MasterChef: Lesotho

One of the many challenges of living in a rural mountain community in Lesotho is cooking. Unlike the United States, there isn’t a supermarket or Walmart around every corner. Produce isn’t shipped from halfway around the world to fill the shelves with every vegetable known to man, regardless of the season. The food I can buy, for the most part, is produced and sold in Lesotho, with the exception of a few South African brands. The food chain is much shorter and I really appreciate that fact.

A sheep kept to feed the Hospital patients

The Basotho diet is a rather simple one. It’s very high in starches and animal protein, and fresh vegetables are eaten during season. A staple food is a dish called Pap. Pap is made from cornmeal cooked into a thick brick. It would be like if you left your grits on the stove for just a few minutes too long and they became solid. A typical meal would be pap with meat, usually mutton, goat, chicken, or beef. It’s simple and really filling.

A bull being fattened for the Hospital's 50th Anniversary

People in the Mantsonyane area are typically subsistence farmers. Pretty much all the land around the hospital is farmland. It looks to be a continuous crop, but the land is separated and different sections are allocated to certain people. This separation isn’t noticeable so you have to be “in the know.” The chief of a village is in charge of allocating the farmland to his/her villagers. Typical crops grown are corn, wheat, carrots, onions, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, and most other things you’d find in an American garden.

Can you tell where the land is
separated? I know I can't

I should and could devote this entire blog post to bread, but I won’t. Basotho love bread and are fantastic at making it. Baked bread, fried bread, sweet bread, scones, biscuits, muffins, and many more delicious concoctions. It’s surprising to me that I haven’t gained 20lbs just from the bread alone!

The Hospital tuck shop

As I said, there isn’t a supermarket right around the corner. It’s takes 45 minutes of walking to get to the store in town and back, but luckily the hospital has a small store with essentials so I can limit my trips to Mantsonyane to once a week. The shop I usually go to in town is called Frasers and it has a little bit of everything, but it's mostly dry goods. There’s one vegetable stand that I like to stop at and pick up some produce. It’s a limited selection, but its always quality! In season right now are peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and onions. It’s not a lot of variety, but you can cook a lot with those ingredients.

The road to town

Meat is a lot harder to come by. Most people own their own animals that they’re keeping for slaughter, so there’s not really any place to buy meat in town. Frasers sells industrial size bags of various frozen meats, but I don’t have a refrigerator to keep it fresh. So I’ve been eating mostly vegetarian since I moved up here. Any one that knows me well will balk at that statement! With such a limited ingredient selection, I’ve cooked those ingredients in more ways than you can shake a stick at to keep the illusion of variety. One dish that has been quite tasty is a vegetable curry, complete with homemade flatbread. Is it a traditional curry? Not even close. Is it delicious? Absolutely.

South African Margarine + Lesotho Flour + South
African Milk = Delicious flatbread

Don't have a rolling pin? Use a Nalgene!

Curry powder

The finished product

In other news, you might have noticed that I’ve added a fundraising section on the blog to help raise the money I need to go to Rome next year. I’ve set up a Paypal account so that people can make a quick and easy online donation. Make sure to visit the fundraising section to find out how you can help!

In other, other news, I’m headed to Kenya next week for a little vacation time! I’ll be staying with the YASCer in Kenya, Jenny Korwan. I could not be more excited! I’ll be sure to post photos when I get back! Sala hantle!

From the South to Lesotho.....

St. Paul's within The Walls

From the South to Lesotho….. and then on to Rome! That’s right, folks! I’m moving to Rome, Italy following my year here in Lesotho. You might be asking, “Jared, what will you be doing in Rome?” This is a good question. The YASC program has decided to open a new placement in Rome with the only American Episcopal Church inside the city, St. Paul’s within The Walls. After talking with the YASC office for sometime, they have decided to send me there for a second year of YASC! I am incredibly excited and blessed to have this opportunity.

Jill, Fr. Austin, and Aja

As I said, the placement is with St. Paul’s within The Walls Episcopal Church, which just happens to be the church where my friend, The Rev. Austin Rios, is the rector! Fr. Rios was a priest in the Diocese of Western NC, my home diocese, before accepting a call to Rome last year. He is also a former YASCer who served his year in Mexico City. I’ve known Austin through his work with the youth of the Diocese of WNC, mainly at Camp Henry, which we have both been Assistant Director of at some point in time.  I’m very excited to be able to work with Fr. Rios!

Inside the Church

The placement and my responsibilities are still developing, so I don’t have too much information as of yet. What I do know is that the work will be with the Joel Nafuma Political Refugee Center, which the church runs. Since the church is in a central location in Rome (just a few blocks from the central subway station), it has quite a lot of traffic from people just arriving in Rome from countries across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and South America seeking political refuge in the Eternal City. The center provides a daily breakfast, educational opportunities, support services, and a welcoming environment to political refugees living in Rome. You can read more about the church here, and the refugee center here.

So doing another year of YASC of course means doing another round of fundraising. I need to raise $8000 to make this year happen. I was overwhelmed by the support that came through for me last year when raising money for my year here in Lesotho. It’s a huge comfort to know that people believe in me and believe in what I’m doing! If you would like to donate towards my fundraising goal, please send me an email at grantjb3@gmail.com and I will tell you how you can help. Donations can be made tax deductible! Any donation will be a gigantic help and a huge blessing! A $25 donation is enough to cover my expenses for one day next year. I know it’s never a good time to be asking for money and that money is tight among many families right now, but if you are able to help out it would be incredible. I'm going to take a page from the NPR fundraising playbook and say that if we can raise the money quickly, I can stop pestering everyone!

Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I start on this new journey. It’s an incredible opportunity that I’m still not sure has sunk in yet. As much as I’m going to miss being at home for another year, I know in my heart that this is where I’m supposed to be. I thank you all for your continued support of me and of my adventures. Kea leboha (Thank you)! Sala hantle!