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Sunday
Sunday was spent returning by car from Malealea to the town of Leribe,
but along the way we made stop at a place called Thaba Bosiu,
undoubtedly Lesotho's most important national historical site. It was
on the top of Thaba Bosiu, a sort of island plateau surrounded
extensively by steep rocky cliffs, that Lesotho's first paramount
chief Moshoeshoe (pronounced something like "Muh-show-eh-show-eh")
united, ruled and defended his empire in the 19th century. Around the
time, Moshoeshoe was losing significant amounts of his people's land
due to the encroachment from various directions of the Boers, the
English and the Zulus, and needed a safe location from which to defend
his empire. In Thaba Bosiu he found an easily defensible location from
which he could spot and repel foreign invasions, as he did
successfully on numerous occasions. Thank goodness he did, for if he
hadn't there probably wouldn't have been a country of Lesotho today.
For his efforts, as you would expect, Moshoeshoe has become the
historical figure most revered by the Basotho people.
But armed defence of his kingdom was not the only way Moshoeshoe kept
his empire strong and cohesive. For one, Moshoeshoe was known for his
benevolence, especially when it came to his "acts of friendship
towards his beaten enemies" and the "integration of a number of
refugees and victims of the wars of calamity" (thanks wikipedia).
Furthermore, in order to quell any internal conflicts within the
disparate clans and align the communities around him against the
common enemies, Moshoeshoe used another popular form of diplomacy at
the time, namely to marry women from other, potentially hostile,
areas. How big a supporter was Moshoeshoe of this strategy? Well, by
one account he married 148--yes 148--women, quite the juggling act
indeed. The grave of the great Moshoeshoe, along with many of his
relatives and descendents, is on top of Thaba Bosiu, with the site's
simplicity making a particularly favourable impression on me. A
tidily-arranged pile of rocks (nB. another use for rocks) and a simple
engraved tombstone, without the slightest hint of grandeur, mark the
resting place of Lesotho's greatest leader: humble, respectful,
timeless. Contrast the grave of Moshoeshoe I with that of Moshoeshoe
II (not an immediate descendent of Moshoeshoe I) who died late in the
20th century.
Who would you rather have as your King? Him...
...or him?
Pictured below is a Lesotho outhouse, this one taken near the base of
Thaba Bosiu, but typical of outhouses you will see scattered
throughout any populated area in Lesotho. The quality of pit latrines
does vary, with some constructed out of more durable concrete blocks,
and others looking noticeably more tattered and worn down than this
one. Why am I showing you a picture of a Lesotho pit latrine? Much, in
general, is made of large-scale and glamorous development and health
initiatives such as pumping oil out of the ground or finding a vaccine
for AIDS. Regardless of the merit of such grandiose schemes (and I'm
sure some are highly disputable, others not as much), I find they
often tend to overshadow simple, inexpensive and lacklustre projects
which, if implemented on a widespread grassroots level, can have huge
benefits to developing communities in an extremely cost-effective
manner. I am showing a picture of a Lesotho pit latrine as an example
of such an initiative.
I draw your attention to the white plastic tube emerging from the
ground adjacent to the iron sheet walls of the pit latrine. Can you
guess the purpose of this tube? If you guessed that it allows pit
latrine users to escape the noxious odours of their and everyone
else's emissions, you would be correct. However it has been adapted to
serve another important purpose, and that is to help reduce the
incidence of dysentery, a deadly bacterial or amoebic disease that is
cultivated in raw sewage, as well as other diseases spread by the
combination of flies and poor hygiene. The key to the success of this
style of pit latrine is a piece of metal gauze placed over the top of
the white plastic tube, with holes large enough to allow light to
enter, but not big enough for a fly to pass through. When a fly enters
the murky underbelly of the pit latrine and becomes a disease carrier,
it needs to escape the pit latrine in order to transmit it to humans.
Assuming the users of the pit latrine put the lid of the seat down,
the fly will naturally be attracted to the light entering from the top
of the white plastic tube. Of course it will be unable to escape, and
will eventually meet his cesspoolian doom, unable to transmit the
disease to humans. A simple piece of metal gauze and some education to
the community is all it takes sometimes.
Africa's Tallest Dam
Monday
From a small, simple, inexpensive technology to one of the exact
opposite nature: the Katse Dam. The Katse Dam is located in the
central part of Lesotho and is the centrepiece of a massive 20-year,
multi-billion dollar development initiative called the Lesotho
Highlands Water Project (LHWP). Water is Lesotho's only major
marketable natural resource, with rain water and natural springs
collecting in the basins formed by its jagged, mountainous landscape.
Rather than simply let the water flow naturally into South Africa's
Orange River, the LHWP uses dams and many kilometers of underground
tunnels to divert the water to a more industrial and populous area of
South Africa, one that is more dependent on--and therefore more
willing to pay for--water and electricity. The dam has allowed Lesotho
to become completely self-sufficient in its energy needs, and for a
country so lacking in homegrown industries, the foreign currency
generated by the sale of the water is invaluable. Unfortunately my
time only allowed a quick visit of the dam, and the only information I
was therefore able to obtain was that provided to me by the the
official LHWP tour guide. According to her all the local people who
had lost homes or livelihoods because of the raised water levels had
been fairly and generously compensated, though somehow I didn't quite
believe that they were now all living the perfect gumdrop lives she
implied.
The reason why time was so short was because I had chosen to undertake
this lengthy day trip using local transportation. Having had countless
adventures and wacky experiences with Tanzania's daladalas, I was
eager to get a feel for what life on the road is like in Lesotho. I
discovered it was significantly less squished than in Tanzania, but no
less unpredictable: halfway up a particularly steep mountain pass our
mini-bus decided it would go no further, and all of us riders were
forced to wait for an hour at the side of the road for another
mini-bus to pick us up. Here's the view while we waited...
Here's the picture that I forgot first time
around...the view while waiting for my broken down daladala to get
fixed
The other noteworthy aspect of my journey aboard Lesotho public
transportation was the music. They have this very unique style of
music here in Lesotho that everyone seems to listen to, a style that I
can best describe as "African-style Accordion Techno Pop". Exactly how
African-style Accordion Techno Pop came to be so popular in this
isolated mountain kingdom I'm not sure, but I do know that they play
it lots, and at deafening volumes. For the sake of building Lesotho's
international profile, I for one hope that the Oscars soon create an
African-style Accordion Techno Pop category. Click
here to
have a listen, and imagine this music cranked up as loud as it can go
for 4 consecutive hours in a squished mini-bus. The cover on the front
of the tape is pretty high quality as well...
4 stars out of 5 for "Ntho tse ntle"
Final Lesotho posting coming up in around a week. |
