Baby It's Cold Inside

Winter is here.

It is very cold these days. Inside, it is usually colder than outside.

Lately, it has been sunny outside, which provides a great deal of warmth.

Inside, however, there is not much in the way of insulation and heaters are expensive to run or non-existent. I am lucky to have 3 blankets to sleep under, a hot water bottle to fill each night - and hot water to fill it with, a small heater I can warm my room with and long johns to sleep in. Still, I am cold.

Many others are much colder. Maybe having only 1 or even no blankets. Not having paraffin to use in their heaters or to use to cook something warm to eat. Maybe they don't have anything to eat at all. Winter is a tough time in Lesotho. I am not sure how much longer the vegetables from people's gardens will last and when they go, for many, there will be nothing left. The staple foods of papa and samp take a long time to cook, which means they take a lot of electricity, paraffin or fire wood. All of these things cost money or take a great deal of work to get.

I find it tough to get out of bed in the morning. I am huddled and bundled up but can feel the cold air on my nose and know that as soon as I hop from my bed, my feet will touch the cold concrete floor. Most kids get up at least two hours before I do, to bath, maybe eat and head off to school while it is still dark out. The classrooms, they tell me, are usually cold. Luckily toques are allowed to be worn and track suits in the schools colours pass for uniforms in the colder months. I have seen some primary teachers conducting their classes outside so that everyone can sit in the sun.

My tea intake has skyrocketed and each time I complain I wonder how everyone else manages. Drafty doors and windows, leaky roofs, worn thin clothing and not a smart wool sock to be seen for miles. Maybe Basotho are used to the cold? Or maybe they are just used to the suffering.

Sorry for the downer posting but that is my mood today and that is the reality here in Lesotho. I'll make it up to you somehow. Maybe when my hands and feet aren't numb.

Alison