Update from Lesotho

Hi all!

Yesterday Jo took me to see two historic landmarks of Lesotho. These photos are from this outing. The first three photos are of Ha Kome - a hiding place for several Basotho families during the late 19th century. They took refuge in this overhang area - shallow cave if you will - to hide from cannibal tribes that were coming through the area.While there we were able to try some of the traditional foods. First we had something that was like yellow hominy,the second was a drink, often refered to as Basotho yogurt, made from sorgum, and then we had finely ground maze, finer than our corn meal and roasted so that it had a wonderful roasted popcorn flavor. They gave us each a little bag of the fine meal.  I made part of mine into breakfast this morning. The first picture shows the beautful woven fence around one of the houses of Ha Kome. The second is the visitors center there, and the third shows the rocky overhang that hid the houses built into the rock. The floors and walls of these homes were very smooth, plastered in a mixture of mud and cow dung.The forth shows another landmark which is the symbol of the country. It is a mountain structure named Qiloane. It gives its shape to the straw hats worn by the Basotho people. The hats are called mokorotlo. The fifth picture is just the countryside near Maseru, and the 6th shows the round thatched roof homes called rondavels. The7th picture shows a village. Each village has its own chief. The last one shows another rondavel. On the way home Jo treated me to a traditional meal of papa, cooked greens,mixed vegetables, and grilled pork. she purchased it from an outside vendor near the church we attended Sunday. The papa, which is like very stiff grits, is used to scoop up the other foods. I enjoyed it all very much. Last night I sat in on a 3 1/2 hour bible study that Jo taught. It was a difficult study, challenging some of their traditional beliefs, but a number of them expressed thanks to her last night or today per email for speaking truth to them.
Today I went with her to do a one on one session. Other wise today has been a day of laundry and preparation and catch up. Most days run from morning into the night with one on ones and bible studies. Tomorrow will be one of them, so I'd better start getting ready for bed. Miss you all.

Millie