Today was our last day working on the playground in Ramabanta! We added the slide, the guard rails, and of course, played with all the children. After we had finished, it was so hard to tell the kids that they had to another day to play on it. We really want the cement to be completely dry and safe so we’re waiting until Wednesday for the grand opening. The US ambassador to Lesotho will be joining us tomorrow while we cook meals for the children and officially open the playground.
After leaving the playground, we split up all the donations we had brought, including soccer gear and warm clothing. Part of the donations will be left here in Ramabanta to be distributed throughout the community, and the rest will be brought to Roma.
There was a pretty light workload today so we had free time after sorting all our donations. Some people made it their goal to reach the top of one of the nearby mountains, so they left before lunch (and were Successful!). Other people stayed around the trading post and had a nice, relaxing day. And finally, the group that I was with went on a different hike. We started in the nearby town, made our way across the river- not without difficulty (I actually ended up throwing my shoes across the river and wading across)- and eventually worked our way to one of the peaks across the valley from the trading post. One of my favorite things about Lesotho so far is that anyone you see on the street will say hi. For example, we met a shepherd on the mountain, a few ntates on the road, and even a group of little boys that just wanted to walk up the road with us. Finally, we took the same trail back to the trading post that we had used with the horses- and let me tell you, it was a lot less scary walking on foot.
At our meeting, we discussed being able to say goodbye to all the kids in Lesotho. It’s gonna be hard to leave these kids but we’ve done some great things here in Ramabanta and we’re all really excited for Roma!
Mom and dad, I miss and love you guys so much! Tell Sarah happy early birthday in case I don’t get to call her and give Mindy a big hug from me!
Bekah Kaufman