jarete ea manthloane

Friday found me in Rapoleboea again - not to paint maps but to do the one thing I had planned on my entire service being about. One of the clinic's village health workers organized the HIV/AIDS support group of Rapo to meet that day for a few hours of garden building. I've been pushing keyhole gardens for months because of their usefulness; a keyhole garden is a raised bed, waist height, that enables the old and sick to grow vegetables without having to bend over. It's also a great way to use grey water on vegetables. The Basotho believe it's dirty to use bath water on the food they'll eventually eat, but with this design the water is dumped into a chimney of sorts in the center and it then flows out into the soil and reaches plants' roots. The garden is built out of readily available materials: rocks, manure, soil, wood ash and even trash to fill the bottom. It's easy to build, especially if you have a group come together to help.

I arrived in the village doubtful of how productive the day would be. My experiences here have left me with a slightly jaded view of work ethic and commitment to projects - but I was proven wrong (and so happy for it). Over 25 people showed to work and they had rocks and manure piled near the area where the garden was to be built. Not only did they have their act together, but they worked hard and asked questions through out the process. The old woman who we built the garden for was so incredibly grateful - all smiles as she served lesheleshele (kind of like cream of wheat) to the support group members and called me inside her rondeval to present me with a huge plate of papa (maize meal, the staple food here), moroho (cabbage) and scrambled eggs with aromat (spicy msg deliciousness). I hesitated when she handed me 10 rand for my transport costs. I don't need the money and I'd pay much more to have such a productive day, but I've also learned a lot about ownership of projects and setting a precedent of giving "free" things, so I took the money as graciously as possible. It was an amazing day. The kind of day that I had expected to have fill my two years here. The most rewarding day, by far, because of the hard work outdoors, the sense of a community coming together to help an individual, and feeling as though I've finally successfully passed on information given to me during my training here in Lesotho. Maybe other village health workers will hear about how it went and want to do a similar project in their communities - I can hope that it catches on - but until then I've got this day to keep me happy and hold me over for a while.

The "foundation" of the keyhole garden.

The center of the keyhole is built with sticks and then lined with feedbags or grasses.

The first layer consists of trash (bones, tin cans, old shoes, whatever can be found) and then layers of soil, manure and wood ash are alternated until it's full.

A layer of grass is placed within a food of the top, fanning out from the center to promote the flow of water outwards to plant roots.

Done!