Hello friends!
I have the great opportunity of writing the last blog for this trip…wild to think that tomorrow will be our last 24 hours in this wonderful country. Before I get too far into my post, tomorrow we will be taking the last of the donations to Leratong, packing our bags, paying our lovely tabs, and going out to eat in Maseru with “New Management.”
Now for the meat of the post. Since this is our last day, I feel like I should briefly recap our adventure. We started out by going to a school house and painted classroom walls, built a house alongside Habitat for Humanity, playgrounds, shade gardens, took all of our grandiose hikes, held a carnival at an AIDS clinic, and most importantly made the Basthoto smile from ear to ear. This has been something very rewarding throughout this trip. I have always questioned what exactly happiness means, and this trip helped solidify my understanding of happiness and what you need to accomplish it. Society has made us forget the difference between our wants and needs. We always want the biggest and best thing to make us happy, but in reality we don’t need any of that. The Basotho are a prime example of this. They are a community who have no where near the privileges that we do, yet they will give you their last piece of maize or welcome you into their homes for shelter. That being said, I have learned that to be purely happy, you need your friends, family, dedication, passion, pridefulness, and love. The smiles that were created either came from our dedication to make the projects come to fruition, or the pride the Basotho have for their country and the stories of their past. Love comes into play when we all realized there was an immediate trust from everyone. Kids would run up and ask us to be their friends. That sense of community was true love for connections and the power that a relation can have on anyone.
It is now our goal to spread the word of Lesotho and continue to make the smiles grow bigger and bigger.
With that being said, I am officially closing this trip’s blog by saying that we will see friends and family in a week’s time.
-Justin Unternaher