotho and English the work Habitat Lesotho does in the communities. As part of the ceremony, we had the grandmother and Habitat's Senior Project Officer sharing some thoughts of the whole experience. And last but not least, Julie as representative of the whole group, gave her thoughts of the whole week.



The whole group was very pleased with the experience, and after the ceremony ended, we exchanged some hugs and photos with the community. After lunch it was time to go, and move to Maseru.

During dinner we realized we actually made it into national television!

Day 4 - Last full day at the construction site

When we went back to the construction site, the community together with the masons really advanced with the house! Through out all of those days that we were at the site, we felt the support of the community and their help allowed us to finish the house on time! 

That day, we focused on three main tasks:

(1) The front of the house (the team did a lovely job!)

(2) revoke of the inner walls of the house with cement (super hot inside the house!)

(3) dug a hole where the family can dispose of their dirty water. For this one we had to collect rocks from a couple of houses away.

Again we had the help of all the community 😀 the women during all times were singing and dancing, which made us every more cheerful and happy to be part of this beautiful project.

Also, we got the opportunity to visit Mosonngoa's house. 

 

We finished the day by putting our names our the whole, as a memory.

We went back ready to rest and prepare for the last day.

Day 3 - We got to visit Habitat Lesotho!

On our third day in the morning we got to continue building the walls and we almost finished it! We got the opportunity to write short blessings to the family of the new house. Our blessings were in English, Spanish and Sesotho (very international!) we also took this opportunity to pray and wish the family all the best and hope for them to be able to have a brighter future.

We were very lucky because after lunch a storm came upon us! It was time to go and travel back to Maseru to meet the team of Habitat for Humanity Lesotho.

When arriving to the office, everyone from the Habitat Lesotho staff was super friendly and we had a small introduction from everyone, Mary (the Director of Habitat Paraguay) gave to the Lebo (Senior Officer of Habitat Lesotho) some goodies from Paraguay, it was a very nice exchange of languages and culture. And of course, before leaving the office, we took the opportunity to take some group pictures to mark this encounter as the first trip where three offices from Habitat for Humanity meet as part of a Global Village Trip!


When we got back to the hotel, we got the opportunity to taste some traditional food from Lesotho (which was very good!) we all enjoyed very much our meal.

Day 2

After the hard work we did on the first day, this morning we realized how many muscles we actually have and didn't know that even existed because all of them hurt!! 🤣🤣

After another delicious breakfast we went to the site and we felt more trained, by the second day we already have 3 wall-builders experts look at this!

We also felt stronger...

See how much we did in just one day!!



But not everything was building, we made some new friends too



And finally we took advantage of another beautiful day and did some valentine's photos of our 2 gorgeous couples 

Last but not least, during our dinner we shared some reflections about these firsts two days and we all agreed on how lucky and blessed we are on a daily basis. As a group, we also realized how beautiful is to be part of something biggest than us, as we are doing here in Lesotho, we are building a better future and opportunities to this family and bringing hope to the entire community. We are learning so much about happiness, strength, joy and new beginnings. 

Day 1 - Lets get the construction started!

Our day started at 7 am, we got together for breakfast before departure to the construction site. We were all super excited to start working!

When we arrived to the site, the community were waiting for the whole team, as it was their first time to receive volunteers. Someone in representation of the Chief gave welcoming words, and women started to sing a beautiful prayer.



We started the construction with some safety reminders from Habitat Lesotho staff and after that we were good to go! It was so nice to see all the community gathering together to help build this house. We started with a brick line, and later on we got the things to start the mortar in order to build the walls.





 We stopped for lunch at 1 pm were we got to try papa (mealies crushed corn) which is normally eaten by Basotho on their everyday meal.


We continued working until 3.30pm and we were able to see the difference! We still got another day to build and finish the wall.

We got back to the hotel super tired but super happy!


Our first day was over and we were looking forward to the next few days. We were excited to start this journey and to work with the community.

Arrival to Lesotho

Day 1 - Let the adventure begin!

The whole team left the Aviator Hotel at 8am, we were looking ahead for a 8 hour trip to Teyateyaneng.


The day was beautiful, the landscape of South Africa was mesmerizing, with its land-fields of green pasture and the mountains surrounding us, it was like in the movies.





We stopped for lunch at town called Ladybrand were we met Abang (Habitat Lesotho GV Coordinator) for lunch.


After our amazing lunch, we headed to the border control were our adventure in Lesotho began.



After crossing that border, we were happy to be closer to our final destination. We also started to realize why Lesotho is called “Kingdom in the Sky” since you could feel that you were surrounded by the beautiful mountains with all of its glory.






Finally we arrived at our hotel, were we got to rest a little bit before dinner.



During dinner Abang told us about Habitat for Humanity Lesotho and the different programs they had, and he said to us that we were going to support the program that aids vulnerable groups (mostly focusing on women and children), he said that women in Lesotho have issues with land tenure. Therefore Habitat  Lesotho and it’s advocacy team work in order to help women to have land on their name in order to have a house. He mentioned that Mosonngoa, the girl we were constructing a house, was orphan and that it was the first time working in Ha-Rampa.

Habitat Lesotho is also starting a WASH program to instal solution of community taps and teaching the communities how to maintain water sources.

After dinner we were excited to start working and help this girl and her family to have a better life quality.

Final day on site and dedication ceremony

Today we only had a half day on site, because we were also hosting the home dedication ceremony.  We started to plaster the walls in only one room and then the gentlemen helped install the trusses for the roof.

Ryan carrying a truss for the roof

Sue, Julie and Micaela plastering the room

 We started with mixing the mortar and troweling it onto the walls.  We had to get a layer at least 1 inch thick.  We again had help from the local volunteers, who were much more skilled than we were.

 The gentlemen were able to get all 7 trusses onto the roof and the supports nailed in.

We also got the front window panes installed.  They were held in with putty that would seal the window once dry.

Patty and Ev installing the window panes

Patty and Ev on windows, Rick and Benedict on the roof

  We also got to get the front door ready by giving it a quick clean and then oil it with linseed oil.

Peggy oiling the front door

We were unable to get the aluminum sheeting on for the roof due to both time and weather.  It started raining towards the end of our work day, and continued throughout the day.  We brought balloons and the Habitat Lesotho staff helped us blow them up so we could hang them around the house.

Getting the balloons ready with Habitat Lesotho staff

  We then ended the roof work and started the dedication ceremony.  The village chief gave a talk about how thankful she was for both Habitat Lesotho and us for coming all the way to Lesotho to help give Tumisang a home.

The chief speaks

National Director of Habitat Lesotho Mathabo Makuta also gave a talk about our relationship with Habitat Lesotho.  This is our 1st trip to the country, but our second try to get there.  We first tried to come to Lesotho in 2014, but were diverted due to political unrest.  Tumisang also attempted to speak to us all, but was overcome with emotion.  His aunt gave a speech for him.

Tumisang trying to speak to the team

Tumisang's aunt speaking for him

 We were presented with a gift of a 5 gallon bucket of pinto beans from the chief, which we gave to Tumisang and his family, since we would not be able to bring them back to Colorado.

Beans, beans, beans

We were also presented with a Basotho hat and certificate from the affiliate.  After the ceremony was over, we had lunch catered in to the site, in the rain.

Here is the entire team with Tumisang in front of his house

We wished we would have been able to get the roof completed, but we were assured that the roof would be put on by Monday and then Tumisang would be able to begin to move in.  Abang, our host coordinator, stated that he would be able to send us a photo of the house with the roof on in the next couple of weeks.  Abang will be bringing another team into the village to build in 2 weeks.

This truly was an amazing experience for all involved.  This was the closest we got to completing a house since Cambodia, and it was especially impressive the amount of work that was completed in 3.5 days.  The community was amazing to work with and such a big part of why we were able to get so much done.  Thank you to Abang, our coordinator; Benedict and Azael our local construction crew; the chief and community for clearing this former kraal to make space for Tumisang's home; Lebohang, our Construction supervisor; Lebo, our Community coordinator; Mathabo the National Director, all the staff and local volunteers who came out to help us make Tumisang's dream come true.

Day 5: Inner wall and trusses

Today we started on the inner wall and we were building the trusses.  The masons had started the inner wall so it would be straight.

One room will be for a kitchen and the other room will be a sleeping/multi-purpose room.

The trusses were hand fabricated from a pattern from the masons.  Everything was cut with a handsaw and nailed together.

While we were working on the trusses, some of the locals came by to say hi!

We were able to get the windows secured into the walls once they were dry and set.

We got some help with the trusses from one of the village volunteers.

Here is a stack of the trusses.  We made 7 for the roof.

We also were able to put our names in the cement on top of the soak away.

Here is a shot of the progress of the inner wall.

We were also given the task of creating a wire anchor for the trusses before the roof can go on.  There were 14 in total.

We were also starting 2 garden plots for Tumisang to be able to start planting once he moves in.

All in all, it was a pretty productive day, hopefully tomorrow, which is our last day on site, we will be able to get the trusses up, roof nailed in and the walls plastered!