October has been a wonderful month. We've seen a slow start to the rainy season - it's not raining every day yet, but several times a week - and I'm ever so grateful. And I've been relatively busy with small tasks as the days pass. Two weekends I had visitors - Craig and Nick early this month and then, two weeks later, Sean and Chris (all boys... dunno). Long hikes and mountain climbs and a failed attempt at the summit of lithabana li mele (those breast mountains I've posted shots of). It's great having boys visit because I feel as though I can walk any distance without worrying about my safety or even feeling uncomfortable. We swam in the river and I had them buy me booze at the shop since it's a big secret that I consume alcohol (*gasp!). Plus I love to cook for them, especially when they bring me fresh food. AND, Chris wins favorite person of the month (in the running for person of the year) for bringing his solar shower for me to try out. It has a shower nozzle and everything and I've never bathed so many times in a single week. It's unbelievably hot water, too. Why did I not have this 16 months ago?

(that's my bath water when I'm done. that's all of my bath water.)

We've planted more in the youth garden and I was able to convince the women to scatter pea and corn seeds rather than plant in nice, neat rows. We're a rebellious band of "youths," I guess. This combined with more maps on school walls has occupied the majority of my time. The world map has been tricky but was instantly rewarded after I had to explain to a teacher that yes, continents are surrounded by vast amounts of water. Salty water. The man's rather poetic response to this news? "Ahch! It's scary! It's like we could fall in!" Immediately worth suffering through bad school lunches that I can never refuse without insulting the teachers and cooks.

Malikoko and Matapelo are working away at the mohair/wool project. Malikoko cards and spins the mohair in her small smoke house built of corrugated iron. You walk in and have to duck severely to fit, then find a small section partitioned off where there's hardly room for a spinning machine, stool, and bags of mohair. The women and I have been so fortunate to find an amazing person to donate her time and resources to help us with this project; Alice is living in Maseru with her husband who's here to build a factory in the industrial area of town and wants to spend her time volunteering in the country. Because of her experience with spinning and knitting and her correct observation that while sheep are abundant, no one is actually working with wool, we've been able to start a great income generating project. In addition to spinning mohair to sell to weavers in town, the women are going to start working with wool as well. Unlike mohair, it can be knit into clothing items that go for a great price to tourists at our local guest house. So Alice has provided us with spinning machines, a large stock of raw wool to start with, knitting needles, and other supplies. One of her visits to Ramabanta took us to the local wool shed where shepherds bring their animals from all over the area to be sheered. It was an amazing thing to see - they were being sheered with scissors, one man per animal holding it down, cutting the fleece in one large piece. All of the wool - and there must have been literal tons in this large shed - was spoken for, however, and a buyer in SA was to get every single fleece. Instead we found some at the local police station (the police have herds that they keep for money) and Alice generously bought some for the group to start working with.

And while that project is (**hopefully**) getting off the ground, the orphan's group seems to have disintegrated once more. Between dissension in the ranks and feuds between members I stepped back and let it all fall to pieces. Maybe someday it'll work out. We are having a library workshop (thanks to some very dedicated PCV's) to train teachers at Fatima Primary on how to use books in their classrooms. And the HIV/AIDS support group (or PLWHA, my least favorite acronym) has actually started their candle making project with the 500 Rand FOL grant. Future workshops may include a seed saving day - we'll see how much interest I can stir up in the next few weeks.

In non-work news:

*I managed to sprain my ankle. Twice. Anyone who knows me isn't surprised by this lack of coordination. The only thing nastier than the bruise that formed at the bottom of my foot is the brown/black color of my ace bandage after a week of hiking. Icing and elevating the joint equals Casey with her foot in a bucket of tap water for 20 minutes, then Casey with her foot up on the porch staring at the view of the mountains that's kept her sane for over a year now.

*My days-without-washing-hair-record was broken by Ms. Amber Staudacher. I won't embarrass her with the official count, but instead I'll simply say she shattered my old record of 18 days.

*Over 90 books read since arriving in Lesotho.
*And last, but far from least:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!