Dear Family and Friends,
It’s been a wonderful few weeks since I last wrote to you. My sisters came, saw and conquered the hearts of the Basotho. I’m feeling perfectly well with no lingering bad effects of the nasty pills and our various Village projects are coming along nicely.
Patty and Pam were a huge hit in the Village. Not only did they arrive with suitcases full of gifts for the villagers and me– but they immediately put their talents to work. We visited the primary school and after the children sang and danced for us they sang for them. Pam, a talented ESL teacher, held an impromptu language class for a group of little ones in front of my hut and from that point on was surrounded by adoring children.
Patty, our very own Boswell, spent much time chronicling what was going on in a journal. Patty is both a writer and an artist and the illustrations she drew in her journal fascinated our many visitors. She’d also brought a Polaroid camera – she was a very popular lady.
We had a party on Saturday. I’d invited about a hundred people but about two hundred came. The villagers went all out to welcome Patty and Pam. There were speeches, lots of traditional tribal singing and dancing – the sangomas came all painted in red ocher – everyone wanted to show our visitors the Basotho cultural of which they are so proud.
On Sunday, we headed out; first driving through the beautiful Maluti Mountains to stay at a lovely, quite remote mountain resort called Semonkong. The road through this high mountain region is scenic but treacherous. We put the 4×4 we’d rented through its paces – we even had a flat tire along the way, which was changed for us by some village boys. Patty gave them a 100 rand tip thus soundly establishing herself as a legend in that tiny mountain community. They’ll be talking about the fabulously rich Lekhooa for years.
We left Lesotho and headed down to the Cape. The difference between
Lesotho and South Africa is evident as soon as you cross the border. For one thing there are lots of white people over there and real stores, restaurants and fabulous guesthouses and hotels. It is definitely not a third world country. In the years since the end of apartide South Africa has gone through many changes. I think the transition and establishment of an integrated middle class is going well. There are still shockingly poor townships and slums sitting next to beautiful, prosperous towns. The human and economic scars of that dreadful era are everywhere but much is being done to ease them. The government of South Africa has the strongest and most ubiquitous affirmative action program I’ve ever seen.
We spent one night at a private game reserve that has been owned by the same white South African family for five generations. After a great safari during which we saw all the beautiful animals we could have wished for at amazingly close range, we sat around a blazing fire talking to several young men. Their families had lived in South Africa for generations and apartied ended when they were small children. None seemed particularly bitter but it was clear that a young white male in this country has no hope at all of gainful employment unless his family owns the business. It’s a complex issue that deserves much more than this brief reference – perhaps a later letter – but now I want to tell you more about the trip.
The southern coast of Africa is simply breathtakingly beautiful – soaring cliffs, verdant valleys and a sparkling blue ocean. We followed what is called the “Garden route” all the way from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town staying in beautiful seaside villages along the way. The hospitality of our South African hosts at the luxurious B&B’s we stayed in was uniformly excellent, the towns were quaint, the shopping and restaurants fun and fattening. The narrow but well-paved, winding road we followed was perfect for whale watching. This is the mating season of the southern right whale and we saw many spouts highlighted when one magnificent creature breached not 50 yards from our car as we approached Cape Town. We pulled over and stopped to watch it perform this amazing feat several times.
In Cape Town we got rid of the car and let friendly tour guides show us the sites. The best was, perhaps, the wine tour. This is the off season so we luckily had the very knowledgeable owner of a tour company take us on a private tour of what he considered the best of the wine country. I don’t remember much of what we saw or tasted after about 3:00 but the food and wine we had was great and the scenery beautiful. We bought a carload of wine and continued our wine tasting in our stunning, oceanfront suite at the Peninsula resort all the rest of the week.
Patty said that the only thing she could compare our tour of Robbens Island to is a tour she had taken at Pearl Harbor. Both were quite somber experiences. All the guides at Robbens are former prisoners. We saw the cell where Nelson Mandela spent so many years and heard very sad stories.
It was all over way too soon. My wonderful sisters headed back to the US and I headed back to Lesotho. It took me longer to get back to my village than it took them to go the 10,000 miles to Michigan and to tell the truth I was in a bit of a moody funk for a couple of days – lonely and longing for indoor plumbing. Now, however, I’m back at work, feeling great and looking forward to my next vacation. Most of my PCV colleagues have traveled a lot more than I have since arriving here. Now I know why. This is a fascinating part of the world; I’d like to see it all.
It’s just about time for a meeting of our chicken farm volunteers so I must close. Did I tell you we got a grant from World Vision to start a chicken farm the proceeds from which are for our orphans? In ten days 200 layers are arriving ready to start laying eggs. We are working frantically getting the house they will live in ready for them.
As I watch the peach trees begin to blossom here as the first sign of spring appear, I think of the autumn you are about to enjoy and wish you all Khotso, Pula, Nala. (Peace, Rain, Prosperity.)
Love, Peggi
Today we have a special interview (podcast) with my dear friend and author, Pierette Simpson. 
Pierette, who at age 9 was a survivor of the Andrea Doria, has been on a whirl wind tour since the launch of her book, Alive on the Andrea Doria! The Greatest Sea Rescue in History
