We are spending Christmas and New Year's at Umhlanga Rocks just up the Indian ocean coast from Durban. Yesterday, I celebrated Christmas with a warm and refreshing dip in the pounding surf of the Indian ocean. The beaches here are spectacular if not a bit crowded - especially so in the designated "swimming areas" which are not only protected by lifeguards but, more importantly, shark nets. Given that they caught a 850kg Great White off these waters last year, I guess a little caution is in order.
As much as we love Lesotho, it is certainly nice to be "out of town" for a while and hard to imagine a more stark contrast in Africa than this. On Sunday, when we left Pitseng, our village truly and finally seemed to have run out of water. We watched women (always women!) lining up at several community taps filling their their dirty old jerry can water containers as the water literally drip, drip, dripped out of th
e taps. Not only would it take an hour to fill the containers this way but the water has developed, shall we say, a rather earthy hue and texture which, I suspect, we alone notice under the circumstances. To add to our own liquidity crisis, we cannot buy bottled water in the local commercial centre, the highly-inappropriately named "London" aka Pitseng Centre. As a result, we have to buy water in Hlotse - 2 hours back and forth up the road on the ever-colourful and crowded mini-bus taxis.
I initially thought the lack of electricity in the village would be our major problem but have quickly learned that this pales in comparison to being without dependable drinking water. A large portion of Lesotho's fresh water seems to be dammed up high in the Maloti mountains and then piped into South Africa through one of these proverbial "great feats of global engineering" water diversion projects. Clearly, the country could use this water but most locals believe that the country can better use the billions of South African rands that it receives for the water every year - accounting for a whopping 25% of total government revenues. (Does anyone hear the disturbing rumblings of a possible parallel story in Canada's future viz our neighbours to the south?) I dare say taxing beer might be a good fiscal solution as well. Foreigners and tourists, at least, would not notice an increase in the astounding $1.00 per bottle price of cold Heineken in Hloste's best hotel bar. I suspect this tax grab may not be as popular with the locals - but, to paraphrase Marie Antoinette, "Let them drink Scotch!" In a selfless gesture, I will undertake to draft such a policy for the local authorities - to take effect in February 2009 which would be, coincidentally, just after our departure.
We've decided to follow the water-flow tradition ourselves and whisked ourselves off to South Africa. A few days after watching the dripping taps and cranking open another can of something for a "pasta again!" dinner, we found ourselves enjoying sushi and cold beer in a gargantuan 300-store mall complex on the way to see a movie at the mall's 16 theatre cinema. A tropical Christmas and New Year's will certainly be a change for us - especially given the weather in Victoria which we gather has taken an uncharacteristic frosty turn.
As we reflect at Christmas on all that we have and should be thankful for, please think of those that have less than a little - indeed, nothing - in places like Lesotho. We have been supporters of Help Lesotho for four years now and our experience on the ground has certainly demonstrated that a few dollars can go a long, long way to make a real difference in lives here - whether they be those of the many orphans struggling without parents to support and guide them or the heroic grandmothers who pick up the burden of care when the parents die. I know that at home everyone is pre-occupied with recession, fiscal crises, economic meltdowns, the need for a new Bretton Woods etc. etc.. While I would not argue against the merits of these concerns, I see a situation in Lesotho that is so desperate that these issues are pushed so far from the radar screen as to be irrelevant. While you are all in the gift-giving spirit, please consider this - less than $50.00 a month (the price of four movie tickets - even without popcorn!) will keep a child in school and off the streets; half of this amount will help a grandmother supporting orphans (as in the grandmother with 4 orphans below).
I invite you to check out Help Lesotho's website for more details on how you can make a donation at: http://www.helplesotho.ca/.
With our best wishes for a happy, healthy New year
As much as we love Lesotho, it is certainly nice to be "out of town" for a while and hard to imagine a more stark contrast in Africa than this. On Sunday, when we left Pitseng, our village truly and finally seemed to have run out of water. We watched women (always women!) lining up at several community taps filling their their dirty old jerry can water containers as the water literally drip, drip, dripped out of th
e taps. Not only would it take an hour to fill the containers this way but the water has developed, shall we say, a rather earthy hue and texture which, I suspect, we alone notice under the circumstances. To add to our own liquidity crisis, we cannot buy bottled water in the local commercial centre, the highly-inappropriately named "London" aka Pitseng Centre. As a result, we have to buy water in Hlotse - 2 hours back and forth up the road on the ever-colourful and crowded mini-bus taxis.I initially thought the lack of electricity in the village would be our major problem but have quickly learned that this pales in comparison to being without dependable drinking water. A large portion of Lesotho's fresh water seems to be dammed up high in the Maloti mountains and then piped into South Africa through one of these proverbial "great feats of global engineering" water diversion projects. Clearly, the country could use this water but most locals believe that the country can better use the billions of South African rands that it receives for the water every year - accounting for a whopping 25% of total government revenues. (Does anyone hear the disturbing rumblings of a possible parallel story in Canada's future viz our neighbours to the south?) I dare say taxing beer might be a good fiscal solution as well. Foreigners and tourists, at least, would not notice an increase in the astounding $1.00 per bottle price of cold Heineken in Hloste's best hotel bar. I suspect this tax grab may not be as popular with the locals - but, to paraphrase Marie Antoinette, "Let them drink Scotch!" In a selfless gesture, I will undertake to draft such a policy for the local authorities - to take effect in February 2009 which would be, coincidentally, just after our departure.
We've decided to follow the water-flow tradition ourselves and whisked ourselves off to South Africa. A few days after watching the dripping taps and cranking open another can of something for a "pasta again!" dinner, we found ourselves enjoying sushi and cold beer in a gargantuan 300-store mall complex on the way to see a movie at the mall's 16 theatre cinema. A tropical Christmas and New Year's will certainly be a change for us - especially given the weather in Victoria which we gather has taken an uncharacteristic frosty turn.
As we reflect at Christmas on all that we have and should be thankful for, please think of those that have less than a little - indeed, nothing - in places like Lesotho. We have been supporters of Help Lesotho for four years now and our experience on the ground has certainly demonstrated that a few dollars can go a long, long way to make a real difference in lives here - whether they be those of the many orphans struggling without parents to support and guide them or the heroic grandmothers who pick up the burden of care when the parents die. I know that at home everyone is pre-occupied with recession, fiscal crises, economic meltdowns, the need for a new Bretton Woods etc. etc.. While I would not argue against the merits of these concerns, I see a situation in Lesotho that is so desperate that these issues are pushed so far from the radar screen as to be irrelevant. While you are all in the gift-giving spirit, please consider this - less than $50.00 a month (the price of four movie tickets - even without popcorn!) will keep a child in school and off the streets; half of this amount will help a grandmother supporting orphans (as in the grandmother with 4 orphans below).
I invite you to check out Help Lesotho's website for more details on how you can make a donation at: http://www.helplesotho.ca/.With our best wishes for a happy, healthy New year
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